Short-term effect of physical activity and obesity on disability in a sample of rural elderly in Mexico.

Objective: To estimate the effects of physical activity (PA) and obesity on the cumulative incidence of disability on the basic activities of daily living in the elderly.
Materials and Methods: Longitudinal study. We selected 2477 participants aged 65-74 years from the impact evaluation study of a non-contributory pension program in Mexico. Participants were without disability at baseline. Katz index was used to assess disability both at baseline and follow-up. PA, body mass index, and covariates were measured at baseline.
Results: After 14-months of follow-up, the cumulative incidence of disability reached 10.1%. High PA was found to reduce disability risk (OR=0.64; 95%CI [0.43-0.95]), and the association between obesity and disability was marginally significant (OR=1.36; 95%CI [0.96-1.95]).
Conclusions: There is a need to perform a functional assessment of older adults in primary care to identify patients with functional dependence , and to promote physical activity to maintain muscle mass and thus reduce the incidence of disability.