Cognitive changes during a 2-year interval in a representative sample of the oldest old were investigated. Respondents were 324 people aged 84 to 90 at baseline who were selected from census records in the Jönköping region of Sweden. Following a 2-year interval, it was possible to reinterview 213 people, or 94% of individuals, still alive. Performance on a battery of five cognitive tests showed a small decline in mean scores, and a 10% increase in the number of people meeting criteria for significant cognitive impairment. Respondents with better functioning at baseline tended to have stable performance over this period.
The robustness of terminal decline was studied by analyzing longitudinal results from the simple Digit-Span Memory Test. The subjects participated in the Gothenburg longitudinal study and were first examined at the age of 70. Analyses were conducted for different groups according to subsequent survival. The findings provided support for the robustness of the terminal decline phenomenon.
SOC in first-time parents decreased at 4 years, especially in mothers, and social support can be of significance for parents of young children to be able to experience health.
MDS in elderly individuals is associated with reduced cognitive test performance, especially regarding more complex and time-demanding tests and in tests of secondary memory.
The aim of the present study was to investigate how dependence was experienced by 129 non-institutionalized 85-year-old persons, who previously had been categorized into seven different patterns of adjustment. The participants' subjective experiences of dependence were expressed in in-depth interviews and additionally, mobility, self-maintenance and need of help in daily living was conventionally assessed. When the results from these two methods were compared, it was found that subjectively experienced dependence did not generally correspond with the scorings on dependence. The in-depth interviews revealed that subjects with poorer adjustment could be most affected by minor impairments, while physical impairments were of a subordinate importance to those who were better adjusted. For appropriate caring interventions, it is therefore suggested that conventionally assessed dependence needs to be supplemented with documented subjective experiences of dependence.
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