Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32695430›Full record

ArticleWomen's midlife health2020

Moving prevention of functional impairment upstream: is middle age an ideal time for intervention?

Rebecca T Brown, Kenneth E Covinsky

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Women's midlife health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Combined Psychoeducational and Exercise Training Intervention to Improve Mental Health and Physical Functioning in Late-Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2026
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  13. Cross-sectional associations between patterns and composition of upright and stepping events with physical function: insights from The Maastricht Study.European review of aging and physical activity : official journal of the European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity · 2024
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Rebecca T BrownDivision of Geriatric Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3615 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7483-4137
Kenneth E CovinskyDivision of Geriatrics, University of California, San Francisco, CA USA.
Philadelphia VA Medical Center · USSan Francisco VA Medical Center · US

Funding

VARC CoreP30AG044281 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI Louise C. Walter · 2013 to 2026
$19.9M
Midcareer Mentoring Award for Patient-Oriented Research in AgingK24AG029812 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI COVINSKY, KENNETH E. · 2007 to 2017
$1.8M
Epidemiology and Outcomes of Premature Geriatrics SyndromesK23AG045290 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI BROWN, REBECCA TYLER · 2014 to 2018
$882k
Improving Aging in Place for Older Adults Living in Subsidized HousingK76AG057016 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI BROWN, REBECCA TYLER · 2018 to 2020
$853k
NIA NIH HHS K23 AG045290NIA NIH HHS K24 AG029812NIA NIH HHS K76 AG057016NIA NIH HHS P30 AG044281
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To live independently, individuals must be able to perform basic activities of daily living (ADLs), including bathing, dressing, and transferring out of a bed or chair. When older adults develop difficulty or the need for help performing ADLs, they experience decreased quality of life and an increased risk of acute care utilization, nursing home admission, and death. For these reasons, slowing or preventing the progression to functional problems is a key focus of the care of older adults. While preventive efforts currently focus mainly on older people, difficulty performing basic ADLs ("functional impairment") affects nearly 15% of middle-aged adults, and this prevalence is increasing. People who develop functional impairment in middle age are at increased risk for adverse outcomes similar to those experienced by older adults. Developing ADL impairment in middle age also impacts work force participation and health expenditures, not just in middle age but also older age. Middle-aged adults have a high capacity for recovery from functional impairment, and many risk factors for developing functional impairment in middle and older age have their roots in mid-life. Taken together, these findings suggest that middle age may be an ideal period to intervene to prevent or delay functional impairment. To address the rising prevalence of functional impairment in middle age, we will need to work on several fronts. These include developing improved prognostic tools to identify middle-aged people at highest risk for functional impairment and developing interventions to prevent or delay impairment among middle-aged people. More broadly, we need to recognize functional impairment in middle age as a problem that is as prevalent and central to health outcomes as many chronic medical conditions.

Indexed as

Functional limitationMiddle agePhysical functioning

Identifiers

PMID32695430
PMCPMC7366897
OpenAlexW3042258530

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.