Prevalence and Trends of Basic Activities of Daily Living Limitations in Middle-Aged and Older Adults in the United States.

Background: Population-level surveillance of the prevalence and trends of basic self-care limitations will help to identify the magnitude of physical disablement in the rapidly growing older American demographic. We sought to evaluate the prevalence and trends of activities of daily living (ADL) limitations in the United States.

Methods: The analytic sample included 30,418 Americans aged ≥50 years from the 2006-2018 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. ADLs were self-reported. Weighted prevalence estimates were presented, and trends analyses were performed.

Results: Although overall ADL disability prevalence was 16.5% (95% confidence interval: 15.8-17.2) in 2018, there were no changes in limitations during the study period ( = 0.52). Older adults had a greater ADL disability prevalence than middle-aged adults ( < 0.001). While older persons experienced a declining trend of ADL limitations ( < 0.001), middle-aged persons had an increasing trend ( < 0.001). Males had a lower ADL limitation prevalence than females ( < 0.001). Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black had a higher ADL disability prevalence than non-Hispanic White ( < 0.001).

Conclusions: This investigation revealed that while the estimated prevalence of ADL limitations in the United States was substantial, changes in such limitations were not observed. Our findings can help guide ADL screening, target sub-populations with an elevated ADL limitation prevalence, and inform interventions.