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OBJECTIVES: The Health ABC Long Distance Corridor Walk (LDCW) was designed to extend the testing range of self-paced walking tests of fitness for older adults by including a warm-up and timing performance over 400 meters. This study compares performance on the LDCW and 6-minute walk to determine whether the LDCW encourages greater participant effort. DESIGN: Subjects were administered the LDCW and 6-minute walk during a single visit. Test order alternated between subjects, and a 15-minute rest was given between tests. SETTING: The Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty volunteers age 70 to 78. MEASUREMENTS: The LDCW, consisting of a 2-minute warm-up walk followed by a 400-meter walk and a 6-minute walk test were administered using a 20-meter long course in an unobstructed hallway. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were recorded at rest and before and after all walks. RESULTS: All 20 subjects walked a faster pace over 400 meters than for 6 minutes, in which the mean distance covered was 402 meters. From paired t-tests, walking speed was faster (mean difference = 0.23 m/sec; P < .001), and ending HR (mean difference = 7.6 bpm; P < .001) and systolic BP (mean difference = 8.3 mmHg; P = .024) were greater for the 400-meter walk than for the 6-minute walk. Results were independent of test order and subject fitness level. CONCLUSIONS: Providing a warm-up walk and using a target distance instead of time encouraged subjects to work closer to their maximum capacity. This low-cost alternative to treadmill testing can be used in research and clinical settings to assess fitness and help identify early functional decline in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US population aged 90 years or more is growing rapidly, and there are limited data on their health. The Cardiovascular Health Study is a prospective study of black and white adults aged ≥65 years recruited in 2 waves (1989–1990 and 1992–1993) from Medicare eligibility lists in Forsyth County, North Carolina; Sacramento County, California; Washington County, Maryland; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We created a synthetic cohort of the 1,889 participants who had reached age 90 years at baseline or during follow-up through July 16, 2015. Participants entered the cohort at 90 years of age, and we evaluated their changes in health after age 90 years (median duration of follow-up, 3 years (interquartile range, 1.3–5)). Measures of health included cardiovascular events, cognitive function, depressive symptoms, prescription medications, self-rated health, and functional status. The mortality rate was high: 19.0 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval : 17.8, 20.3) in women and 20.9 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval: 19.2, 22.8) in men. Cognitive function and all measures of functional status declined with age; these changes were similar by sex. When we isolated period effects, we found that medication use increased over time. These estimates can help inform future research and can help health-care systems meet the needs of this growing population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To determine whether lifestyle factors, measured late in life, could compress the disabled period toward the end of life. Design Community-based cohort study of older adults followed from 1989 to 2015. Setting Four U.S. communities. Participants Community-living men and women aged 65 and older (N = 5,248, mean age 72.7 ± 5.5, 57% female, 15.2% minority) who were not wheelchair dependent and were able to give informed consent at baseline. Measurements Multiple lifestyle factors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, diet, body mass index ( BMI), social networks, and social support, were measured at baseline. Activities of daily living ( ADLs) were assessed at baseline and throughout follow-up. Years of life (YoL) was defined as years until death. Years of able life ( YAL) was defined as years without any ADL difficulty. YAL/YoL%, the proportion of life lived able, was used to indicate the relative compression or expansion of the disabled period. Results The average duration of disabled years was 4.5 (out of 15.4 mean YoL) for women and 2.9 (out of 12.4 mean YoL) for men. In a multivariable model, obesity was associated with 7.3 percentage points (95% confidence interval ( CI) = 5.4-9.2) lower YAL/YoL% than normal weight. Scores in the lowest quintile of the Alternate Healthy Eating Index were associated with a 3.7% (95% CI = 1.6-5.9) lower YAL/YoL% than scores in the highest quintile. Every 25 blocks walked in a week was associated with 0.5 percentage points (95% CI = 0.3-0.8) higher YAL/YoL%. Conclusion The effects of healthy lifestyle factors on the proportion of future life lived free of disability indicate that the disabled period can be compressed, given the right combination of these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To examine the association between kidney function and all-cause mortality in octogenarians. Design Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. Setting Community. Participants Serum creatinine and cystatin C were measured in 1,053 Cardiovascular Health Study ( CHS) All Stars participants. Measurements Estimated glomerular filtration rate (e GFR) was determined using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration creatinine (e GFRCR) and cystatin C one-variable (e GFRCYS) equations. The association between quintiles of kidney function and all-cause mortality was analyzed using unadjusted and adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. Results Mean age of the participants was 85, 64% were female, 66% had hypertension, 14% had diabetes mellitus, and 39% had prevalent cardiovascular disease. There were 154 deaths over a median follow-up of 2.6 years. The association between e GFRCR and all-cause mortality was U-shaped. In comparison with the reference quintile (64-75 mL/min per 1.73 m2), the highest (≥75 mL/min per 1.73 m2) and lowest (≤43 mL/min per 1.73 m2) quintiles of e GFRCR were independently associated with mortality (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.36-4.55; HR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.26-4.10, respectively). The association between e GFRCYS and all-cause mortality was linear in those with e GFRCYS of less than 60 mL/min per 1.73 m2, and in the multivariate analyses, the lowest quintile of e GFRCYS (<52 mL/min per 1.73 m2) was significantly associated with mortality (HR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.12-3.71) compared with the highest quintile (>0.88 mL/min per 1.73 m2). Conclusion Moderate reduction in kidney function is a risk factor for all-cause mortality in octogenarians. The association between e GFRCR and all-cause mortality differed from that observed with e GFRCYS; the relationship was U-shaped for e GFRCR, whereas the risk was primarily present in the lowest quintile for e GFRCYS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]