CAUSAL STRUCTURE BETWEEN MUSCLE, MOTOR AND LIVING FUNCTIONS IN COMMUNITY DWELLING ELDERS

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine Vol. 52; no. Supplement; pp. 213 - 224
• Main Authors: NISHIJIMA, TAKAHIKO, SUZUKI, KOYA, OHTSUKA, KEISUKE, TANAKA, HIDENORI, NAKANO, TAKAHIRO, TAKAHASHI, SHINJI, TABUCHI, HIROTAKA, YAMADA, HIROSHI, KAGAYA, ATSUKO, FUKUNAGA, TETSUO, KUNO, SHIN-YA, MATSUDA, MITSUO
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Japanese Society of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine 01.01.2003
• Subjects: Activities; activities of daily living (ADL); factor invariance; functional fitness; physical fitness; structural equation modeling
• ISSN: 0039-906X; 1881-4751
• DOI: 10.7600/jspfsm1949.52.213

The purpose of this study was to confirm the causal structure model of muscle, motor and living functions utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) . As subjects, 103 community-dwelling older men and women, aged 65.7±6.9years of age, participated in the study to measure muscle cross-sectional area, maximum voluntary contractions, muscle power, 4 physical performance tests, and 16 questionnaires regarding ability of activities of daily living. The causal structure model of muscle, motor and living functions was hypothesized to be a hierarchical causal structure. The causal structure model of muscle function was hypothesized to be a hierarchical causal structure consisting of 3 sub-domains of muscle mass, muscle strength, and muscle power. Data analysis procedures were as follows : a) testing of construct validity of muscle function variables using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in SEM ; b) testing of causal structure using SEM ; c) testing of factor invariance using multi-group analysis for gender. The highest goodness of fit indices was obtained in the causal structure model of muscle, motor and living functions (NFI= .928, CFI= .978, RMSEA =.061) . The causal coefficient of muscle function to motor function was .98 (p<.05), followed by.34 for motor function to living function. From the results of multi-group analysis, the measurement invariance model indicated the highest goodness of fit indices (TLI=.968, CFI .977) . It was concluded that the hierarchical causal relation was among muscle, motor and living functions, and in which muscle function was consisted of 3 sub-domains.