Effect of Perceived Health Status and Physical Performance on Fall in Community-dwelling Elderly

Brief nutrition screening tools are desired for research and practice. Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition (SCREEN-II, 14 items) and the abbreviated version SCREEN-II-AB (8 items) are valid and reliable nutrition screening tools for older adults. This exploratory study used a retrospective cross-sectional design to determine the construct validity of a subset of 3 items (weight loss, appetite, and swallowing difficulty) currently on the SCREEN-II and SCREEN-II-AB tools. Secondary data on community-dwelling senior males (n = 522, mean ± SD age = 86.7 ± 3.0 years) in the Manitoba Follow-up Study (MFUS) study were available for analysis. Participants completed the mailed MFUS Nutrition Survey that included SCREEN-II items and questions pertaining to self-rated health, diet healthiness, and rating of the importance of nutrition towards successful aging as the constructs for comparison. Self-perceived health status (F = 14.7, P < 0.001), diet healthiness (ρ = 0.17, P = 0.002) and the rating of nutrition's importance to aging (ρ = 0.10, P = 0.03) were correlated with the 3-item score. Inferences were consistent with associations between these construct variables and the full SCREEN-II. Three items from SCREEN-II and SCREEN-II-AB demonstrate initial construct validity with self-perceived health status and diet healthiness ratings by older males; further exploration for criterion and predictive validity in more diverse samples is needed.

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Perceived Health Status Is Associated With Hours of Exercise per Week in Older Adults Independent of Physical Health

Journal of Physical Activity and Health ◽

10.1123/jpah.10.8.1102 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 1102-1108 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Joanna Edel McHugh ◽

Brian A. Lawlor

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Health Status ◽

Perceived Health ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Regression Analyses ◽

Perceived Health Status ◽

Type Method ◽

Exercise Interventions ◽

Objective Health ◽

Actual Health

Background:Perceived health status does not always reflect actual health status. We investigated the association between objective and self-rated measures of health status and hours of exercise per week in older adults.Method:As part of the TRIL clinic assessment, we gathered information from 473 community dwelling adults over the age of 65, regarding hours spent per week exercising, depression, personality, perceived health status, and objective health status (in the form of a comorbidity count). Regression analyses were performed on these data to investigate whether perceived health status, objective health status, personality and mood are associated with hours of exercise per week.Results:Perceived and objective health status were significantly but weakly correlated. Both perceived and objective health status, as well as depression, were independently associated with hours of exercise per week.Conclusions:We conclude that exercise uptake in older adults is contingent on both perceived and objective health status, as well as depression. Perceived health status has a stronger association with exercise uptake in older adults with lower depression levels. The current findings have implications for designing exercise interventions for older adults.

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