Age and gender differences regarding physical performance in the elderly from barbados and cuba

Objective Presenting physical performance tests’ (PPTs) descriptive reference values and prevalence according to gender and age-group regarding a representative sample of non-institutionalised older adults (aged 60 and over) living  in Bridgetown (Barbados) and Havana (Cuba).   Methods This was a cr...

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Autores:
Rodrigues-Barbosa, Aline
Miranda de Miranda, Leticia
Vieira- Guimarães, Alexsander
Xavier-Corseuil, Herton
Weber-Corseuil, Marui
Tipo de recurso:
Article of journal
Fecha de publicación:
2011
Institución:
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Repositorio:
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Idioma:
spa
OAI Identifier:
oai:repositorio.unal.edu.co:unal/43551
Acceso en línea:
https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/handle/unal/43551
http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/33649/
http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/33649/2/
Palabra clave:
Aging
cross-sectional study
hand strength
time and motion
Rights
openAccess
License
Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional
Description
Summary:Objective Presenting physical performance tests’ (PPTs) descriptive reference values and prevalence according to gender and age-group regarding a representative sample of non-institutionalised older adults (aged 60 and over) living  in Bridgetown (Barbados) and Havana (Cuba).   Methods This was a cross-sectional, population-based household survey. In Bridgetown and Havana, respectively, 1,508 and 1,905 subjects were examined who had been selected by probabilistic sampling. PPTs included handgrip strength, standing balance, timed repeated “chair stand” and “pick up a pen.” Results The results from Bridgetown and Havana showed that values (mean ± standard deviations and percentiles) for men were greater than women in handgrip strength and “chair stand” tests (p≤0.01). Increasing age led to both genders having reduced (p≤0.001) prevalence of people having better results for each test (based on chi-square). Men had proportionately better scores than women in the four tests. Conclusion The data suggested that younger people and men had better physical performance. Men and women in both countries had differences regarding the prevalence of people unable to perform the tests and better test results, according to the test and age-group. The data provided information about the range of performance that can be expected from people in different ages and helped understand usual rates of change in age-groups.