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Incidence of disability and its associated factors in Japanese men and women: the Longitudinal Cohorts of Motor System Organ (LOCOMO) study

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Abstract

We investigated the incidence of disability and its risk factors in older Japanese adults to establish an evidence-based disability prevention strategy for this population. For this purpose, we used data from the Longitudinal Cohorts of Motor System Organ (LOCOMO) study, initiated in 2008 to integrate information from cohorts in nine communities across Japan: Tokyo (two regions), Wakayama (two regions), Hiroshima, Niigata, Mie, Akita, and Gunma prefectures. We examined the annual occurrence of disability from 8,454 individuals (2,705 men and 5,749 women) aged ≥65 years. The estimated incidence of disability was 3.58/100 person-years (p-y) (men: 3.17/100 p-y; women: 3.78/100 p-y). To determine factors associated with disability, Cox’s proportional hazard model was used, with the occurrence of disability as an objective variable and age (+1 year), gender (vs. women), body build (0: normal/overweight range, BMI 18.5–27.5 kg/m2; 1: emaciation, BMI <18.5 kg/m2; 2: obesity, BMI >27.5 kg/m2), and regional differences (0: rural areas including Wakayama, Niigata, Mie, Akita, and Gunma vs. 1: urban areas including Tokyo and Hiroshima) as explanatory variables. Age, body build, and regional difference significantly influenced the occurrence of disability (age, +1 year: hazard ratio 1.13, 95 % confidence interval 1.12–1.15, p < 0.001; body build, vs. emaciation: 1.24, 1.01–1.53, p = 0.041; body build, vs. obesity: 1.36, 1.08–1.71, p = 0.009; residence, vs. living in rural areas: 1.59, 1.37–1.85, p < 0.001). We concluded that higher age, both emaciation and obesity, and living in rural areas would be risk factors for the occurrence of disability.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from Grant-in-Aid for H17-Men-eki-009 (Director, Kozo Nakamura), H20-Choujyu-009 (Director, Noriko Yoshimura), H23-Choujyu-002 (Director, Toru Akune), and H-25-Chojyu-007 (Director, Noriko Yoshimura) of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Further grants were provided by Scientific Research B24659317, B23390172, B20390182, and Challenging Exploratory Research 24659317 to Noriko Yoshimura; B23390357 and C20591737 to Toru Akune; B23390356, C20591774, and Challenging Exploratory Research 23659580 to Shigeyuki Muraki; Challenging Exploratory Research 24659666, 21659349, and Young Scientists A18689031 to Hiroyuki Oka, and collaborative research with NSF 08033011-00262 (Director, Noriko Yoshimura) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan. The sponsors did not contribute to the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or the writing of the manuscript.

The authors wish to thank Ms. Kyoko Yoshimura, Mrs. Toki Sakurai, and Mrs. Saeko Sahara for their assistance with data consolidation and administration.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Joint Disease Research, 22nd Century Medical and Research Center, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Noriko Yoshimura & Hiroyuki Oka

  2. Department of Clinical Motor System Medicine, 22nd Century Medical and Research Center, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Toru Akune & Shigeyuki Muraki

  3. Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Causality Council, Hiroshima, Japan

    Saeko Fujiwara

  4. Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan

    Yoko Shimizu & Hideyo Yoshida

  5. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuji Nishiwaki

  6. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie, Japan

    Akihiro Sudo

  7. Center for Transdisciplinary Research, Institute for Research Promotion, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

    Go Omori

  8. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan

    Munehito Yoshida

  9. Graduate School of Nutritional Sciences, Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences, Aichi, Japan

    Hiroshi Shimokata

  10. National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan

    Takao Suzuki

  11. National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Saitama, Japan

    Kozo Nakamura

Authors
  1. Noriko Yoshimura
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  2. Toru Akune
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  3. Saeko Fujiwara
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  4. Yoko Shimizu
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  5. Hideyo Yoshida
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  6. Yuji Nishiwaki
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  7. Akihiro Sudo
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  8. Go Omori
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  9. Munehito Yoshida
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  10. Hiroshi Shimokata
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  11. Takao Suzuki
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  12. Shigeyuki Muraki
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  13. Hiroyuki Oka
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  14. Kozo Nakamura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Noriko Yoshimura.

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Yoshimura, N., Akune, T., Fujiwara, S. et al. Incidence of disability and its associated factors in Japanese men and women: the Longitudinal Cohorts of Motor System Organ (LOCOMO) study. J Bone Miner Metab 33, 186–191 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-014-0573-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-014-0573-y

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