[Characteristics of urban community-dwelling elderly women with multiple symptoms of the geriatric syndrome and related factors].

OBJECTIVE

The present study was performed to comprehensively investigate the prevalence of multiple symptoms of the geriatric syndrome, characteristics and related factors in urban community-dwelling elderly women.

METHODS

Among 669 women aged 70 years and above living in 5 areas of Itabashi-ku, who attended the Otassha Kenshin (comprehensive health check for the elderly) in November 2004 and gave consent to participate in this study, 668 had no missing data and their interview and physical fitness data were analyzed. The criteria for the geriatric syndrome were: (1) functional decline: a score of 10 points or below for the 13 items of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (TMIG) index of competence; (2) falls: "have fallen" once or more in the last year; and (3) urinary incontinence: frequency of urine leakage of "1 to 3 times in a month" in daily life. The interview and physical fitness data were compared between healthy persons, persons with one symptom and persons with multiple symptoms. Multiple logistic regression models were used to analyse related factors.

RESULTS

The prevalence of multiple geriatric syndromes was 15.3%; comprising 2.2% with "functional decline+falls", 6.0% with "functional decline+urinary incontinence", 5.1% with "falls+urinary incontinence", and 2.0% with "functional decline+falls+urinary incontinence". The group reporting multiple symptoms had poor self-rated health, had a high percentage currently taking three or more medications, had a fear of falling and had a significantly (P < 0.05) higher likelihood of a history of stroke and urinary disease. In addition, the group with multiple symptoms were older, and had significantly (P < 0.05) poorer results for grip strength, usual walking speed, maximum walking speed, functional reach, knee extension strength, and one leg standing time with eyes open. Within this group, the "functional decline+falls" subgroup had the lowest level of physical fitness. Analysis of factors related to the presence (1) or absence (0) of multiple symptoms identified fear of falling and usual walking speed as two significant variables.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that: (1) physical fitness is significantly lower in the group with multiple symptoms of the geriatric syndrome compared with healthy persons, and was the lowest in the subgroup with "functional decline+falls"; and (2) fear of falling and usual walking speed were two factors related to multiple geriatric syndromes. These results suggest directions for future intervention strategies.