查看文章

Objective: to investigate the associations between chronic health conditions, psychosocial and environmental factors and catastrophic decline in mobility among older people.

Design: longitudinal cohort.

Setting: national sample living in private households.

Participants: nine hundred and ninety-nine adults aged ≥65 years at initial interview, of which 786 agreed to take part in a follow-up survey 12 months later, and 531 responded to the questionnaire.

Measurements: catastrophic decline in mobility: inability to do any of the three activities of daily living items—walking 400 yards, climbing up and down stairs or steps and getting on a bus—having been capable of independently doing all three one year earlier.

Results: similar annual rates of catastrophic decline were reported for men and women: 4.8 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.7–8.3] and 4.6% (2.4 …