title: The mobility gap between older men and women: the embodiment of gender.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present the study design and baseline results of the longitudinal International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS) on gender differences in physical performance and mobility disability prevalence in five diverse societies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data are from surveys on random samples of people aged 65-74 years at Canadian (Kingston, Ontario; Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec), Mediterranean (Tirana, Albania) and Latin American sites (Natal, Brazil; Manizales, Colombia) (N=1995). Mobility disability was defined as reporting difficulty in walking 400m or climbing stairs. Activities of daily living (ADL) disability was based on any self-reported difficulty in five mobility-related ADLs. The short physical performance battery (SPPB) was used to assess physical performance. Poisson regression models were fitted to estimate prevalence ratios.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age-adjusted prevalence of low SPPB, mobility disability and ADL disability were higher in women than in men in all sites except for Kingston. After adjustment for education and income, gender differences in SPPB and ADL disability attenuated or disappeared in Saint-Hyacinthe and Manizales but remained large in Tirana and Natal and mobility disability remained more frequent in women than in men at all sites except Kingston. After further adjustment by chronic conditions and depressive symptoms, gender differences in mobility remained large at all sites except Kingston but only in Tirana did women have significantly poorer physical performance than men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results provide evidence for gender as a risk factor to explain poorer physical function in women and suggest that moving toward gender equality could attenuate the gender gap in physical function in old age.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Public Health of the Université de Montréal (IRSPUM), Canada. Electronic address: maria.victoria.zunzunegui@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Zunzunegui
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Alvarado
authors.affiliation: School of Physiotherapy, Universidade Federale do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guerra
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Albanian National Institute of Health, Tirana, Albania.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ylli
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Guralnik
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Public Health of the Université de Montréal (IRSPUM), Canada; Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; School of Physiotherapy, Universidade Federale do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil; School of Medicine, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia; Albanian National Institute of Health, Tirana, Albania; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001938:Brazil; D002170:Canada; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D015995:Prevalence; D011792:Quebec; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Aging; Disability; Gender; International; Mobility; Physical function