Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Submit your manuscript now - click here

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Journal of Aging and Health
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
0898264307310474v1
20/2/235    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nilsson, C. J.
Right arrow Articles by Avlund, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nilsson, C. J.
Right arrow Articles by Avlund, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Article

Cohabitation Status and Onset of Disability Among Older Danes : Is Social Participation a Possible Mediator?

Charlotte Juul Nilsson, Bach.med.1*, Rikke Lund, MD, PhD2, and Kirsten Avlund, DMSc2

1 Department of Social of Social Medicine, Institute of Public Health Science
2 Department of Social Medicine, Institute of Public Health Science

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: c.nilsson{at}socmed.ku.dk.


  Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the effect of cohabitation status in older men and women on (a) onset of disability at 3- and 4.5-year follow-up and (b) changes in functional ability between 3- and 4.5-year follow-up, and to analyze whether this effect was mediated by social participation. Method: A total of 2,533 nondisabled older men and women enrolled in the Danish Intervention Study on Preventive Home Visits constituted the study population. Data were collected by mailed questionnaires in 1998-1999, 2000, 2001-2002, and 2003. Results: Living alone significantly increased the risk of onset of disability (T3 OR = 1.60[1.06-2.43], T4 OR = 1.74[1.22-2.47]) and the risk of sustained poor functional ability (OR = 2.35[1.44-3.84]) among men, but not among single-living women. Social participation mediated only a small part of the effect of cohabitation status on functional ability. Discussion: Our results underline the importance of cohabitation/marriage for maintaining a high functional ability among older men.

First published on December 18, 2007, doi:10.1177/0898264307310474

Journal of Aging and Health 2008;20:235.

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2008

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?