Construct and predictive validity of a self-reported measure of preclinical mobility limitation.

Objectives: To validate self-reported preclinical mobility limitation concept and self-report assessment method against muscle power and walking speed, and to study the predictive validity of preclinical mobility limitation with respect to future risk of manifest mobility limitation.

Design: Observational prospective cohort study and cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: Research laboratory and community.

Underlying factors in the association between depressed mood and mobility limitation in older people.

Background: Depressed mood may either precede mobility limitation or follow from mobility limitation.

Objective: To compare mood status among people with manifest mobility limitation, those with preclinical mobility limitation and those without mobility limitation and investigate factors explaining the association between depressed mood and mobility limitation.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Fall-related injuries among initially 75- and 80-year old people during a 10-year follow-up.

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence, type, scene and seasonal variation of fall related injuries, and the impact of socio-economic factors, mobility limitation, and the most common diseases on the risk of injurious falls over a 10-year follow-up. Elderly residents of Jyväskylä, Finland, aged initially 75 and 80 years, took part in the study in 1989-1990. The health and functional capacity assessments were carried out at the baseline.

Motor speed and lower extremity strength as predictors of fall-related bone fractures in elderly individuals.

Background And Aims: The purpose of this prospective population-based study was to examine the combined effects of motor speed and knee extension strength on risk of fall-related bone fractures in elderly individuals over a 10-year period.

Methods: Participants were 307 men and women aged 75 or 80 years at baseline, who visited the research laboratory at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Multi-choice motor speed tests and maximal isometric knee extension strength tests were carried out at baseline.

The impact of structural and functional characteristics of social relations as determinants of functional decline.

Objectives: This study examines whether aspects of social relations at baseline are related to functional decline at 5-year follow-up among nondisabled old men and women.

Methods: The investigation is based on baseline and follow-up data on 651 nondisabled 75-year-old persons in Jyväskylä (Finland) and Glostrup (Denmark). The analyses are performed separately for men and women.

The incidence of mobility restrictions among elderly people in two Nordic localities. A five-year follow-up.

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of limitations in self-reported mobility as well as the decline in measured walking speed and stair-mounting ability over five years among men and women aged 75 at baseline in two Nordic localities. Another purpose was to analyze the relationship and its consistency over time between self-reports and performance-based measures in the decline of mobility. Identical Interviews and performance tests were carried out in Jyäskylä, Finland (N=244) and Glostrup, Denmark (N=275) at baseline and five years later.

Tiredness in daily activities among nondisabled old people as determinant of onset of disability.

The purpose of this article was to examine whether self-reported tiredness in daily activities at age 75 is an independent determinant of onset of disability at 5-year follow-up. The investigation is based on two subgroups of nondisabled participants of 75 year olds who survived and participated in the follow-up study 5 years later (n = 510 and 429). Persons who felt tired in their daily activities had a larger risk of becoming disabled in mobility (OR = 3.