[Epidemiologic study on factors related to physical locomotion ability among the aged]

The present study was conducted in order to examine epidemiologic factors related to physical locomotion ability among the aged in an area with long life expectancy, a village in Okinawa Prefecture. Medical examinations and interviews were performed for 756 inhabitants aged 65 years and older, who were classified into 2 groups of physical locomotion ability, a high group and a low group. According to the results after multiple logistic regression analysis, the following factors showed positive relation to physical locomotion ability: age, working status, food intake frequencies (fish, eggs and green vegetables), skinfold thickness, grip strength and serum albumin. However, no statistical associations were observed between physical locomotion ability and other factors such as sex, smoking status, alcohol intake, hypertension, Quetelet's index, serum total cholesterol or and hemoglobin.