0000000000848633
AUTHOR
Stig Berg
Satisfaction With Present Life Predicts Survival in Octogenarians
We examined the effect of life satisfaction on survival over 10 years among 80-year-old and older same-sex twins of whom 320 individuals responded to the Life Satisfaction Index Z questionnaire in connection with the OCTO-Twin study. We treated participants as individuals in semiparametric Cox regression mixed-effects models (frailty) by adjusting the similarity of mortality risk within twin pairs by modeling it as a random variable. An exploratory factor analysis yielded three factors: Zest and Mood represented satisfaction with present life and Congruence represented satisfaction with past life. Those in the lowest quartile of factors of satisfaction with present life had an almost twofol…
Depressive symptoms in late life : Results from a study in three Nordic urban localities.
The prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms among 75-year-olds were examined in three Nordic urban localities: Gothenburg, Sweden (n=446), Jyvaskyla, Finland (n=382) and Glostrup, Denmark (n=541). Depressive symptomatology was assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Prevalence figures for depressiveness seemed to be somewhat higher in Jyvaskyla than in the two other localities. Women had more depressive symptoms than men in all three areas. The lowest mean score was recorded for Danish men and the highest level of symptoms in Finnish women. The associations discovered in this Nordic comparative study between demographic characteristics and depre…
Nordic Comparison of 75-Year-Olds - Sensory and Psychomotor Functions
Sensory and psychomotor functions were studied among 75-year-old men and women in three Nordic localities (Glostrup in Denmark, Gothenburg in Sweden, and Jyvaskyla in Finland) as part of a comparative study on functional capacity and health. Random samples were drawn from the population registers in Glostrup (n=550) and Gothenburg (n=450), whereas in Jyvaskyla all 75-year-old residents (n=388) were invited to participate in the study. Participation rates varied from 66.8% in Gothenburg to 79.1% in Jyvaskyla. Sensory functions studied included hearing (pure-tone thresholds at 125-8000 Hz), vision (visual acuity, refraction, intraocular pressure), balance (postural sway), and tactual sensitiv…