Análisis de la esperanza de vida libre de discapacidad a lo largo de la biografía: de la madurez a la vejez

objective: to determine the life stages in which disability-free life expectancy is shortened before the age of 70 years. method: a retrospective longitudinal analysis was carried out in a cohort of 1,286 non-institutionalized people aged from 70 to 74 years old living in metropolitan areas. disability was measured by instrumental and basic activities of daily living. disability-free life expectancy was calculated. the kaplan-meier method was used to calculate survival probabilities. results: the incidence of basic disability increased from 50 to 54 years old and progressively accelerated until the age of 65-69 years old when the probability of instrumental disability was slightly higher among men than among women (0.23 in men versus 0.19 in women). disability-free survival was lower among women than among men both for all types of disability (logrank = 5.80; p = 0.016) and for basic disability (logrank = 4.315; p = 0.038). conclusions: this study reveals the importance of instrumental disability for domestic tasks among older men. women had a lower probability of disability-free survival and were more likely to be affected by any type of disability as well as by basic disability. for both genders, there is a slight decrease in disability-free survival from the age of 40 to 60 years. from this age onwards, this decrease markedly accelerates.