Mobility limitations and fear of falling in non-English speaking older Mexican-Americans
Authors
James, Eric G.Conatser, Phillip
Karabulut, Murat
Leveille, Suzanne G.
Hausdorff, Jeffrey M.
Cote, Sarah
Tucker, Katherine L.
Barton, Bruce A.
Bean, Jonathan F.
Al Snih, Soham
Markides, Kyriakos S.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Quantitative Health SciencesDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2017-10-01Keywords
AgingEnglish
Mexican-American
fear of falling
mobility
UMCCTS funding
Medicine and Health
Public Health
Race and Ethnicity
Translational Medical Research
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether older Mexican-Americans who cannot speak and/or understand spoken English have higher rates of mobility limitations or fear of falling than their English-speaking counterparts. DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1169 community-dwelling Mexican-Americans aged 72-96 years from the 2000-2001 wave of the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly. Mobility limitations were defined as having a Short Physical Performance Battery score < /=9, and fear of falling by participant report of being somewhat, fairly, or very afraid of falling. We determined the rates and odds ratios, for having mobility limitations and fear of falling as a function of English ability in those who were 72-96, < 80, and > /=80 years of age. RESULTS: Among participants who were unable to speak and/or understand spoken English 85.7% had mobility limitations and 61.6% were afraid of falling, compared to 77.6% and 57.5%, respectively, of English speakers. Before adjusting for covariates, participants who did not speak and/or understand spoken English were more likely to have mobility limitations (odds ratio: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3-2.4) but not fear of falling, compared to English speakers. Among those aged > /=80 years, but not those < 80 years, who did not speak or understand English were more likely to have mobility limitations (odds ratio: 4.8; 95% CI:2.0-11.5) and fear of falling (odds ratio: 2.0; 95% CI:1.3-3.1). CONCLUSION: Older Mexican-Americans who do not speak or understand spoken English have a higher rate of mobility limitations and fear of falling than their English-speaking counterparts.Source
Ethn Health. 2017 Oct;22(5):480-489. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2016.1244660. Epub 2016 Oct 14 Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1080/13557858.2016.1244660Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/50310PubMed ID
27741576Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/13557858.2016.1244660