The Framingham Disability Study: II. Physical disability among the aging.

Abstract

The Framingham Disability Study, a recent component of the Heart Disease Epidemiological Study in Framingham, Massachusetts, USA, was designed to investigate the nature and magnitude of disability among non-institutionalized elderly. From Sept. 1976-Nov. 1978, 2654 individuals aged 55-84 yr from the original Framingham cohort were interviewed in person or by telephone (94% of the potential participant pool). The findings support the well known relationship between physical disability and age. The magnitude of disability is not as great as conventionl wisdom might suggest. This paper presents the physical disability prevalence findings and compares these results to earlier epidemiological investigations of disability in the elderly.