DIFFERENCES IN CAUSES OF ACTIVITY LIMITATION BY SEX AND AGE 

Background and Objective

Activity is part of people’s daily lives, and activity limitation (AL) causes could be physical and mental problems. This study analyzes the causes of AL by sex and age group in adults. 

Material and Methods

This study analyzed records surveyed using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey Questionnaire during 2013–2017. The subjects were 1597 men and 2249 women aged 30–79 years. The questionnaire assessed AL causes, and a chi-squared test analyzed age- and sex-based differences.

Results

Among the subjects, 45.8% men and 51.2% women reported AL occurrence. AL was prevalent among 18.5% men and 20.5% women in their 30s, and these numbers were correspondingly 60.9 and 60.6% for participants in their 70s. None reported one reportedaamong men participants in their 30s. However, 3.2 and 3.9% of women in their 70s reported ≥3 AL causes. The most cause of AL for all ages is musculoskeletal problems. The main AL cause among people in their 30s was musculoskeletal and mental problems, whereas those in their 70s reported multiple causes, such as vision, hearing, respira-tory, and musculoskeletal problems. Stroke, cancer, and hearing problem occurrences were signifi-cantly different between men and women, and women reported higher AL rate than men (p<0.05).

Conclusion

AL causes varied more among older adults than younger adults. Musculoskeletal problems are a major cause of AL for all ages. In addition, the proportion of occurrence of mental problems was relatively high in young adults. Therefore, different healthcare methods should be developed to resolve AL in different populations according to their age and specific problems.

activity limitation; age; cause; sex

1. Hallal PC, Andersen LB, Bull FC, et al. Global physical activity levels: Surveillance progress, pit-falls, and prospects. Lancet 2012;380:247–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60646-1

2. Benedetti M, Catani F, Bilotta T, et al. Muscle acti-vation pattern and gait biomechanics after total knee replacement. Clin Biomech 2003;18:871–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0268-0033(03)00146-3

3. Moghaddam MB, Aghdam FB, Jafarabadi MA, et al. The Iranian Version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) in Iran: Content and construct validity, factor structure, internal consistency and stability. World Appl Sci J 2012;18:1073–80.

4. McCusker J, Bellavance F, Cardin S, et al. Validity of an activities of daily living questionnaire among older patients in the emergency depart-ment. J Clin Epidemiol 1999;52:1023–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0895-4356(99)00084-0

5. Van Oyen H, Van der Heyden J, Perenboom R, et al. Monitoring population disability: Evaluation of a new Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI). Soz Präventivmed 2006;51:153–61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-006-0035-y

6. Barbour KE, Helmick CG, Theis KA, et al. Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis and arthritis-attributable activity limitation—United States, 2010–2012. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2013;62:869.

7. Roche N. Activity limitation: A major conse-quence of dyspnoea in copd. Eur Respiratory Soc 2009;18:54–57.

8. Wang MY, Rousseau J, Boisjoly H, et al. Activity limitation due to a fear of falling in older adults with eye disease. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2012;53: 7967–72. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.12-10701

9. Trombetti A, Hars M, Hsu F-C, et al. Effect of physical activity on frailty: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Ann Intern Med 2018;168:309–16. https://doi.org/10.7326/M16-2011

 10. Da Silva MA, Singh-Manoux A, Brunner EJ, et al. Bidirectional association between physical activity and symptoms of anxiety and depression: The Whitehall II study. Eur J Epidemiol 2012;27:537–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-012-9692-8

 11. O’Donnell KJ, Meaney MJ. Fetal origins of men-tal health: The developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis. Am J Psychiatry 2016;174:319–28. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi. ajp.2016.16020138

 12. Wardoku R, Blair C, Demmer R, et al. Association between physical inactivity and health-related quality of life in adults with coronary heart dis-ease. Maturitas 2019;128:36–42. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2019.07.005

 13. Park S, Kim Y, Shin H-R, et al. Population-attributable causes of cancer in Korea: Obesity and physical inactivity. PLoS One 2014;9:e90871. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090871

 14. Rodrigues MAP, Facchini LA, Thumé E, et al. Gender and incidence of functional disability in the elderly: A systematic review. Cad Saude Publica 2009;25:S464–76. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2009001500011

 15. Roebroeck ME, Jahnsen R, Carona C, et al. Adult outcomes and lifespan issues for people with childhood-onset physical disability. Dev Med Child Neurol 2009;51:670–8. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2009.03322.x

