Ageing

Class and health inequality in later life: patterns, mechanisms and implications for policy

We compute a measure of cognitive decline that predicts well the onset of dementia and investigate how retirement affects cognition given age, education and gender. Retirement at first is beneficial, but can be detrimental to cognition later. In the long run, retirement speeds up cognitive decline if one retires at statutory age, retirement also has a protective role if one takes early retirement.

The aim of this study was to determine whether frailty in older adults is associated with the risk of subsequent dementia. A total of 8,722 older adults from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing were followed-up every two years until they reported a diagnosis of dementia, died, or were right censored. Frailty was defined using a frailty index comprised of 47 health deficits. To test if cognitive function influences the relationship between frailty and incident dementia, the analyses were repeated according to lower or upper three quartiles of baseline cognitive function. Competing risks regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate whether the degree of baseline frailty was associated with incident dementia. Compared with non-frail participants, pre-frail (HR: 1.51 95%CI [1.12–2.02]) and frail participants (HR: 1.73 95%CI [1.22–2.43]) had a higher risk of developing dementia, after adjustment for covariates. The association between frailty and incident dementia was significant for adults in the upper three quartiles of global cognitive function (HR: 3.48 95%CI [1.98–6.12]), but not for adults who were in the lowest quartile of cognitive function (HR: 1.13 95%CI [0.74–1.71]). Frailty should be monitored alongside cognitive functioning when assessing risk factors for dementia in older adults

Background: Cognitive ability is a heritable trait with a polygenic architecture, for which several associated variants have been identified using genotype-based and candidate gene approaches. Haplotype-based analyses are a complementary technique that take phased genotype data into account, and potentially provide greater statistical power to detect lower frequency variants.

When did old age stop being depressing? Depression trajectories of older Americans and Britons 2002-2012.

Characterisation of grip strength (GS) using isometric dynamometry is central to the definition of sarcopenia. Determinants of low GS include: older age, shorter stature, low physical activity, poor nutrition, socioeconomic disadvantage and multimorbidity. Less is known about risk factors for accelerated loss of GS. We investigated determinants of level and 8-year loss of GS in 3703 men and women (aged 52-82 years) in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Four hundred and forty-one men and women (aged 59-71 years) who participated in a 10-year follow-up of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS) were used for replication. Variables were harmonised between cohorts. Change in GS was characterised using mixed-effects models in ELSA and a residual change approach in HCS and analysed for men and women combined. Men in ELSA and HCS had higher average levels of GS at baseline, and accelerated rates of loss, compared with women. In ELSA, older age, shorter stature and multimorbidity were correlated with lower level, and accelerated rate of loss, of GS in both sexes (accelerated loss of 0.04 (95% CI 0.00-0.08) standard deviation scores per additional morbidity after multivariable adjustment). Socioeconomic disadvantage, low level of physical activity and poorer self-reported health were also correlated with low GS level, but not loss rate, after multivariable adjustment. Analysis in HCS yielded similar results. Our results identify multimorbidity as a modifiable determinant of loss of muscle strength in later life, and raise the possibility that developmental influences may impact on rate of involutional decline in muscle strength.

Physical activity pre- and post-dementia: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

An in-depth assessment of the data presented in the Health and Retirement Study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The concept of dynapenic obesity has been gaining great attention recently. However, there is little epidemiological evidence demonstrating that dynapenic abdominal obese individuals have worse trajectories of disability than those with dynapenia and abdominal obesity alone. Our aim was to investigate whether dynapenia combined with abdominal obesity can result in worse trajectories of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) among English and Brazilian older adults over eight and ten years of follow-up, respectively.

Is use of the internet in midlife associated with lower dementia incidence? Results from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Association of social support and cognitive aging modified by sex and relationship type: a prospective investigation in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Well-being and arthritis incidence: the role of inflammatory mechanisms. Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Sleep problems, short sleep and a combination of both increase the risk of depressive symptoms in older people: a 6-year follow-up investigation from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Does public transport use prevent declines in walking speed among older adults living in England? A prospective cohort study

Repeated exposure to systemic inflammation and risk of new depressive symptoms among older adults

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether hearing loss is associated with incident physician-diagnosed dementia in a representative sample.

