Association between restricted outings and geriatric locomotive function scale score in the general elderly population during the COVID-19 pandemic

Masashi Uehara; Jun Takahashi; Shota Ikegami; Ryosuke Tokida; Hikaru Nishimura; Noriko Sakai; Etsuo Chosa

doi:10.1016/j.jos.2024.01.001

Association between restricted outings and geriatric locomotive function scale score in the general elderly population during the COVID-19 pandemic

J Orthop Sci. 2024 Jan 17:S0949-2658(24)00002-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jos.2024.01.001. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Masashi Uehara¹, Jun Takahashi², Shota Ikegami², Ryosuke Tokida³, Hikaru Nishimura³, Noriko Sakai⁴, Etsuo Chosa⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, Japan. Electronic address: umasa@shinshu-u.ac.jp.
² Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.
³ Rehabilitation Center, Shinshu University Hospital, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.
⁴ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, New Life Hospital, 851 Obuse, Kamitakai-gun, Nagano 381-0295, Japan.
⁵ Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Department of Medicine of Sensory and Motor Organs, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, 5200 Kihara, Kiyotake, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan.

PMID: 38233330
DOI: 10.1016/j.jos.2024.01.001

Abstract

Background: Restrictions in daily activities due to coronavirus infection countermeasures reduced opportunities for physical activity and social participation in people of all ages. This study investigated the associations of restricted outings on locomotive function during the COVID-19 pandemic using a cohort of middle-aged and elderly community-dwelling residents.

Methods: Registered citizens of 50-89 years old were targeted for this investigation. We established 8 groups based on age (50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's) and gender (male and female) after random sampling from the basic resident registry of Obuse town in 2014. All participants were surveyed by a 25-question geriatric locomotive function scale (GLFS-25) at the time of checkup before the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in 2021 and 2022 after government restrictions on outings were lifted for COVID-19 pandemic, all participants were mailed questionnaires including the GLFS-25. A total of 296 (143 male and 153 female) participants who responded at least once were included. We evaluated the changes in opportunities to go out between pre- and post-pandemic time points and the impact on GLFS-25 scores.

Results: In total, 128 (43.2%) respondents had fewer opportunities to go out than the previous year. Pre- and post-pandemic GLFS-25 scores in the decreased outing (+) group were significantly worse than in the decreased outing (-) group (both p < 0.01). The final multivariate model revealed GLFS-25 score worsening beta coefficient of 0.27 for age (+10 years), 3.97 for male, 4.54 for decreased outings, and 4.46 for spinal canal stenosis.

Conclusions: In this randomly sampled Japanese cohort based on a resident registry, restricted outings during the COVID-19 pandemic was a significant independent factor associated with lower locomotive function.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Locomotive function; Restricted outings.