CStat, Research Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2013 Dec;68(12):1525-31. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glt058. Epub 2013 May 16.
Slow walking speed is associated with higher risk of accidents, disability, and mortality in older adults, with people in more disadvantaged socioeconomic positions being at higher risk. We explore the relationship between wealth and age trajectories of walking speed among older adults.
Data come from three waves (2002-2003 to 2006-2007) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We use latent growth curve models and aging-vector graphs to explore individual changes and average population age trajectories of walking speed by wealth among 7,225 individuals aged 60 and older.
For someone aged 71 in the poorest wealth quintile, the baseline mean walking speed was 0.75 m/s, which decreased to 0.71 m/s 4 years later, whereas that of a person in the richest wealth quintile was 0.91 m/s, which decreased to 0.82 m/s. Although the decline in walking speed was faster among people in the richest wealth (net of covariates), the gaps in walking speed between richest and poorest did not close. Even after accounting for covariates, people in the richest wealth only reached critical values (0.60 m/s) of walking speed at the age of 90, whereas people in the poorest wealth reached that level 6 years earlier.
Our findings showed continuing gaps in physical functioning by wealth, even among people with the same health, psychosocial, and demographic conditions. As wealth reflects both past and current socioeconomic status, the implications of our findings are that reducing socioeconomic inequalities at all stages of the life course may have a positive impact on functioning in old age.
老年人行走速度较慢与事故、残疾和死亡风险增加有关，社会经济地位较低的人群风险更高。我们探讨了财富与老年人行走速度的年龄轨迹之间的关系。
数据来自英国老龄化纵向研究的三个波次（2002-2003 年至 2006-2007 年）。我们使用潜在增长曲线模型和老龄化向量图，探讨了财富对 7225 名 60 岁及以上人群行走速度的个体变化和平均人群年龄轨迹的影响。
对于处于最贫困财富五分位数的 71 岁人群，基线平均行走速度为 0.75 米/秒，4 年后降至 0.71 米/秒，而处于最富裕财富五分位数的人群行走速度为 0.91 米/秒，降至 0.82 米/秒。虽然最富裕人群的行走速度下降更快（在控制协变量后），但最富裕和最贫困人群之间的行走速度差距并未缩小。即使在控制了协变量后，最富裕人群也只有在 90 岁时才达到行走速度的临界值（0.60 米/秒），而最贫困人群在 6 年前就达到了这一水平。
我们的研究结果表明，即使在具有相同健康、心理社会和人口统计学条件的人群中，财富也会导致身体功能持续存在差距。由于财富反映了过去和当前的社会经济地位，我们的研究结果表明，在人生的各个阶段减少社会经济不平等，可能会对老年时的功能产生积极影响。
