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.

Customer-oriented counseling for physical activity in older people: study protocol and selected baseline results of a randomized-controlled trial (ISRCTN 07330512).

The objective of this study is to describe the rationale, design and selected baseline results of a 2-year randomized-controlled trial (RCT) on the effects of physical activity counseling in community-living older people. After a four-phase screening and data-collection process targeting all independently living people in the city center of Jyväskylä, Finland, six hundred and thirty-two 75-81-year-old cognitively intact, sedentary persons who were able to move independently outdoors at least minimally and willing to take part in the RCT were randomized into intervention and control groups. At baseline, over half of the subjects exercised less than two to three times a month and two-thirds were willing to increase their physical activity level.

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.

Muscle strength before and mortality after a bone fracture in older people.

We studied whether muscle strength measured before a bone fracture predicts mortality following the fracture. The participants were a sub-cohort of 82 people of a total of 493 Evergreen project participants initially aged 75- and 80 years, who had participated in knee extension strength tests as part of the baseline examinations, and who subsequently suffered at least one bone fracture. Maximal isometric knee extension strength was measured at baseline using an adjustable dynamometer chair.

Health and functional capacity as predictors of community dwelling among elderly people.

The aim of this study was to identify factors that predict community dwelling (i.e., nonuse of institutional bed-days) among elderly people.

Disability, physical activity, and muscle strength in older women: the Women's Health and Aging Study.

Objective: To study associations of motor disability, physical activity, and muscle strength in older women, in particular to investigate whether model of spiraling decrease is expressed in the data.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis using data from the baseline measurements of The Women's Health and Aging Study (WHAS).

Setting: Participants' homes.

Associations of sensory-motor functions with poor mobility in 75- and 80-year-old people.

This study investigated the associations of sensory-motor functions with mobility in elderly people. All 75- and 80-year-old residents of the city of Jyväskylä, Finland, were invited to take part in the study. A total of 617 (93%) persons were interviewed, and 500 (75%) took part in laboratory examinations.

Calcaneal bone mineral density predicts fracture occurrence: a five-year follow-up study in elderly people.

A 5-year follow-up study investigated calcaneal bone mineral density (BMD) and changes in BMD in relation to fracture occurrence. The subjects comprised two cohorts born in 1914 and 1910 living in the city of Jyväskylä in central Finland. One hundred and three men (82%) and 188 women (73%), aged 75, and 57 men (74%) and 136 women (65%), aged 80, of the eligible population participated in the baseline bone measurements.

Morbidity and disability in 75- and 80-year-old men and women. A five-year follow-up.

Purpose of this report is to describe the changes that occurred in morbidity, symptoms of illness and disability of 75- and 80-year-old residents of Jyväskylä, Finland, over a five-year period. The study population consisted of the elderly residents of the city of Jyväskylä in central Finland who were born in 1914 and 1910. At baseline (in 1989 and 1990), 355 (92.

Difficulties in mobility among elderly people and their association with socioeconomic factors, dwelling environment and use of services.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the extent to which elderly people have difficulties in mobility, and determine their association with socioeconomic factors, dwelling environment and use of services. The study groups were composed of two random samples of 800 persons aged 65-74 and 75-84, respectively. In all, 1224 non-institutionalized persons (80%) were interviewed at home.