Development and validation of a composite measure of physical function using a battery of performance-based measures: A longitudinal analyses of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging
Description: Low muscle strength and physical performance are powerful predictors of future health outcomes including disability, loss of independence, and death. Traditionally, low strength or loss of physical performance are identified when measures at one point in time drop below pre-determined cut-offs. However, these cut-offs ignore the impact of important factors such as age and height on function and may not be accurate. They also do not consider that changes in strength and performance may be more important than overall strength and performance, or that performance on multiple measures are better predictors of future outcomes than performance on a single measure. This study aims to remedy these limitations by developing a more personalized and robust approach to identify people with low strength and physical performance. Data from ~30,000 Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging participants aged 45 to 85 years will be used to develop a method to predict expected performance and change in performance on five tests of strength and physical performance taking personal factors like age, sex, education, and income into account. The difference between each person's expected performance versus actual performance on the tests will be used together to create a summary score of physical performance. We will also create a single indicator of if someone has low physical performance based on the results of all five tests. We will assess how well our new measures work compared to the traditional ways of assessing physical performance by assessing their ability to predict future health outcomes, such as disability, nursing home admission, home care use, and mortality. The measures of physical performance developed by this study can be applied in clinical and research settings. They will help identify individuals that may benefit from early interventions to maintain mobility and independence.
Amount: CA$70,000
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: Catalyst Grant: Analysis of Canadian Longitudinal Study in Aging (CLSA) Data - IMHA
Start date: 2024-03-01
End date: 2025-02-28
Investigator: Ayse Kuspinar
Institution: McMaster University
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: 192917_1
OpenAlex ID: G6158255259