ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2021
Terminal decline in objective and self-reported measures of motor function before death: 10 year follow-up of Whitehall II cohort study.
Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sustainability of exercise-induced benefits on circulating MicroRNAs and physical fitness in community-dwelling older adults: a randomized controlled trial with follow up.BMC geriatrics · 2024Trial
- Prediction model of all-cause death based on balance ability among middle-aged and older Chinese adults of overweight and obesity.Frontiers in public health · 2022Trial
- Physical Performance Moderates the Association Between Age and Executive Function in Older Adults at Elevated Risk of Dementia: Cross-Sectional Analysis From the CITA GO-ON Trial.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
- Effects of Fast Rhythmic Auditory Pacing on the Exercise Intensity of a Cognitive-Motor Training in Older Adults.European journal of sport science · 2026Article
- Functional decline in the final years of life: A multicohort study.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Impact of Sleep Quality on Gait Variability: Pilot Cohort Study.JMIR aging · 2026Article
- Assessment of physical function of hospitalized older patients in routine clinical practice predicts 1-year mortality; A cohort study of 5,062 medical and surgical patients.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Association between intrinsic capacity and disability before death among older adults: a decedent cohort study.The lancet. Healthy longevity · 2026Article
- Implementing Systematic Assessment of Physical Function in Hospitalised Medical Patients: Description and Evaluation Guided By the Quality Implementation Framework.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- Sarcopenia and mortality in Indigenous and non-Indigenous New Zealand octogenarians-the LiLACS NZ cohort study.European geriatric medicine · 2025Article
- Aging in mice alters regionally enriched striatal astrocytes.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Education-related inequalities in disability during the last years of life: a full population register-based study.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2025Article
- Improvement of Physical Functions in Elderly Patients with Heart Failure Depends on the Hepatic Reserve.Physical therapy research · 2025Article
- Disability during the last ten years of life: evidence from a register-based study in Austria.European journal of ageing · 2024Article
- Terminal Decline in Physical Function in Older Adults.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2024Article
- Utility of SCORE2 risk algorithm for predicting life course accelerated frailty and physical function decline.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2023Article
- Walking Speed Is Better Than Hand Grip Strength as an Indicator of Early Decline in Physical Function with Age in Japanese Women Over 65: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Tanno-Sobetsu Study Using Linear Mixed-Effects Models.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Associations of physical activity participation trajectories with subsequent motor function declines and incident frailty: A population-based cohort study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo examine multiple objective and self-reported measures of motor function for their associations with mortality.
designProspective cohort study.
settingUK based Whitehall II cohort study, which recruited participants aged 35-55 years in 1985-88; motor function component was added at the 2007-09 wave.
participants6194 participants with motor function measures in 2007-09 (mean age 65.6, SD 5.9), 2012-13, and 2015-16.
main outcome measuresAll cause mortality between 2007 and 2019 in relation to objective measures (walking speed, grip strength, and timed chair rises) and self-reported measures (physical component summary score of the SF-36 and limitations in basic and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL)) of motor function.
resultsOne sex specific standard deviation poorer motor function in 2007-09 (cases/total, 610/5645) was associated with an increased mortality risk of 22% (95% confidence interval 12% to 33%) for walking speed, 15% (6% to 25%) for grip strength, 14% (7% to 23%) for timed chair rises, and 17% (8% to 26%) for physical component summary score over a mean 10.6 year follow-up. Having basic/instrumental ADL limitations was associated with a 30% (7% to 58%) increased mortality risk. These associations were progressively stronger when measures were drawn from 2012-13 (mean follow-up 6.8 years) and 2015-16 (mean follow-up 3.7 years). Analysis of trajectories showed poorer motor function in decedents (n=484) than survivors (n=6194) up to 10 years before death for timed chair rises (standardised difference 0.35, 95% confidence interval 0.12 to 0.59; equivalent to a 1.2 (men) and 1.3 (women) second difference), nine years for walking speed (0.21, 0.05 to 0.36; 5.5 (men) and 5.3 (women) cm/s difference), six years for grip strength (0.10, 0.01 to 0.20; 0.9 (men) and 0.6 (women) kg difference), seven years for physical component summary score (0.15, 0.05 to 0.25; 1.2 (men) and 1.6 (women) score difference), and four years for basic/instrumental ADL limitations (prevalence difference 2%, 0% to 4%). These differences increased in the period leading to death for timed chair rises, physical component summary score, and ADL limitations.
conclusionMotor function in early old age has a robust association with mortality, with evidence of terminal decline emerging early in measures of overall motor function (timed chair rises and physical component summary score) and late in basic/instrumental ADL limitations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.