Study: Elderly with disabilities recover faster than expected

The elderly recover from disability episodes faster than expected, but they become at high risk for recurrent episodes, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers from Yale University School of Medicine evaluated the recovery process of 754 community-dwelling residents in New Haven, CT, ages 70 or older.

They measured disability in terms of activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, walking or standing up from a chair.

About four in five newly disabled older people regain the ability to live independently within six months of their episodes, according to the study. But people with a disability lasting two or more months took a longer time to recover.