Article Text
Abstract
Objective To analyse poor physical function, pain, limited exercise and smoking, assessed in a patient-friendly self-report questionnaire format that has been completed by every patient at every visit over 20–30 years in the authors’ and other usual care settings, to predict 5-year mortality in a general older population.
Methods An extended version of a Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire was mailed to 2000 subjects in Finland, identified as a randomly selected control cohort for a rheumatoid arthritis cohort. The questionnaire included queries concerning baseline physical function, pain, exercise and smoking status, identical to the clinic version, as well as age and 25 medical conditions. Five-year survival was analysed according to descriptive statistics, Kaplan–Meier curves and Cox regressions.
Results The questionnaire was returned by 1523 subjects (76%). Five-year survival was 94% in all subjects, 98% in subjects with no disease or no acutely life-threatening disease, and 17% in subjects with an acutely life-threatening disease. Hazard ratios (HRs) for 5-year mortality were 3.5 for poor physical function, 2.2 for pain, 5.2 for limited exercise and 4.6 for smoking (p<0.01); 5-year survivals were 93%, 97%, 93% and 95%, respectively, compared with 91% for hypertension. Each of the four patient history variables predicted mortality at higher levels in subjects who reported no versus one or more acutely life-threatening conditions.
Conclusions Poor physical function, pain, limited exercise and smoking can be assessed systematically on a simple standard Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire, to identify potentially modifiable risk factors for premature mortality in the infrastructure of usual medical care and health maintenance.
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Footnotes
To cite: Sokka T, Pincus T. Poor physical function, pain and limited exercise: risk factors for premature mortality in the range of smoking or hypertension, identified on a simple patient self-report questionnaire for usual care. BMJ Open 2011;1:e000070. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000070
Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None.
Ethics approval Ethical approval was provided by the Ethics Committees of Jyväskylä Central Hospital and Population Register Centre of Finland.
Contributors Supervision of data collection: TS; analyses: TS and TP; preparation of manuscript: TP and TS.
Provenance and Peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement De-identified data will be available to readers upon request.