Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-5-2019

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities

Volume

32

Issue

4

First page number:

958

Last page number:

966

Abstract

Background: The very low physical fitness levels of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) may influence their life expectancy. Therefore, we investigated the predictive value of physical fitness for survival in older adults with intellectual disabilities. Method: In the Healthy Ageing and Intellectual Disabilities (HA‐ID) study,the physical fitness levels of 900 older adults (≥50 years; 61.5 ± 8.1 years) were measured at baseline. All‐cause mortality was collected over a 5‐year follow‐up period. Cox proportional hazard models were used to determine the association between each physical fitness test and survival, adjusted for age, sex, level of ID, and Down syndrome. Results: The physical fitness components that were independently predictive for survival were manual dexterity (HR = 0.96 [0.94–0.98]), visual reaction time (HR = 1.57 [1.28–1.94]), balance (HR = 0.97 [0.95–0.99]), comfortable gait speed (HR = 0.65 [0.54–0.78]), fast gait speed (HR = 0.81 [0.72–0.91]), grip strength (HR = 0.97 [0.94–0.99]) and cardiorespiratory fitness (HR = 0.997 [0.995–0.999]), with a better physical fitness showing a lower mortality risk. Conclusion: We showed for the first time that physical fitness was independently associated with survival in older adults with intellectual disabilities. Improving and maintaining physical fitness must become an essential part of care and support for this population.

Keywords

Activity; Intellectual disabilities; Mortality; Older adults; Physical capacity

Disciplines

Disability Studies | Social and Behavioral Sciences

File Format

PDF

File Size

479 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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