[Functional capacity of the elderly: measurement by the TMIG Index of Competence]

The functional capacity of the elderly was assessed in a national representative sample of elderly community residents. A stratified multistage random sampling yielded, 2,240 eligible persons, and 80.8% of them (n = 1,810) were successfully interviewed. The respondents ranged in age from 65 to 96 years, and the average age was 72.5 years; 43.2% of them were men, and the remaining 56.8% were women. The TMIG Index of Competence, a standardized multidimensional 13-item index of competence, was used for measuring the functional capacity. The total score of the index (maximum 13 points) showed a negatively skewed leptokurtic distribution: 69.6% of the respondents scored 11 points or greater while the mean was 10.8 points. A multiple classification analysis of the total score utilizing age, gender, educational attainment, and size of community as independent variables showed significant effects of age and educational attainment; the score significantly decreased with age, and the highly educated elderly showed higher score than those with lower educational attainment. The results of this study show that the majority of the elderly living in the community are well in functional capacity though the capacity tends to decline with age. The distribution of total scores observed in this study can be considered as a national standard of distribution of functional capacity measured by the TMIG Index Competence.