Assessment of the Activities of Daily Living Age in Elderly Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess activities of daily living age in elderly. The subjects were 253 Korean elderly women, aged 60 to 91 years, all of whom were participants in an elderly school program managed by the Seoul City. Activities necessary for independence in daily living must be selected from various components. First of all, a questionnaire was administered to clarify the areas of activities of daily living in the elderly. Factor analysis with Normal Varimax criterion was applied to the data, and the factors extracted were interpreted as locomotion of whole body, manipulation of upper limb, manipulation of finger, and change of posture. Secondly, twenty-four performance tests related to the activities of daily living were selected. Principal component analysis was applied to the 24 x 24 correlation matrix, and first principal component was interpreted as total activities of daily living because of significantly heavy loadings with all variables. Principal component score decreased significantly with advancing age (r= - 0.578). Multiple regression analysis revealed that out of the 24 variables examined, 5 were suitable for the assessment of the activities of daily living. The equation developed to determine the activities of daily living age (ADLA) was ADLA= 6.28ADLS+72.21+z, ADLS=-0.039x₁+0.051x₂.+0.048x₃+0.015x₄+0.012x₅-2.76, Z= 0.44Age-31.45 ; where x₁ =walking around two chairs in a figure 8, x₂=moving beans from one container to another using pincers, x₃ =grip strength, x₄ = raising the arms above the head while holding a bar, and x₅=balancing on one leg with eyes open. It was confirmed that the estimated ADLAS Were symmetrically scattered above and below the line of identity (i.e., chronological ages=ADLAs). In the cross-validation sample (n= 100), no significant difference existed between ADLAS and chronological ages. The equation for estimating ADLA was considered useful in evaluating activities of daily living in the elderly.