Resumen de Health Behaviors as Predictors for Declines in Higher-Level Functional Capacity in Older Adults:: The Ohasama Study

Megumi Tsubota Utsugi, Rie Ito Sato, Takayoshi Ohkubo, Masahiro Kikuya, Kei Asayama, Hirohito Metoki, Naomi Fukushima, Ayumi Kurimoto, Yoshitaka Tsubono, Yutaka Imai

• Objectives: To determine the characteristics of health behaviors related to higher-level functional decline in older community-dwelling adults.

  Design: Prospective.

  Setting: Ohasama Town, Japan.

  Participants: One thousand fifty residents (mean age: 67.5) free of functional decline at baseline.

  Measurements: Health behaviors including smoking status, alcohol consumption, frequency of exercise, sleep duration, dietary habits (supplement use, breakfast, late-night snacking, eating regularly, and eating out), and self-rated health were obtained from a self-administered questionnaire at baseline. Higher-level functional decline was examined using the subscales of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence.

  Results: During the 7-year follow-up, 27.5% of eligible participants reported decline in higher-level functional capacity. After adjustment for putative confounding factors, health behaviors that were significant predictors for declines in higher-level functional capacity at the 7-year follow-up were current smoking (odds ratio (OR) = 1.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.06�2.36), sleep duration of 9 hours or longer (OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.49�3.11), and poor self-rated health (OR = 1.93, 95% CI = 1.40�2.67).

  Conclusion: Several modifiable health behaviors contribute to higher-level functional decline.