Physical Mobility Impairment and Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

Mary L Wilby

doi:10.1089/heq.2019.0065

Abstract

Background: People with disabilities (PWD) often self-report reduced access to preventive health services and poorer health than people without disability. Risk factors for chronic disease are more prevalent in PWD, increasing risk for secondary conditions including cardiovascular disease (CVD).Methods: Logistic regression was used to analyze data from the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey to explore the relationship between disability with mobility impairment and CVD.Results: Difficulty walking and climbing stairs significantly predicted concomitant CVD and diabetes in logistic regression models.Conclusion: Information from this study may be useful in addressing CVD risk for adults with mobility impairments.

Highlights

People with disabilities (PWD) often self-report reduced access to preventive health services and poorer health than people without disability
To address question 1, logistic regression using cardiovascular disease (CVD) as the predicted variable and difficulty walking as the predictor variable indicated a high overall model fit (À2 log likelihood = 204,901), which was statistically significant (w2 [1, n = 466,016] = 12,464, p < 0.001)
The calculated odds ratio (3.785) was significant (Table 1). These results indicate a significant level of comorbidity with CVD and Diabetes mellitus (DM) in Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) participants who reported mobility limitations, suggesting that decreased mobility is highly correlated with risk for both conditions as noted in other studies using large data bases.[8,9,16]

Summary

Introduction

People with disabilities (PWD) often self-report reduced access to preventive health services and poorer health than people without disability. Integrative models have included environmental barriers, negative attitudes regarding disability, structural barriers, and stigma as factors influencing disability. Functional impairment is one factor driving disability, but structural barriers, stigma, and negative attitudes regarding disability reduce access to health care and participation in health-promoting activities. PWD frequently self-report poor health and experience poorer health outcomes than nondisabled people.[3,4,5,6,7,8,9] There are multiple challenges for PWD with mobility impairment seeking health promotion and health maintenance services including transportation, access to sites where services are delivered, and providers who are insensitive or unaware of the accommodations needed to allow PWD to utilize services. Barriers contribute to the lack of participation of PWD in many preventive services, delays in treatment, and unmet health care needs.[5,6,7,8,9]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion