Physical Functional Limitations among Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Older Adults: Associations with Socio-Demographic Factors and Health

Lina Gubhaju; Emily Banks; Rona MacNiven; Bridgette J McNamara; Grace Joshy; Adrian Bauman; Sandra J Eades

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139364

Physical Functional Limitations among Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Older Adults: Associations with Socio-Demographic Factors and Health

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 30;10(9):e0139364. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139364. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Lina Gubhaju¹, Emily Banks², Rona MacNiven³, Bridgette J McNamara¹, Grace Joshy², Adrian Bauman³, Sandra J Eades¹

Affiliations

¹ Aboriginal Health, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, 99 Commercial Road, Melbourne, 3004, Victoria, Australia.
² Chronic Disease Epidemiology, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Acton, 2601, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
³ Prevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Level 6 The Hub, The Charles Perkins Centre (D17), Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

Background: Australian Aboriginal people are disproportionately affected by physical disability; the reasons for this are unclear. This study aimed to quantify associations between severe physical functional limitations and socio-demographic and health-related factors among older Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adults.

Methods: Questionnaire data from 1,563 Aboriginal and 226,802 non-Aboriginal participants aged ≥45 years from the Sax Institute's 45 and Up Study (New South Wales, Australia) were used to calculate age- and sex-adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) for severe limitation [MOS-PF score <60] according to socio-demographic and health-related factors.

Results: Overall, 26% (410/1563) of Aboriginal participants and 13% (29,569/226,802) of non-Aboriginal participants had severe limitations (aPR 2.8, 95%CI 2.5-3.0). In both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal participants, severe limitation was significantly associated with: being ≥70 vs <70 years old (aPRs 1.8, 1.3-2.4 and 5.3, 5.0-5.5, within Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal participants, respectively), none vs tertiary educational qualifications (aPRs 2.4, 1.7-3.3 and 3.1, 3.0-3.2), lower vs higher income (aPRs 6.6, 4.2-10.5 and 5.5, 5.2-5.8), current vs never-smoking (aPRs 2.0, 1.6-2.5 and 2.2, 2.1-2.3), obese vs normal weight (aPRs 1.7, 1.3-2.2 and 2.7, 2.7-2.8) and sitting for ≥7 vs <7 hours/day (aPRs 1.6, 1.2-2.0 and 1.6, 1.6-1.7). Severe limitations increased with increasing ill-health, with aPRs rising to 5-6 for ≥5 versus no chronic conditions. It was significantly higher in those with few vs many social contacts (aPRs 1.7, 1.4-2.0 and 1.4, 1.4-1.4) and with very high vs low psychological distress (aPRs 4.4, 3.6-5.4 and 5.7, 5.5-5.9).

Conclusions: Although the prevalence of severe physical limitation among Aboriginal people in this study is around three-fold that of non-Aboriginal people, the factors related to it are similar, indicating that Aboriginal people have higher levels of risk factors for and consequences of severe limitations. Effective management of chronic disease and reducing the prevalence of obesity and smoking are important areas for attention.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Activities of Daily Living / psychology
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Australia / epidemiology
Australia / ethnology
Chronic Disease / epidemiology
Chronic Disease / ethnology
Chronic Disease / psychology
Cohort Studies
Demography
Education
Female
Humans
Income
Male
Middle Aged
Motor Activity*
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
Obesity / epidemiology
Risk Factors
Smoking
Socioeconomic Factors

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the Victorian Government’s OIS Program, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Grant Number 1013418) (recipient: Sandra Eades), National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Centre for Research Excellence Grant (recipient: Sandra Eades), and Lowitja Institute (recipient: Lina Gubhaju). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.