BACKGROUND: Frailty is a common syndrome in older adults characterised by increased vulnerability to adverse health outcomes as a result of decline in functional and physiological measures. Frailty predicts a range of poor health and social outcomes and is associated with increased risk of hospital admission. The health benefits of sport and physical activity and the health risks of inactivity are well known. However, less is known about the role of sports clubs and physical activity in preventing and managing frailty in older adults. The objective of this study is to examine the role of membership of sports clubs in promoting physical activity and reducing levels of frailty in older adults.

Pedestrian crossings in the UK and US require people to walk at 1.2 m/s to cross the road in time; however a large proportion of older people do not walk this fast, potentially discouraging walking or putting older people at risk of injury. We use longitudinal data to investigate changes in walking speed, and ability to cross the road in time, at older ages. 31,015 walking speed measurements were taken from 10,249 men and women aged 60+ years in waves 1-7 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2002-2014). Growth curve analyses were used to model how walking speed changes with increasing age, and predicted probabilities of being able to cross the road in time were estimated. 10% of measured walking speeds were fast enough to cross the road in time. Walking speed declined with age (-5.7×10-3m/s/yr (95% CI -7.6×10-3, -3.9×10-3)), and the decline accelerated with increasing age (-0.3 ×10-3m/s/yr (-0.4 ×10-3, -0.3 ×10-3)). Female, less wealthy and less healthy older people had slower walking speeds. For instance, predicted probability of crossing the road in time at age 60 was 14.8% (10.1, 18.5) and 2.7% (1.5, 3.8) for the richest and poorest men and 8.4% (6.0, 1.1) and 1.5% (0.9, 2.2) for the richest and poorest women, and at age 80 they were 7.1% (3.6, 10.5) and 1.0% (0.3, 1.7) for the richest and poorest men and 3.7% (1.6, 5.9) and 0.5% (0.1, 0.9) for the richest and poorest women. Most older people do not walk fast enough to cross the road in time. Even the majority of the wealthiest and healthiest people aged 60 years and older do not walk fast enough to cross pedestrian crossings in the allocated time. Crossing times should be increased to allow for older peoples' slower walking speeds or other policies considered to improve walkability, and to help avoid injuries and social isolation.

AIMS: To validate the Leicester Self-Assessment score using a representative English dataset for detecting prevalent non-diabetic hyperglycaemia or undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes (defined as HbA1c ≥6.0%) and for identifying those who may go on to develop Type 2 diabetes within 10 years. METHODS: Data were taken from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a nationally representative dataset of people aged ≥50 years. The area under the receiver-operator curve and performance metrics for the score at the recommended score threshold (≥16), were calculated for the outcomes of HbA1c ≥42 mmol/mol (6.0%) at baseline and self-reported Type 2 diabetes within 10 years in those aged 50-75 years at baseline. RESULTS: A total of 3203 individuals had a baseline HbA1c measurement, of whom 247 (7.7%) had an HbA1c concentration ≥ 42 mmol/mol (6.0%). The area under the receiver-operator curve was 69.4% (95% CI 66.0-72.9) for baseline HbA1c ≥42 mmol/mol. A total of 3550 individuals had diabetes status recorded at 10 years, of whom 324 (9.1%) were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes within this time; the area under the receiver-operator curve for this outcome was 74.9% (95% CI 72.4-77.5). The score threshold of ≥16 had a sensitivity of 89.2% (95% CI 85.3-92.4) and a specificity of 42.3% (95% CI 40.5-44.0) for Type 2 diabetes within 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: The Leicester Self-Assessment score is validated for use across England to identify people with non-diabetic hyperglycaemia or undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes. Those with a high score are at high risk of developing diabetes in the future. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Cancer and heart attack survivors’ expectations of employment status: results from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing