6533b85bfe1ef96bd12ba8ca

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Nordic Comparison of 75-Year-Olds - Sensory and Psychomotor Functions

subject

description

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 sensitivity (vibrotactile thresholds on hand and foot). Psychomotor speed was studied using simple and multi-choice reaction and movement time tests (visual and auditory stimuli) and a tapping rate test. To exemplify the findings, the results of the reaction and movement time tests are reported in this paper. In all three centres the men tended to show considerably faster responses than the women in both the simple and choice reaction and movement time tests. Comparisons between the localities showed that the movement times of the Danish men tended to be longer than those of the Swedish and Finnish men. Similarly, the responses of Danish women also tended to be somewhat slower compared with their Swedish and Finnish counterparts. Minor differences only were found between Gothenburg and Jyvaskyla. Inter-center differences may partly be due to methodological problems and to how successfully the subjects were motivated to maximal effort during tests.