Health status and activities of daily living and walking in older people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

This study's aim was to describe the association between health status and activities of daily living (ADLs) in older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Health status and level of independence associated with ADLs and walking were surveyed in a cohort of 1,371 adults over age 40 years from two regions of upstate New York using the Rochester Health Status Survey. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between number of organ system disorders (OSDs) and level of independence in eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, and walking. Increasing numbers of comorbidities correlated with impairments in ADLs and walking, which were independent of increasing age. The severity of I/DD was correlated with impairments in some ADLs regardless of the number of OSDs and across age groups. The study's findings mirror patterns reported in the general population of older adults; health status, and not older age, is a predictor of functional impairment. © 2009 International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.