Functional ability in the elderly Swedish population from 1980 to 2005

Abstract

Statistics Sweden has interviewed representative samples of the population annually since 1980. This study looks at ages 65-84 (n & 3,000 per year) and presents prevalence rates for functional ability (walking and running ability, vision and hearing, and disability) for different age groups and for men and women. Prevalence rates of functional problems increase with age, for all indicators and for men and women. With the exception of hearing, women have poorer function than men. Different function indicators showed different trends over time. For example, vision (reading text) improved over the studied time period, while hearing (a conversation between two or more people) showed a clear worsening over the time period. Seen over the entire time period 1980-2005, mobility items (running, walking) and disability indicators showed improvement. However, figures suggested that most of this improvement occurred during the 1980s and early 1990s. Regression analyses of the estimated trends up until 1996 show for the most part significant improvement, but this positive development seems to cease after 1996 and in some cases there seems to be a significant upswing in problems. On other hand, for hearing, the negative trend of increased problems seems to have been broken after 1996. Results emphasize the necessity to follow population trends over long periods of time with multiple waves and multiple indicators.

Trends in health expectancy at age 65 for various health indicators, 1987–2005, Denmark

“…But the recent health trends in Sweden do not appear to be so positive for several health indicators (Parker and Thorslund 2007;Parker et al 2008). It may therefore be suggested that the recent optimistic health trends in Denmark are merely the consequences of the past stagnation period.…”

Disability trends among nonagenarians in 2001–2007: Vitality 90+ Study

“…For people younger than 85 years, studies from the United States have reported declining rates of disability (Cai and Lubitz 2007;Crimmins 2004Crimmins , 2009Manton and Gu 2006), but also stable or increasing disability levels (Fuller-Thomson et al 2009;Seeman et al 2010). The rates in Europe have varied according to country, period, setting, and methodology Parker et al 2008;Robine et al 2009). For the oldest old, data are sparse, and the results have shown both rising and declining trends (Cai and Lubitz 2007;Engberg et al 2008;Parker et al 2005;Seeman et al 2010).…”

Vil fremtidens eldre være friskere?

“…I motsetning antar «ekspansjonshypo-tesen» at vi vil få flere leveår med sykdommer og dårlig helse fordi flere overlever og opplever å bli gamle med sykdommer som før hadde dødelig utgang tidlig i livet (6).…”