Abstract
Most studies focusing on only one directional effect among cognitive health, physical function, and incontinence may miss potential paths. This study aimed to determine the pathway by analyzing the bidirectional effects of exposure (X) on outcome (Y) and explore the mediating effect (M) between X and Y. Secondary data analyses were performed in this study. The original data were collected from August to October 2013 in one VH in Tainan, Taiwan, and the final sample size was 144 older male veterans. Path analysis was performed to test the pathway sequence X → M → Y among the three outcome variables. Approximately 80% of the veterans were aged 81 or older, approximately 42% had a functional disability, 26% had cognitive impairment, and 20% had incontinence. The relationships between functional disability and incontinence and between functional disability and cognition impairment were bidirectional, and functional disability played a key mediating role in the relationship between cognitive impairment and incontinence. Physical more than cognitive training in order to improve or at least stabilize functional performance could be a way to prevent or reduce the process of developing incontinence.
Highlights
Geriatric symptoms are often multifactorial in etiology; in addition to age-related change in physical function, risk factors such as coexisting cognitive impairment[3], functional disability[4], and incontinence[5] cause or contribute to health decline
In addition to cognitive impairment and incontinence, these findings indicate that these outcome variables affect each other, in particular a relatively strong bidirectional association between functional disability and incontinence with very significant levels (Table 2)
The findings suggest that early detection of functional disability is crucial, and physical activity is recommended for older adults with normal cognition to reduce the risk of cognitive decline
Summary
Geriatric symptoms are often multifactorial in etiology; in addition to age-related change in physical function, risk factors such as coexisting cognitive impairment[3], functional disability[4], and incontinence[5] cause or contribute to health decline. Studies have examined the association between cognitive impairment and its related factors, such as functional disability[6,7] and incontinence[8,9]. Most literature has confirmed that any two of these three health factors may have a bidirectional association, the pathway between the three factors and whether there is a potential moderating or mediating effect between these three is unclear. Www.nature.com/scientificreports decided to explore all possible relationships between cognitive impairment, disability, and incontinence to find out the aging pathways of veteran residents, and to determine the directional correlation between the three health factors through path analysis. Rather than focusing on only one directional effect, we adopted the exploratory analytical approach to examine all possible pathways
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
