American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 147, No. 4: 370-378
Copyright © 1998 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
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Prospective Study on the Relation between Living Arrangement and Change in Functional Health Status of Elderly Women
1 Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore, MD
2 Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore, MD
Reprint requests to Dr. Lisa Fredman, Department of Epidemiology and Oreventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Howard Hall, 660 West Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.
Limited prospective data exist on how living arrangements are associated with change in functional health. This study evaluated whether elderly women living alone were less likely to experience functional decline when compared with women who lived with others. A total of 619 community-dwelling, white women from Baltimore, Maryland, aged 65–99 years at baseline were questioned annually from 1984 to 1986. Functional health was measured as the sum of limitations in seven physical and seven instrumental activities of daily living (Instrumental ADL). A total of 148 women experienced functional decline over the 2 years, primarily as a deterioration in Instrumental ADL The association between living arrangement and change in Instrumental ADL depended on the level of physical impairment. Among women without severe impairment, Instrumental ADL deterioration was significantly less for those living alone compared with those living with spouses (odds ratio (OR) = 0.60, 95% confidence interval (Cl) 0.45–0.92) or nonspouse others (OR = 0.62, 95% Cl 0.45–0.96). For women with severe impairment, however, those living alone had a greater decline in Instrumental ADL, especially when compared with those living with nonspouse others (OR = 5.13, 95% Cl 1.23–21.28). These results suggest that, unless severely physically impaired, women living independently have less deterioration in functional health when compared with peers in alternate living arrangements. Am J Epidemiol 1998; 147: 370–8.
Activities of Daily Living; aged; health status; social isolation; women
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