OBJECTIVES To describe and analyze the influence of social relations in the elderly in the rural setting with depression. METHODS DESIGN A cross-sectional study. SAMPLE Patients (N=787) over 64 years, non-institutionalized who belong to the Basic Health Zone Substations (Zaragoza), a representative rural area of Aragon. The following variables were evaluated: diagnosis of depression, com...

BACKGROUND This cross-sectional study investigated the associations between balance confidence, functional balance, and physical disability among older people after hip fracture. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study utilizes baseline data of two randomized controlled trials (ISRCTN34271567 and ISRCTN53680197). The participants were 159 community-dwelling over 60-year-old people. Health, fracture st...

PURPOSE This study explored the role control plays in the dying process of terminally ill elders by investigating the aspects of the dying process over which they seek to exercise control, the strategies they use, and whether they desire to exercise more control. DESIGN AND METHODS In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with 84 terminally ill elders receiving hospice care. Directed a...

Nutrition is a key element in geriatric health and is important for functional ability. The present study examined the functional status-predictive ability of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA). We analysed the dataset of the 'Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan', a population-based study conducted by the Bureau of Health Promotion of Taiwan. Study subjects (≥65 years...

Using data collected from the first wave of a longitudinal data set collected in the late fall and winter of 1990-1991, the National Survey of Self-Care and Aging (NSSCA), we examined the extent and type of assistance older people provided to others. Age, gender, and perceived health status were the most consistent predictors of the four types of assistance: personal care, child care, volunteer...

OBJECTIVE Prior studies have extensively examined the reciprocal relation between disability and depressive symptoms in late life, but little is known about whether informal care attenuates the reciprocal relation over time. This study examined whether disability and depressive symptoms mobilize informal care and whether informal care, once mobilized, protects older adults against the progressi...

OBJECTIVE To clarify whether self efficacy for health promotion is associated with functional ability among elderly inhabitants of a rural community in Japan. METHODS The research was a longitudinal study of inhabitants aged 65 and over in a community in Nagano, Japan, who completed a questionnaire at the baseline in 1998 and at follow-up in 1999. The questionnaire included 1) Self Efficacy S...

The aim of this study was to determine whether physical and psychological functioning can predict 6-year cognitive decline in older adults. A group of 669 participants aged 60 to 81 years was recruited from a longitudinal study (the Maastricht Aging Study). Physical functioning was measured in terms of perceived health and instrumental activities of daily living. Psychological functioning or mo...

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...