Isabel Fialho Fontenele Garcia,1 Carina Tiemi Tiuganji,1 Maria do Socorro Morais Pereira Simões,2 Adriana Claudia Lunardi1,3
1Master’s and Doctoral, Programs in Physical Therapy, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; 2Department of Human Movement Sciences, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, SP, Brazil; 3Department of Physical Therapy, School of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Correspondence: Adriana Claudia Lunardi
Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Physical Therapy, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, 448/475 Cesário Galeno Street, São Paulo 03071-000, SP, Brazil
Tel +55 11 2178-1310
Fax +55 11 2178-1355
Email [email protected]
Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate whether limitation during the performance of activities of daily living (ADL) was associated with life-space mobility in older people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to generate a regression model for life-space mobility score.
Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study with a convenience sample included older people (aged ≥60 years old) with COPD. We assessed participants’ lung function (spirometry), life-space mobility (University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment questionnaire), severity of dyspnea (Modified Dyspnea Index) and limitation during the performance of ADL (London Chest Activity of Daily Living). We used Pearson’s correlation to investigate the associations between the measures, and multiple linear regression to detect which of the measures influenced life-space mobility. Statistical significance was set at 5%.
Results: Fifty participants completed all the assessments (29 females [58%]; mean ± SD age of 67 ± 6 years old, FEV1 47 ± 29% of predicted, and body mass index 22.5 ± 11.6 kg/m2). Their mean scores for life-space mobility and for limitation during the performance of ADL were 49.7 ± 27.2 and 16.46 ± 9.74, respectively. We found a strong inverse correlation between limitation during the performance of ADL and life-space mobility (r = −0.57, p = <0.01) as well as between severity of dyspnea and life-space mobility (r= 0.86, p= <0.01). Both sex and limitation during the performance of ADL were considered as independent factors associated to life-space mobility (R2= 0.56).
Conclusion: In this study, limitations during the performance of ADL and dyspnea had a strong correlation with life-space mobility in older adults with COPD. Also, alongside sex, the limitation during the performance of ADL is an independent factor associated with life-space mobility in a regression model.
Keywords: COPD, older adult, mobility limitation, activities of daily living
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