From Disability to Death: A 20-Year Follow-Up from the Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging

Figures & data

Figure 1 Disability distribution of the elderly at various time points before death.

Notes: Participant number (N) in each year before death was contributed by all the participants with disability records before death. For example, the interview wave was in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011. Therefore, those who died in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, contributed to data for disability status one year before death. Similarly, for those who died in 2016, their disability score on 1996–2011 TLSA data contributed to disability records before the death of 5, 9, 13, 17, and 20 years ago.

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics for the Elderly with Moderate to Severe Levels of Disability

Variable	N (%)	Years Before Death (Mean±SD)	F/t
N	618	5.53±3.15
AGE	80.91±6.94 (65.00–104.00)		29.33***
65–74	112 (18.12)	6.15±3.91	5.23*
75-	506 (81.88)	5.40±2.94
Gender			14.36***
Men	287 (46.44)	5.02±2.86
Women	331 (53.56)	5.98±3.32
Education			1.25
Illiterate	245 (39.64)	5.65±3.07
Elementary school	253 (40.94)	5.56±3.30
Junior high school	62 (10.03)	4.71±2.28
Senior high school	34 (5.50)	5.77±3.90
College and above	24 (3.88)	5.81±2.90
Marital status			0.38
Married/partnered	254 (41.17)	5.63±3.20
Other	363 (58.83)	5.47±3.11
Living children	4.40±2.05		1.68
0	21 (3.40)	4.95±3.16	0.74
≥1	597 (96.60)	5.55±3.15
Living with children	1.36±7.86		1.18
0	269 (43.88)	5.25±2.94	4.44*
≥1	344 (56.12)	5.78±3.30
Economic stress			0.44
Stressed	172 (58.90)	6.51±3.43
Non-stressed	120 (41.10)	6.23±3.55
Life stress	1.73±1.42		0.17
<average	148 (50.51)	6.25±3.16	0.42
≥average	145 (49.49)	6.52±3.78
Depression	12.62±8.08		0.83
<10	117 (39.80)	6.68±3.52	1.32
≥10	177 (60.20)	6.20±3.44
Social participation	0.23±0.54		2.88
Living situation			16.81***
Normal	490 (79.29)	5.80±3.28
Nursing home	128 (20.71)	4.53±2.35
Live alone			0.1
No	572 (92.56)	5.52±3.16
Yes	46 (7.44)	5.67±3.06
Number of diseases	2.47±1.32		6.16*
Classification I			0.11
0	76 (12.30)	5.87±3.33
1–2	310 (50.16)	5.70±3.32
≥3	232 (37.54)	5.20±2.81
Classification II
High blood pressure	352 (56.96)	5.63±3.43	0.43
Diabetes	174 (28.16)	5.49±2.94	0.04
Heart disease	205 (33.17)	5.54±2.94	0.00
Stroke	205 (33.17)	5.25±2.97	2.44
Cancer	53 (8.58)	4.33±2.54	8.59**
Lung disease	137 (22.17)	4.82±2.82	9.15**
Arthritis	151 (24.43)	5.75±3.42	0.99
Hepatobiliary disease	55 (8.90)	5.26±3.28	0.45
Cognition[SPMSQ]	2.87±3.21		49.15***
8–9	70 (12.43)	7.11±3.85	19.95***
0–7	493 (87.57)	5.38±2.92
BMI	21.90±3.89		12.84***
WHO			6.68***
BMI < 18.50	82 (17.60)	4.93±3.25
18.50 ≤ BMI < 25.00	293 (47.41)	5.63±3.18
25 ≤ BMI	91 (14.72)	6.73±3.66

Notes: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, bold values are statistically significant.

Table 2 Regression Coefficients of Factors Predicting Years Before Death for Older Adults Who Were Moderately to Severely Disabled

	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5	Model 6
Intercept	6.55***	7.20***	7.75***	8.37***	9.68***	9.61***
Sociodemographic
Age	−0.10***	−0.10***	−0.12***	−0.09***	−0.12***	−0.12***
Gender[women]^a	0.99***	0.98***	0.82**	0.90**	0.87	0.94
Physical
Number of diseases		−0.25**	−0.28**	−0.23*	−0.45*	−0.45*
BMI [underweight]^b			−0.62	−0.52	−0.68	−0.72
BMI [overweight]^b			0.87*	0.82*	0.69	0.73
Cognitive impaired (SPMSQ≦7)^c				−1.49***	−0.69	−0.64
Psychological
Depressive symptoms [CESD≥10]^d					−0.61	−0.55
Social-environmental
Living with children^e						−0.23
Social participation						0.30
Adjusted R square	0.07	0.08	0.11	0.11	0.11	0.11

Notes: *p <0.05, **p <0.01, ***p <0.001, bold values are statistically significant. ^aMen as a reference. ^bNormal weight as a reference. ^cSPMSQ≥8 as a reference. ^dCESD<10 as a reference. ^eNot living with children as a reference.

Table 3 Factors Predicting Years Before Death for Older Adults Who Were Moderately to Severely Disabled (by Gender)

	Men (n=287)						Women (n=331)
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5	Model 6	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5	Model 6
Intercept	6.03***	6.49***	7.04***	7.75***	9.80***	9.6***	8.04***	8.91***	9.26***	9.96***	10.61***	10.60***
Sociodemographic
Age	−0.64**	−0.07**	−0.09**	−0.05	−0.11*	−0.10	−0.13***	−0.14***	−0.16***	−0.13***	−0.14	−0.14**
Physical
Number of diseases		−0.18	−0.21	−0.17	−0.62*	−0.63*		−0.32*	−0.34*	−0.27	−0.32	−0.32
BMI [underweight]^a			−0.67	−0.59	−0.58	−0.56			−0.43	−0.31	−0.69	−0.72
BMI [overweight]^a			1.17*	1.04	0.94	0.97			0.68	0.70	0.54	0.55
Cognitive impaired (SPMSQ≦7)^b				−1.70**	−0.67	−0.62				−1.44	−0.75	−0.74
Psychological
Depressive symptoms [CESD≥10]^c					−0.83	−0.70					−0.50	−0.49
Social-environmental
Living with children^d						−0.30						−0.04
Social participation						0.43						0.10
F	7.58**	5.05**	5.09***	4.98***	2.37*	1.77	24.16***	15.59***	7.36***	4.71***	2.08	1.53
Adjusted R square	0.03	0.03	0.09	0.12	0.12	0.13	0.07	0.09	0.11	0.10	0.09	0.09

Notes: *p <0.05, **p <0.01, ***p <0.001, bold values are statistically significant. ^aNormal weight as a reference. ^bSPMSQ≥8 as a reference. ^cCESD<10 as a reference. ^dNot living with children as a reference.