Table 2.

Characteristics of subjects who had Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) scores recorded at year 6 and were included in longitudinal analysis of association between drug burden and SPPB scores, compared to subjects who did not and were excluded.

FCI; functional co-morbidity index.

	Included in longitudinal analysis	Excluded from longitudinal analysis
N	2172	903 (501 dead at 72 months)
Age at baseline	73 ± 2.8	74 ± 2.9
Sex (% female)	53	48
Race (% black)	37	53
Site (% from Memphis)	51	49
Education (% completed secondary education)	78	68
% with Drug Burden Index above zero
At baseline	34	27
At year 3	26
At year 5	29
Mean (±SD) Comorbidities
At baseline (FCI)	2.7 ± 1.6	2.5 ± 1.7
Additional by year 6	0.8 ± 0.7
% with significant depression, anxiety or cognitive impairment
At baseline	25	29
By year 6	49
% with significant sleep problems
At baseline	24	25
By year 6	32
% hospitalized throughout study period	48.3
Mean (±SD) short physical performance battery
score
At baseline	10.2 ± 1.5	9.7 ± 1.9
At year 6	9.2 ± 2.3
Mean (±SD) grip strength (kg)
At baseline	32.9 ± 10.8	32.3 ± 11.1
At year 6	30.4 ± 10.1
Mean (±SD) usual gait speed (m/s)
At baseline (over 6 m)	1.2 ± 0.2	1.1 ± 0.2
At year 6 (over 4 or 6 m)	1.1 ± 0.3