Lower Body Function as a Predictor of Mortality over 13- Years of Follow-Up in older Mexican-American

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of lower body function on 13-year follow-up mortality in older population. It is hypothesized that lower body function (a short physical performance battery (SPPB)), walk score and activities daily living (ADL) limitations are the mortality risk factors for long term in older Mexican Americans. Data from baseline to Wave 6 (2007) of the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (Hispanic EPESE) are used in the analysis. Cox proportional hazard models are used to examine the hazard ratio of mortality risk by lower body function (SPPB and Any ADL) adjusting for age, sex, CES-D, and MMSE. Results show that the lower body function clearly is a predictor of 13-year mortality using walk score and SPPB score. In addition, any ADL, depression, and cognitive function are also indicators of long-term mortality risk. Moreover, compared to normal BMI people, overweight or obese participants tend to live significantly longer in the long term. Above all, this research is the first long-term research about associations between the lower body function and mortality in older Americans. Consequently, this study find that better lower body function is related to increased survival over a 13-year follow-up period. In addition, any ADL, MMSE, CES-D, and BMI are other strong predictors in long term mortality risk research in the older Hispanic population.