 16. Jagger C, Gillies C, Cambois E, et al. The Global Activity Limitation Index measured function and disability similarly across European countries. J Clin Epidemiol 2010;63:892–9. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.11.002

 17. Liou T-H, Pi-Sunyer FX, Laferrere B. Physical dis-ability and obesity. Nutr Rev 2005;63:321–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2005.tb00110.x

 18. Walter S, Kunst A, Mackenbach J, et al. Mortality and disability: The effect of overweight and obe-sity. Int J Obes 2009;33:1410–8. https://doi. org/10.1038/ijo.2009.176

 19. Sullivan PW, Morrato EH, Ghushchyan V, et al. Obesity, inactivity, and the prevalence of diabetes and diabetes-related cardiovascular comorbidities in the US, 2000–2002. Diabetes Care 2005;28:1599–1603. https://doi.org/10.2337/diacare.28.7.1599

 20. Song J, Chang RW, Dunlop DD. Population impact of arthritis on disability in older adults. Arthritis Care Res 2006;55:248–55. https://doi. org/10.1002/art.21842

 21. Hootman JM, Helmick CG, Brady TJ. A public health approach to addressing arthritis in older adults: The most common cause of disability. Am J Public Health 2012;102:426–33. https://doi. org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300423

 22. Hoy D, Bain C, Williams G, et al. A systematic review of the global prevalence of low back pain. Arthritis Rheum 2012;64:2028–37. https://doi. org/10.1002/art.34347

 23. Chae J, Mascarenhas D, David TY, et al. Poststroke shoulder pain: Its relationship to motor impairment, activity limitation, and qual-ity of life. Archiv Phys Med Rehabil 2007;88:298–

301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2006.12.007

 24. Prados-Torres A, Calderón-Larranaga A, Hancco-Saavedra J, et al. Multimorbidity patterns: A sys-tematic review. J Clin Epidemiol 2014;67:254–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.09.021

 25. Walker J, Holm Hansen C, Martin P, et al. Prevalence of depression in adults with cancer: A systematic review. Ann Oncol 2012;24:895–900. https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mds575

 26. Palmer S, Vecchio M, Craig JC, et al. Prevalence of depression in chronic kidney disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis of observa-tional studies. Kidney Int 2013;84:179–91. https://doi.org/10.1038/ki.2013.77

 27. Orth U, Robins RW. Understanding the link between low self-esteem and depression. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 2013;22:455–60. https://doi.org/10. 1177/0963721413492763

 28. Iancu I, Bodner E, Ben-Zion IZ. Self esteem, dependency, self-efficacy and self-criticism in social anxiety disorder. Compr Psychiatry 2015;58:165–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. comppsych. 2014.11.018

 29. Ferre ER, Bottini G, Iannetti GD, et al. The bal-ance of feelings: Vestibular modulation of bodily sensations. Cortex 2013;49:748–58. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.cortex.2012.01.012

 30. Schniepp R, Wuehr M, Neuhaeusser M, et al. Locomotion speed determines gait variability in cerebellar ataxia and vestibular failure. Mov Disord 2012;27:125–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.23978

 31. Ciorba A, Bianchini C, Pelucchi S, et al. The impact of hearing loss on the quality of life of elderly adults. Clin Interv Aging 2012;7:159. https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S26059

 32. Roth TN, Hanebuth D, Probst R. Prevalence of age-related hearing loss in Europe: A review. Eur Archiv Oto-Rhino-Laryngol 2011;268:1101–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-011-1597-8

 33. Freid VM, Bernstein AB, Bush MA. Multiple chronic conditions among adults aged 45 and over: Trends over the past 10 years. NCHS Data Brief 2012:1–8.

 34. Armour BS, Courtney-Long EA, Fox MH, et al. Prevalence and causes of paralysis-United States, 2013. Am J Public Health 2016;106:1855–7. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303270

 35. Vogelzangs N, Seldenrijk A, Beekman AT, et al. Cardiovascular disease in persons with depressive and anxiety disorders. J Affect Disord 2010;125:241–

8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2010.02.112

 36. Caughey GE, Vitry AI, Gilbert AL, et al. Prevalence of comorbidity of chronic diseases in Australia. BMC Public Health 2008;8:221. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-221

 37. Read JnG, Gorman BK. Gender and health inequality. Annu Rev Sociol 2010;36:371–86. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102535

 38. Moss NE. Gender equity and socioeconomic inequality: A framework for the patterning of women’s health. Soc Sci Med 2002;54:649–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(01)00115-0