Functional status of the lower extremities in elderly males. A community study |
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Authors: | Jedrychowski W Mroz E Tobiasz-Adamczyk B Jedrychowska I |
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Affiliation: | Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Social Medicine, Krakow, Medical School, Krakow, Poland. |
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Abstract: | The purpose of this study was to evaluate the functional status of the lower extremities (FSL) of elderly males from the community and to compare it with the self-assessment of health status (SHS) and ventilatory lung function based on measurement of forced expiratory vital capacity (FVC). The material covered a group of 559 males, age 65-89 years, who are residents of Krakow. The FSL was measured by the length of standing time on one leg (ST). There was a very strong declining trend in the ST with age in the elderly. The ST correlated significantly inversely with age (r=-0.32) and positively with FVC (r=0.29). The FSL was also associated strongly with the SHS score, while body-mass index (BMI) and occupational category (OC) appeared to have insignificant effect. The results of the study suggest that the ST may be used as a crude indicator of the general fitness of the elderly. |
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