Recherche en médecine familiale et en sciences médicales
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The Applicability of the Activities of Daily Living Age Scale in Japanese Community-Dwelling Adults Aged 75 Years or Older

Rafael Figueroa, Satoshi Seino, Noriko Yabushita, Yosuke Osuka, Yoshiro Okubo, Miyuki Nemoto, Songee Jung and Kiyoji Tanaka

Our aim is to investigate the applicability of the activities of daily living age scale (ADLA) through the examination of the degree to which physical functionality is enhanced by habitual exercise in older Japanese aged 75 years and older. Participants comprised 598 community-dwellings older Japanese (386 women 79.0 ± 3.5 and 212 men 79.1 ± 3.8), who were divided in 2 groups of a non-exercise (NE) and an active group (A). The ADLA equation is an instrument that estimates participants’ physical functioning regarding ADL using data obtained previously from 1006 subjects. All participants completed a comprehensive battery of 3 physical performance items that formed the basis for the ADLA equation. The developed equations are as follow: ADLA for women = 0.447 (chronological age: CA) – 5.49 (ADL scoreADLS) + 44.17; and ADLA for men = 0.519CA – 4.27ADLS + 38.26. In women the mean of ADLA of NE group (78.9 ± 4.3 years) were significantly lower than their mean of CA (79.4 ± 3.5 years, p<0.05). Meanwhile there were no significant difference among the mean of ADLA of the NE group in men (80.0 ± 5.1 years) and their mean of CA (79.7 ± 4.2). The ADLA mean of A group in women (76.3 ± 3.7 years) and in men (77.3±3.4 years) were significantly lower than their mean of CA (78.6 ± 3.5 and 78.4 ± 3.3 years, p<0.01) respectively. The result indicates that ADLA scale has validity application. Through the responsiveness of the ADLA scale we conclude that exercise habituation affects overall physical function even on people over 75 years and older, possessing significantly higher level of physical fitness than those who do not exercise regularly. They showed a remarkably older ADLA.