Less wealthy individuals showed reduced mobility and function across cohorts
THURSDAY, Aug. 13, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Socioeconomic inequalities are associated with differences in mobility and functioning as people age, according to a study published online Aug. 13 in PLOS Medicine.
Stephanie Schrempft, Ph.D., from Geneva University Hospitals, and colleagues examined associations between socioeconomic conditions and functional aging trajectories. The analysis included participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA; 2012 to 2023; 8,511 participants) and the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA; 2012 to 2021; 22,605 participants).
The researchers found that across cohorts, less wealth was associated with a poorer level of functioning across outcomes, including a greater decline in mobility and the ability to perform activities of daily living with age. Wealthier individuals participating in ELSA showed a steeper decline in gait speed versus their less wealthy counterparts, although their level remained higher throughout follow-up. Wealthier individuals participating in CLSA showed a steeper decline in chair rise performance and self-rated eyesight compared with less wealthy individuals. In ELSA, wealth inequalities in the level of functioning were generally greater than in CLSA, particularly for gait speed (years of functioning lost at age 60 years, 15 versus 9) and difficulties with basic activities of daily living (20 versus 9). There were some significant interactions between wealth and sex. For example, women with the least wealth had more difficulties with mobility, activities of daily living, and hearing versus men with the least wealth, but women had better lung function. Associations between wealth and functional outcomes remained, but were diminished when adjusting for chronic conditions, weight status, health behaviors, and social connections.
“Wealth gradients in health are nothing new, but almost no one has tracked how functional aging actually unfolds over time across countries,” Schrempft said in a statement. “By following older adults in England and Canada side by side, we could see that being less wealthy does not just mean worse health on average, it means losing physical independence faster as you age.”
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