Physical Function and Survival in Older Adults: A longitudinal study accounting for time-varying effects.

Purpose Of The Study: Variation in physical function in older adults over time raises several methodological challenges in the study of its association with survival, many of which have largely been overlooked in previous studies. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between time-varying measures of physical function and survival in men and women aged 70 years and over, while accounting for the time-varying effects of health and lifestyle characteristics.

Methods: 1,846 women and 1,245 men in the Cardiovascular Health Study followed annually for up to 10 years beginning at age 70-74 years were included.

The association between physical function and proximity to death in older adults: a multilevel analysis of 4,150 decedents from the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Purpose: When examining whether poor physical function is a risk factor for imminent death in older adults, one challenge is the lack of a meaningful time origin, a time point on which the estimate of time-to-death is anchored. In this study, we overcame this challenge by discarding the traditional-and flawed-approach of survival analysis with "time since beginning of follow up" as the time variable, and instead used a novel analytic approach that uses time-to-death as a covariate to examine its association with physical function.

Methods: Physical function and other covariates were measured annually in the Cardiovascular Health Study on 4150 individuals followed up to their time of death.

Can a Healthy Lifestyle Compress the Disabled Period in Older Adults?

Objectives: To determine whether lifestyle factors, measured late in life, could compress the disabled period toward the end of life.

Design: Community-based cohort study of older adults followed from 1989 to 2015.

Setting: Four U.

Sex, Race, and Age Differences in Observed Years of Life, Healthy Life, and Able Life among Older Adults in The Cardiovascular Health Study.

Objective: Longevity fails to account for health and functional status during aging. We sought to quantify differences in years of total life, years of healthy life, and years of able life among groups defined by age, sex, and race.

Design: Primary analysis of a cohort study.

Predicting Future Years of Life, Health, and Functional Ability: A Healthy Life Calculator for Older Adults.

To create personalized estimates of future health and ability status for older adults. Data came from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), a large longitudinal study. Outcomes included years of life, years of healthy life (based on self-rated health), years of able life (based on activities of daily living), and years of healthy and able life.