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The effect of diabetes on disability in middle-aged and older adults
Linda A Wray1, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Kenneth M Langa
1Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University, 315 Health and Human Development East, University Park, PA 16802, USA. law30@psu.edu
Background:
Physical disability is increasingly recognized as an adverse health consequence of type 2 diabetes in older adults. We studied the effect of diabetes on disability in middle-aged and older adults to: 1) characterize the association of diabetes with physical disability in middle-aged adults, and 2) determine the extent to which the effect of diabetes is explained by related covariates in either or both age groups.
Methods:
We used data from two parallel national panel studies of middle-aged and older adults to study the effect of self-reported diabetes at baseline on disability 2 years later, adjusting for baseline covariates.
Results:
Diabetes was strongly associated with subsequent physical disability (measured by a composite variable combining activities of daily living, mobility, and strength tasks) in middle-aged and older adults. Controlling for socioeconomic characteristics and common diabetes-related and unrelated comorbidities and conditions reduced the diabetes effect substantially, but it remained a significant predictor of disability in both groups.
Conclusions:
Our analyses demonstrated that disability is an important diabetes-related health outcome in middle-aged and older adults that should be prevented or mitigated through appropriate diabetes management.
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