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. 2017 Apr;65(4):833-838.
doi: 10.1111/jgs.14738. Epub 2017 Feb 2.

Life-Space Mobility Change Predicts 6-Month Mortality

Richard E Kennedy  1   2 , Patricia Sawyer  1   2 , Courtney P Williams  1 , Alexander X Lo  2   3 , Christine S Ritchie  4   5 , David L Roth  6 , Richard M Allman  7 , Cynthia J Brown  1   2   8
Affiliations

Life-Space Mobility Change Predicts 6-Month Mortality

Richard E Kennedy et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2017 Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine 6-month change in life-space mobility as a predictor of subsequent 6-month mortality in community-dwelling older adults.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Community-dwelling older adults from five Alabama counties in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging.

Participants: A random sample of 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries, stratified according to sex, race, and rural or urban residence, recruited between November 1999 and February 2001, followed by a telephone interview every 6 months for the subsequent 8.5 years.

Measurements: Mortality data were determined from informant contacts and confirmed using the National Death Index and Social Security Death Index. Life-space was measured at each interview using the UAB Life-Space Assessment, a validated instrument for assessing community mobility. Eleven thousand eight hundred seventeen 6-month life-space change scores were calculated over 8.5 years of follow-up. Generalized linear mixed models were used to test predictors of mortality at subsequent 6-month intervals.

Results: Three hundred fifty-four deaths occurred within 6 months of two sequential life-space assessments. Controlling for age, sex, race, rural or urban residence, and comorbidity, life-space score and life-space decline over the preceding 6-month interval predicted mortality. A 10-point decrease in life-space resulted in a 72% increase in odds of dying over the subsequent 6 months (odds ratio = 1.723, P < .001).

Conclusions: Life-space score at the beginning of a 6-month interval and change in life-space over 6 months were each associated with significant differences in subsequent 6-month mortality. Life-space assessment may assist clinicians in identifying older adults at risk of short-term mortality.

Keywords: comorbidity; life space; mobility; mortality; risk assessment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: [Table: see text]

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