219784 Lower Body Function as a Predictor of Mortality over 13- Years of Follow-Up in older Mexican-American

Monday, November 8, 2010 : 12:45 PM - 1:00 PM

Sang Gon Nam, MS , Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Galveston, TX
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.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Diversity and culture
Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of lower body function on 13-year follow-up mortality in older Mexican Americans. The primary research question is “Is lower body function a predictor of mortality over 13 years of follow-up?” We hypothesize that lower body function (a short physical performance battery (SPPB), walk score and activities daily living (ADL) limitations are the mortality risk factors over 13- years in older Mexican Americans. Further, with other variables such as depression, cognitive function, any ADL, and BMI, we investigate which factors could be possible predictor of long-term mortality.

Keywords: Aging, Hispanic

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Doctoral Student in Sociomedical Science Division, Department of Population Health Sciences at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.