Disclosures: Wilma Afunugo: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To examine the effect of co-occurring obesity and pain on physical function among non-disabled older Mexican Americans over 20 years of follow-up.

Design: Longitudinal population-based study.Setting : Community-dwelling older adults from southwestern United States (Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas).Participants : Mexican Americans aged 65 years and older.

Interventions: N/A

Main Outcome Measures: Physical function was measured with the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). The SPPB is based on three lower extremity tasks, which test standing balance, gait (timed 8-ft walk), and five repeated timed chair stands. Each test is scored on a 0-4 scale and a summed overall score ranging from 0-12 for all three tests. Higher scores indicated better physical performance. Participants were divided into four groups. No pain-no obesity (n=857), pain-no obesity (n=288), obesity-no pain (n=168), and pain-obesity (n=117). Descriptive statistics were used to examine the distribution of the variables as a function of pain and obesity groups. General linear mixed models using the MIXED procedure in SAS were used to estimate change in SPPB score over 20 years as a function of pain and obesity groups. All variables were analyzed as time-varying (with the potential to change as time progress), except for gender, education, and nativity.

Results: Participants with only pain (beta=-0.21, p=0.025), only obesity (beta=-0.18, p=0.068), and pain and obesity (beta=-0.35, p=0.004) had a greater decline in the SPPB than those without pain and without obesity, after controlling for socio-demographics, smoking, comorbidities, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function.Conclusions: Older Mexican Americans were at high risk for decline in physical function over 20 years of follow-up if they had pain or co-occurring pain and obesity. Interventions aimed at preventing decline in physical function in this population should address pain management and maintaining a healthy weight.

Level of Evidence: Level II

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/pain-obesity-and-physical-function-in-older-mexican-american-adults-during-20-years-of-follow-up/