Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2019 Jun 24;19(1):173.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-019-1190-3.

Association of Drug Burden Index with grip strength, timed up and go and Barthel index activities of daily living in older adults with intellectual disabilities: an observational cross-sectional study

Juliette O'Connell  1 , Martin C Henman  2 , Éilish Burke  3 , Clare Donegan  4 , Philip McCallion  5 , Mary McCarron  6 , Máire O'Dwyer  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Association of Drug Burden Index with grip strength, timed up and go and Barthel index activities of daily living in older adults with intellectual disabilities: an observational cross-sectional study

Juliette O'Connell et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Drug Burden Index (DBI), a measure of exposure to medications with anticholinergic and sedative activity, has been associated with poorer physical function in older adults in the general population. While extensive study has been conducted on associations between DBI and physical function in older adults in the general population, little is known about associations in older adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). This is the first study which aims to examine the association between DBI score and its two sub-scores, anticholinergic and sedative burden, with two objective measures of physical performance, grip strength and timed up and go, and a measure of dependency, Barthel Index activities of daily living, in older adults with ID.

Methods: Data from Wave 2 (2013/2014) of the Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA) was analysed. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to detect associations and produce adjusted means for the physical function and dependency measures with respect to categorical DBI scores and the anticholinergic and sedative sub-scores (DBA and DBS).

Results: After adjusting for confounders (age, level of ID, history of falls, comorbidities and number of non-DBI medications, Down syndrome (grip strength only) and gender (timed up and go and Barthel Index)), neither grip strength nor timed up and go were significantly associated with DBI, DBA or DBS score > 0 (p > 0.05). Higher dependency in Barthel Index was associated with DBS exposure (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: DBI, DBA or DBS scores were not significantly associated with grip strength or timed up and go. This could be as a result of established limitations in physical function in this cohort, long-term exposure to these types of medications or lifelong sedentary lifestyles. Higher dependency in Barthel Index activities of daily living was associated with sedative drug burden, which is an area which can be examined further for review.

Keywords: Ageing; Anticholinergic; Barthel index; Drug burden index; Grip strength; Intellectual disability; Medication; Physical function; Sedative; Timed up and go.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow Chart for IDS-TILDA
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Q-Q Plot for Female Grip Strength
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Q-Q Plot for Male Grip Strength
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Q-Q Plot for Reciprocal Timed Up and Go
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Q-Q Plot for Barthel Index
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Grip Strength Versus Age and Gender
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Timed Up and Go Versus Age
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Adjusted Mean Scores for Female Grip Strength
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Adjusted Mean Scores for Male Grip Strength
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Adjusted Mean Scores for Timed Up and Go
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
Adjusted Mean Scores for Barthel Index
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2013.
    1. Coppus AMW. People with intellectual disability: what do we know about adulthood and life expectancy? Dev Dis Res Rev. 2013;18(1):6–16. doi: 10.1002/ddrr.1123. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Patja K, Iivanainen M, Vesala H, Oksanen H, Ruoppila I. Life expectancy of people with intellectual disability: a 35-year follow-up study. J Intellect Disabil Res. 2000;44:591–599. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2788.2000.00280.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Janicki MP, Dalton AJ, Henderson CM, Davidson PW. Mortality and morbidity among older adults with intellectual disability: health services considerations. Disabil Rehabil. 1999;21(5–6):284–294. doi: 10.1080/096382899297710. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Heslop P, Blair PS, Fleming P, Hoghton M, Marriott A, Russ L. The confidential inquiry into premature deaths of people with intellectual disabilities in the UK: a population-based study. Lancet. 2014;383(9920):889–895. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62026-7. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances