Factors Influencing Mobility During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.
Stephanie Saunders, Alexandra Mayhew, Renata Kirkwood and 9 others
PMID 36055379WHAT IT FOUND
During the early pandemic, 26.3% of older adults said physical activity was worse, while most reported no change in home or housework mobility.
Walking volume, falls, pain, health, assistance, comorbidities, fear of falling, and pleasant neighborhoods were linked to better mobility.
Key findings
01During the early pandemic, 26.3% of participants reported worse ability to engage in physical activity, while most reported no perceived change in mobility domains.
02A model including age, sex, health, falls, walking, pain, assistance, fear of falling, comorbidities, and neighborhood pleasantness explained 64% of variance in total mobility scores.
03Higher advanced lower-extremity mobility scores were associated with younger age, male sex, fewer comorbidities, greater walking, no walking aid, less fear of falling, and less unpleasant neighborhood.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The analysis was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that any factor caused better or worse mobility. Only 13% of called numbers led to recruitment, and all participants answered the phone, so the sample may miss people who are more isolated, hard of hearing, or unable to take part in a telephone survey. The study excluded people living in care residences and people with severe uncorrectable visual, hearing, or cognitive impairments, so results may not apply to those patients. Mobility was self-reported with the LLFI, which focuses on discrete tasks and may not capture actual daily mobility, driving, or public transport use. 25 participants were excluded for missing data. Cognition was not measured, even though cognitive factors are part of the framework and pandemic concerns included cognitive decline. Only 1 participant reported a positive COVID-19 test at baseline, so infection effects could not be examined. 46.6% of participants had a post-secondary degree, which may limit generalisability to less educated older adults.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the associations as proof that increasing walking or improving neighborhood pleasantness caused better mobility. The study is cross-sectional, had a 13% participation rate, and measured self-reported function, not actual performance.