The purpose of this project was to identify group differences in physical function and HRQL between older adults living in different environments, and to compare information from these groups to data from a random sample of elders pulled from the general population. METHODS: Seventy-eight older adults were evaluated for physical function using the continuous-scale physical functional performance test (CS-PFP) and HRQL using the SF-36 v.2. Subjects were 26 predominantly African American participants (LOW group; age 72.2 ± 8.1 years), 26 Caucasian adults (HIGH group; age 77.6 ± 4.8 years), and 26 adults selected from a population-based study (POP group; age 73.4 ± 6.4 years). RESULTS: MANCOVA (age as a covariate) revealed group differences in physical function and HRQL. Follow-up LSD comparisons revealed that the LOW group had greater upper body strength compared to both the HIGH and POP groups (61.2 ± 3.7 vs. 43.6 ± 3.6 and 35.4 ± 3.6, respectively), and greater lower body strength (42.2 ± 3.3 vs. 36.5 ± 3.6) and total CS-PFP score (55.5 ± 3.5 vs. 44.4 ± 3.4) than POP. With respect to HRQL, the POP group had poorer SF-36 role physical (RP), physical function (PF), and physical component subscale (PCS) scores than the LOW and HIGH groups (PF: POP = 53.3 ± 5.8, LOW = 76.6 ± 5.3, HIGH = 75.5 ± 5.4; RP: POP = 56.6 ± 6.9, LOW = 80.9 ± 6.4, HIGH = 85.8 ± 6.4; PCS: POP = 38.3 ± 2.1, LOW = 49.6 ± 2.0, HIGH = 48.0 ± 2.0). The LOW had poorer mental health (MH) and mental component subscale (MCS) scores than the HIGH and POP groups (MH: LOW = 69.2 ± 2.6, HIGH = 88.4 ± 2.6, POP = 85.1 ± 2.6; MCS: LOW = 51.5 ± 1.4, HIGH = 57.7 ± 1.5, POP = 58.2 ± 1.6). CONCLUSION: These findings are consistent with the theory that environmental press may interact with functional ability to impact HRQL. Supported by the National Institute on Aging [P01 (AG022064091A1)] and the Louisiana Board of Regents through the Millennium Trust Health Excellence Fund [HEF (2001-06)02].
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-09082005-141156 |
| Date | 09 September 2005 |
| Creators | Bossier, Robyn M |
| Contributors | Robert Wood, Rebecca Gardner, Maria Kosma |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-09082005-141156/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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