Ingmar Skoog
Göteborgs universitet
Sweden
Programme Grant Ageing and health: Mental and cognitive health in relation to functional ability and multimorbidity in elderly persons. A life-time and birth cohort perspective
Forte, the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare
1,958,651
01/12/2013
6.0
Alzheimer's disease & other dementias
Aims: To study mental health (e.g. cognitive function, dementia, depression, psychotic disorders, anxiety syndromes) in relation to functional ability and multimorbidity, and their interactions, in the elderly. To study the influence of life-course, secular changes, genetic, biological, personality and psychosocial factors and socioeconomic gradients on mental health, functional ability and multimorbidity in old age using a multidisciplinary approach. Work plan: Examinations of population cohorts followed longitudinally in Gothenburg; the H70 (followed from age 70 years) born 1901-02 (studied from age 70 to 102 years), 1930 (studied from age 70 to 79 years), and 1944 (planned first exam 2014); the H85 (followed from 85 years) born 1901-02 (studied from age 85 to 105),1923-24 (from age 85 to 90), and 1930 (planned first exam 215); the 95+ (follow-up study of persons aged 95 and over); and the Prospective Population Study on Women born 1908-30 (examined from midlife in 1968 to late-life in 2010). The studies include assessments of mental, cognitive and sensory function, personality, ADL and IADL, physical activity, chronic diseases and social factors. The studies include DNA-analyses, laboratory tests, CT-scan of the head, and cerebrospinal fluid analyses. Two international population studies, 10/66 conducted in 15 low and middle income countries, and ESPRIT conducted in Montpellier are included in the program, which will also include qualitative studies and intervention studies. Significance: The elderly make up the fastest growing segment of the population. While disability and multimorbidity is most common in this age group, our knowledge of its relation to late-life mental health and brain changes is still scarce. The program is unique due to its sample size and representativeness, the comprehensive examinations, the long follow-ups, the high ages, and birth cohorts studied with similar methods during 40 years.