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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Naoki Kondo, MD, PhD¹, Mari Kazama, PhD¹, Kohta Suzuki, MD, PhD², and Zentaro Yamagata, MD, PhD¹. (1) Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Chuo-shi, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan, +81-55-273-9566, nkondo@yamanashi.ac.jp, (2) Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Tamaho, Yamanashi, Japan

BACKGROUNDS: Deterioration of functional capacities higher than activities of daily living (ADL) such as social role function (SR), intellectual activity (IA), and instrumental ADL (IADL) predict subsequent incident ADL disability. We evaluated mental health-related risk for onset of ADL disability and functional capacity loss.

METHODS: Mental health was assessed by a standardized measure for 600 random samples from the 65 or older population of Yamanashi prefecture, Japan. Functional capacity loss was determined by the score reduction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence (TMIG-IC). ADL disability onset was determined by the certification of care need by the public long-term care insurance or by mortality. Using Cox's proportional hazard model, associations of depression for 2-year onset of ADL disability and functional capacity loss were estimated. Age, gender, income, education, alcohol drinking, smoking, exercise habits, health status, and social relationships were considered as confounders.

RESULTS: 583 people (97%) completed the baseline questionnaire. Of those, 92% were followed 2 years. During the follow up, 34 (6%) cases of ADL disability and 110 (19%) cases of functional capacity loss occurred. Having mental health risk was significantly associated with the loss of SR, IA, and IADL, whereas insignificant with ADL disability onset. Having severe mental health risk doubled the risk for the functional capacity loss. The relative risk in old-old was higher than young-old.

CONCLUSION: Mental health risks in older people may threaten their independent life. Their higher functional capacities tend to be deteriorated earlier than basic ADL by the depressive status.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, the participants of the session will be able to

• Understand how mental health affects each level of the competence for independent life including ADL of an older adult who live in a community.
• Recognize the importance of the primary prevention intervention of ADL disability focusing on mental health.

Keywords: Disability, Maternal Health

Awards: Nobuo Maeda International Aging & Public Health Research Award - Honorable Mention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered