Figure 1.
Hypothesized relationships between SRH and physical function.
Poor SRH is likely a proxy for an individual's underlying health state that is not captured by other measures. SRH then is statically but perhaps not causally associated with decline in physical function and an increased risk of death (pathway a). Alternatively, poor physical function may lead people to rate their health as poor (pathway b).
Table 1.
Sex-specific Cutoffs for Scores (0 to 4) for Walking Speed, Chair Rises, Standing Balance, and Grip Strength Tests Based on Previously Published Scoring.
Table 2.
Participant baseline characteristics by self-rated health (N = 3,610).
Table 3.
Trajectoriesa in PPF and SRH level over follow-up for participants with two or more visits (N = 2,691).
Figure 2.
Population mean trajectories of performance-based physical functioning (PPF) score modified by self-rated health (SRH).
Average trends in PPF for adults aged 65–89 were estimated from a linear mixed model adjusted for age at baseline, sex, race, education, cognitive functioning, depressive symptoms, functional limitations, body mass index, alcohol use, smoking status, and exercise. SRH levels are depicted as: excellent = black solid, very good = grey solid, good = black dashed, fair = grey dashed, poor = black dotted. PPF scores (y-axis) ranged from 0 to 16; higher scores corresponded to better performance.
Table 4.
Linear mixed model results for the associations between baseline SRH and age-related changes PPF.a
Figure 3.
Population mean change in probability of excellent/very good/good (healthy) self-rated health (SRH) modified by quartiles of performance-based physical functioning (PPF).
Average trends in PPF for adults aged 65–89 were estimated from a generalized linear mixed model adjusted for age at baseline, sex, race, education, cognitive functioning, depressive symptoms, functional limitations, body mass index, alcohol use, smoking status, and exercise. PPF Quartiles are depicted as: highest = black solid, upper-middle = grey solid, lower-middle = black dashed, lowest = grey dashed.
Table 5.
Generalized linear mixed model results for the associations between baseline PPF and age-related changes in SRH.a