Use of walking modifications, perceived walking difficulty and changes in outdoor mobility among community-dwelling older people during COVID-19 restrictions.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Leppä, Heidi Karavirta, Laura Rantalainen, Timo Rantakokko, Merja Siltanen, Sini Portegijs, Erja Rantanen, Taina
Abstract	BackgroundOutdoor mobility enables participation in essential out-of-home activities in old age.AimTo compare changes in different aspects of outdoor mobility during COVID-19 restrictions versus two years before according to self-reported walking.MethodsCommunity-dwelling participants of AGNES study (2017–2018, initial age 75–85) responded to AGNES-COVID-19 postal survey in spring 2020 (N = 809). Life-space mobility, autonomy in participation outdoors, and self-reported physical activity were assessed at both time points and differences according to self-reported walking modifications and difficulty vs. intact walking at baseline were analyzed.ResultsLife-space mobility and autonomy in participation outdoors had declined (mean changes -11.4, SD 21.3; and 6.7, SD 5.3, respectively), whereas physical activity had increased (5.5 min/day, SD 25.1) at follow-up. Participants perceiving walking difficulty reported the poorest baseline outdoor mobility, a steeper decline in life-space mobility (p = 0.001), a smaller increase in physical activity (p < 0.001), and a smaller decline in autonomy in participation outdoors (p = 0.017) than those with intact walking. Those with walking modifications also reported lower baseline life-space mobility and physical activity, a steeper decline in life-space mobility and a smaller increase in physical activity those with intact walking (p < 0.001 for both).DiscussionParticipants reporting walking modifications remained the intermediate group in outdoor mobility over time, whereas those with walking difficulty showed the steepest decline in outdoor mobility and hence potential risk for accelerated further functional decline.ConclusionInterventions should target older people perceiving walking difficulty, as they may be at the risk for becoming homebound when environmental facilitators for outdoor mobility are removed.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC8378291&blobtype=pdf
ISSN	15940667
Journal	Aging Clinical and Experimental Research [Aging Clin Exp Res]
Volume Number	33
DOI	10.1007/s40520-021-01956-2
PubMed Central reference number	PMC8378291
Issue Number	10
PubMed reference number	34417731
e-ISSN	17208319
Language	English
Publisher	Springer International Publishing
Publisher Date	2021-08-20
Publisher Place	Gewerbestrasse 11, Cham, Ch 6330, Switzerland
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2021
Subject Keyword	Aging Compensation Mobility Participation Social isolation SARS-CoV-2
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Aging Geriatrics and Gerontology