• Zachary Zimmer, Linda G Martin, Bobby L Jones, and Daniel S Nagin.
• Correspondence should be addressed to Zachary Zimmer, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, Laurel Heights Campus, Box 0612, San Francisco, CA 94143-0612. E-mail: zachary.zimmer@ucsf.edu.
• J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2014 Mar 1; 69 (2): 275-86.

ObjectivesIdentify common trajectories of physical functional limitation and mortality among Taiwanese 50 and older as they age, link these to underlying transitions in onset, recovery, and mortality, and assess associations between trajectories and a set of risk factors.MethodLongitudinal data from 4 waves of the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Middle-Aged and Elderly in Taiwan, collected between 1996 and 2007, are analyzed using a summary measure indicating difficulty with one or more of 7 physical functions. A group-based trajectory model identifies common trajectories. Shorter term transition probabilities that underlie multiperiod trajectories are examined. Multinomial regression associates risk factors with trajectory group membership.ResultsBest fitting the data is a model with 3 groups characterized as early, mid, and late onset of limitation. Roughly half the population follows the trajectory of mid onset and a quarter each of the other 2. Females and those least educated are most likely to belong to the early-onset group.DiscussionThe analysis advances understanding of late-life functioning by focusing on the heterogeneity of functional limitation experience, appropriately accounting for the relation between functional limitation and mortality and linking long-term patterns with short-term changes in functional limitation.

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