关键词: 老年人, 功能性体适能, 潜在剖面分析, 影响因素, 社区护理, 老年人体适能测试

Abstract: Background　Functional fitness represents a composite measure of multi-dimension of physical capacity. However, it remains unclear whether the multiple dimensions of functional fitness exhibit consistent patterns or heterogeneous characteristics across different elderly individuals., whether distinct population subgroups demonstrate similar or divergent categorical traits. Objective　To analyze the latent categorical characteristics of functional fitness levels among community-dwelling older adults and identify their associated influencing factors. Methods　From March to November 2021, multi-stage stratified sampling was conducted in Suzhou to collect senior fitness test (SFT) data from 1,122 community-dwelling older adults. Integrating data on general demographic characteristics and health status indicators, latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to identify latent categories of functional fitness, followed by multivariate logistic regression to explore influencing factors. Results　Among the 1 122 participants, 458 were male (40.8%) and 664 were female (59.2%), with a mean age of (69.34±6.54) years. LPA supported a three-category model, classifying the participants into high (n=431, 38.4%), moderate (n=582, 51.9%), and low (n=109, 9.7%) functional fitness groups respectively. All test indicators showed parallel trends across the three groups, suggesting that the structure of functional fitness is characterized by overall consistency rather than multi-dimensional heterogeneity. Notably, the timed up and go test (TUGT) exhibited the largest difference among the three groups, while inter-group differences in flexibility indicators were relatively small. Multivariate logistic regression results revealed that, compared with the high functional fitness group: older adults with advanced age, male sex, low educational level (primary school or below), chronic diseases, and no regular physical activity had a significantly higher risk having low functional fitness (P<0.05); older adults with advanced age, male sex, low educational attainment, chronic diseases, and self-paid medical expenses were more likely to be in the moderate functional fitness group (P<0.05). The participants with low educational level had the highest risk of having low physical fitness level (OR=6.748-19.502). Conclusion　The multi-dimensional functional fitness levels of community-dwelling older adults can be categorized into high, moderate, and low tiers based on overall performance. TUGT is recommended as a preferred indicator for screening functional fitness in this population. Targeted health education, early screening, and functional fitness interventions should be prioritized for older adults with advanced age, male sex, chronic diseases, and particularly those with low educational attainment.

Key words: Aged, Functional fitness, Latent profile analysis, Influencing factors, Community nursing, Senior fitness test