Employing the International Classifications of Functioning, Disability, and Health to identify relevant categories for disability evaluation in older adults from the research perspective: a systematic review.
Heng-Yu Hu, Ming-Yue Hu, Jia-Hui Nan and 3 others
PMID 39073357WHAT IT FOUND
Research on older adults' disability focuses almost entirely on self-care, mobility, and housework.
Mental functions appear frequently, but environmental factors are largely missing from existing measures. This gap suggests current evaluations overlook how physical and social surroundings act as barriers or facilitators to daily life.
Key findings
01The identified outcome set for disability evaluation in older adults contains 44 ICF categories, with 39 from the Activities and Participation component and only 5 from Body Functions.
02Environmental Factors were not included in the final outcome set because only two categories from this component were identified in the reviewed literature.
03Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs), and mobility were the most commonly assessed domains across the included studies.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The review only included studies published in English or Chinese, potentially missing relevant research from other languages. Due to the high volume of abstracts, the authors used a random sampling method for full-text screening rather than reviewing all eligible studies, which might have underestimated certain relevant ICF categories. Qualitative studies were excluded, meaning the findings reflect the research perspective on measurement tools rather than the lived experiences of older adults. The outcome set does not include Environmental Factors, which is a significant limitation given their known impact on disability. The review did not account for variability in disability across different geographical and cultural contexts.
Declared interests
The authors certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that the absence of Environmental Factors in the outcome set means they are irrelevant to older adults' disability. This finding reflects a gap in how disability has been measured in the research literature, not a lack of clinical importance.