Functional Autonomy Evaluation Levels in Middle-Aged and Older Spanish Women: On Behalf of the Healthy-Age Network

Pablo Jorge Marcos-Pardo, Noelia González-Gálvez, Raquel Vaquero-Cristóbal, Gemma María Gea-García, Abraham López-Vivancos, Alejandro Espeso-García, Daniel Velázquez-Díaz, Ana Carbonell-Baeza, David Jiménez-Pavón, Juliana Brandão Pinto de Castro and Rodrigo Gomes de Souza Vale
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Pablo Jorge Marcos-Pardo: Research Group on Health, Physical Activity, Fitness and Motor Behaviour (GISAFFCOM) and Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Department, Faculty of Sport, Catholic University San Antonio of Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Noelia González-Gálvez: Research Group on Health, Physical Activity, Fitness and Motor Behaviour (GISAFFCOM) and Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Department, Faculty of Sport, Catholic University San Antonio of Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Raquel Vaquero-Cristóbal: Research Group on Health, Physical Activity, Fitness and Motor Behaviour (GISAFFCOM) and Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Department, Faculty of Sport, Catholic University San Antonio of Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Gemma María Gea-García: Research Group on Health, Physical Activity, Fitness and Motor Behaviour (GISAFFCOM) and Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Department, Faculty of Sport, Catholic University San Antonio of Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Abraham López-Vivancos: Research Group on Health, Physical Activity, Fitness and Motor Behaviour (GISAFFCOM) and Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Department, Faculty of Sport, Catholic University San Antonio of Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Alejandro Espeso-García: Research Group on Health, Physical Activity, Fitness and Motor Behaviour (GISAFFCOM) and Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Department, Faculty of Sport, Catholic University San Antonio of Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Daniel Velázquez-Díaz: Active Aging, Exercise and Health/HEALTHY-AGE Network, Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), Ministry of Culture and Sport of Spain, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Ana Carbonell-Baeza: Active Aging, Exercise and Health/HEALTHY-AGE Network, Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), Ministry of Culture and Sport of Spain, 28040 Madrid, Spain
David Jiménez-Pavón: Active Aging, Exercise and Health/HEALTHY-AGE Network, Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), Ministry of Culture and Sport of Spain, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Juliana Brandão Pinto de Castro: Laboratory of Exercise and Sport (LABEES), Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), 20550 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rodrigo Gomes de Souza Vale: Active Aging, Exercise and Health/HEALTHY-AGE Network, Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), Ministry of Culture and Sport of Spain, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: Aging is associated with a progressive loss of functional capacity that affects the health and quality of life of middle-aged and older people. The purpose of this study was to report functional autonomy evaluation levels in middle-aged and older women in the Spanish context. A total of 709 middle-aged and older women, between 50 and 90 years old, were selected to participate in the study. The sample was divided by age category every five years. The functional autonomy levels were determined by the Latin American Group for Maturity (GDLAM) protocol and we developed a classification pattern for middle-aged and older women living in Spain. The GDLAM Index (GI) was then calculated to assess functional autonomy. The classification of the tests and the GI followed the percentile rank (P) Very Good ( p < 0.15), Good ( p 0.16– p 0.50), Regular ( p 0.51– p 0.85), and Poor ( p > 0.85). It was considered that the lower the value found for the percentile, the better the result. The GDLAM protocol showed strong reliability with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values greater than 0.92 in all tests. It is observed that all variables of the GDLAM protocol presented a positive and significant correlation with age ( p < 0.001). The Roc Curve showed that GI values higher than 26 (CI95% = 0.97–1.00; p < 0.001) and 32 (CI95% = 0.98–1.00; p < 0.001) for middle-aged and elderly women, respectively, can predict and indicate low functional autonomy. The normative values hereby provided will enable evaluation and adequate interpretation of Spanish middle-aged and older women’s functional autonomy.

Keywords: functional capacity; older people; functional autonomy assessment; aging; health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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