Are early onset aging conditions correlated to daily activity functions in youth and adults with Down syndrome?

Jin-Ding Lin; Lan-Ping Lin; Shang-Wei Hsu; Wen-Xiu Chen; Fu-Gong Lin; Jia-Ling Wu; Cordia Chu

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.051

Are early onset aging conditions correlated to daily activity functions in youth and adults with Down syndrome?

Res Dev Disabil. 2015 Jan:36C:532-536. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.051. Epub 2014 Nov 13.

Authors

Jin-Ding Lin¹, Lan-Ping Lin², Shang-Wei Hsu³, Wen-Xiu Chen⁴, Fu-Gong Lin⁴, Jia-Ling Wu⁵, Cordia Chu⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Center for Environment and Population Health, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Department of Healthcare Administration, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Chung-Hua Foundation for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Electronic address: a530706@ndmctsgh.edu.tw.
² School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Senior Citizen Service Management, Ching Kuo Institute of Management and Health, Keelung, Taiwan.
³ Department of Healthcare Administration, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁴ School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Chung-Hua Foundation for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁶ School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Center for Environment and Population Health, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

PMID: 25462513
DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.051

Abstract

This study aims to answer the research question of "Are early onset aging conditions correlated to daily activity functions in youth and adults with Down syndrome (DS)?" A cross-sectional survey was employed to recruit 216 individuals with DS over 15 years of age in the analyses. A structured questionnaire included demographic data, brief self-reported aging conditions, Dementia Screening Questionnaire for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (DSQIID) and activity of daily living (ADL) scales were completed by the primary caregivers who were well-suited for providing information on the functioning conditions of the DS individuals. Results showed that the most five frequent aging conditions (sometimes, usually and always) included frailty (20.2%), vision problem (15.8%), loss of language ability (15.3%), sleep problem (14.9%) and memory impairment (14.5%). Other onset aging conditions included more chronic diseases (13.9%), hearing loss (13%), chewing ability and tooth loss (12.5%), incontinence (11.1%), depressive syndrome (7.7%), falls and gait disorder (7.2%), loss of taste and smell (7.2%). The data also showed scores of DSQIID, onset aging conditions and ADL has significant relationships each other in Pearson's correlation tests. Finally, multiple linear regression analyses indicated onset aging conditions (β=-0.735, p<0.001) can significantly predicted the variation in ADL scores after adjusting other factors (R²=0.381). This study suggests that the authority should initiate early intervention programs aim to improve healthy aging and ADL functions for people with DS.

Keywords: ADL; Aging; Dementia; Down syndrome; Intellectual disability.