HowToPreventHeartDisease.com

Mobility Problems In Elderly Obese Women!
 

When one gets older, more often mobility can become an issue. Moving physically around the home and community is central to daily life, for instance, doing errands, visiting family and friends or even going for a medical checkup. Difficulty in moving around can lead to increasing isolation, anxiety and depression.

Mobility can sometimes be a problem to obese individuals, too. The issue can get trickier for people who are both old and obese. A recent study pointed out that maintaining a healthy weight after menopause may improve women's chances of living into their mid-80s while keeping their health and mobility.

Comparing to women with a healthy weight, overweight and obese women have greater mobility problems at age 85 and face a higher risk of dying or developing chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension and cancer. Researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington and other institutions published their findings online November 11, 2013 in ‘JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) Internal Medicine’.

A total of 36,611 women were involved in the study. These women were enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative between 1993 and 1998, when they were between 66 and 81 years old (average 72 years old). Their heights, weights and health information were recorded and they were followed up periodically thereafter for nearly 19 years.

Researchers aimed to find out how women's body mass index (BMI) and waist size were linked to their chances of dying or developing chronic diseases or mobility problems by age 85. BMI is calculated by dividing the square of height in meters by the weight in kilos.

When the study concluded in 2012, the researchers found that the women fell into 5 categories:

1) 19 percent of the women were deemed healthy and they survived to age 85 and had no major chronic diseases and maintained ability to walk.

2) 14.7 percent who had one or more of 5 chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, or hip fracture) at the onset of the study did not develop any additional health problems and remained mobile.

3) 23.2 percent of the women developed one or more of the diseases during the study period but maintained ability to walk.

4) 18.3 percent or 6,702 of the women lost their mobility. They needed crutches, walkers or wheelchairs or they had limited ability to walk a block or climb a flight of stairs.

5) The remaining women or 24.8 percent, died before age 85.

The paper also highlighted few other key points. Compared with healthy-weight women, underweight and obese women were more likely to die before 85 years of age. The overweight and obese women have higher risks of incident disease and mobility disability. About 12 percent of those who started the study at a healthy weight were disabled by age 85, comparing to 18 percent of overweight women, and between 26 and 34 percent of obese women who had mobility problems. Meanwhile, 25 percent of women with a waist circumference greater than 88 centimeters (about 35 inches) were disabled at age 85 compared to 14 percent of women who had smaller waists.

There is no doubt that people who are 85 and above are the fastest-growing part of the population in America right now. When people get older, they want to keep their independence and do not want to become a burden for their family members. Unfortunately, people are taking in more calories than they require and they do not move around as much.

While the findings did not indicate whether losing weight later in life could protect older women from disease and disability, they did stress the importance of maintaining the ability to walk for older adults to retain their independence. The findings also highlighted the importance of following a healthy diet and getting some physical exercise every day.

Copyright 2007-2012 © HowToPreventHeartDisease.com . All Rights Reserved.d........
Created by EpublishingVault.com
Heart Disease Prevention - 8 Simple Ways You Can Do Immediately