This study investigates the characteristics of and the interrelationships between disease, disability, service use and social support in a random sample of 647 community dwellers aged 75 years and over. The two broad objectives of the study are: to examine the physical aspects and manifestations of health by investigating disease and disability and the interrelationships between these two factors, and; to examine the social aspects of health by investigating service use and social support and the interrelationships between these two factors. Given the dramatic population ageing in Australia, particularly in the very old age groups, the health, well-being and quality of life of older Australians are of paramount importance and will be well into the future. The proportion of the population with diseases and disabilities increases significantly with age. As the physical aspects of health are manifested with increasing age the social aspects of health also become increasingly important. Older adults, particularly those in advanced old age, are disproportionately high users of health and community services. Despite the high use of services in this age group, far more older adults living in the community rely on their families, friends and neighbours for social support and many older adults use a combination of formal services and informal social support. Little is known about people aged 75 years and over living in the community in Australia. In particular, significant knowledge gaps exist with regard to the relationship between disease and disability and that between service use and social support. The characteristics of social support in this group of older adults are also largely unknown. The papers presented in this thesis are based on data collected in The Sydney Older Persons Study (SOPS). This is a large longitudinal multidisciplinary project which began in 1991 in order to investigate the health and service use patterns of people aged 75 years and over living in the community in the Central Sydney Health Area. The initial sample consisted of two groups: first, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) selected census districts with probability proportional to size and 9271 households were door-knocked to obtain a random sub-sample of the general community (n=320, response rate 73%); second, community-living veterans and war widows residing in the Central Sydney Health Area were selected at random from a list provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain a veteran/war widow sub-sample (n=327, response rate 82%). Respondents participated in both an interview conducted by a social scientist and a medical assessment performed by a medical practitioner with experience in geriatric medicine. An informant was sought for each respondent and this informant participated in a phone interview conducted by a social scientist. The first paper in this thesis investigates the characteristics of diseases (neurodegenerative, systemic and psychiatric) including their prevalence and association with age. The second paper extends the first by examining the nature of the relationship between disease and disability and in particular which individual diseases and groups of diseases have the greatest impact on disability. The third paper expands the analysis in the second paper by focusing in greater detail on the relationship between disease and disability. The contribution of clinically-diagnosed individual diseases and groups of diseases to three different measures of disability (clinician-rated, informant-rated or proxy and self-report) is investigated here. The fourth paper examines the possibility of disease and disability being the major predictors of service use and social support. It focuses on the determinants of service use and social support using Andersen's behavioral model. The fifth paper investigates the characteristics of social support, in particular gender differences and the socio-demographic variables associated with social support. This is an important research area because lower levels of social support have been found to predict mortality, disease and lower levels of well-being. Finally, the sixth paper links the major themes of the fourth and fifth papers by investigating the relationship between service use and social support. This paper tests Cantor's 'hierarchical-compensatory' mechanism, which predicts a negative association between service use and social support, and the 'bridging' mechanism which predicts a positive association between these two factors. Thus it assesses the extent to which demands for service use and for social support are made together or in a compensatory fashion for respondents of equal disease and disability. The presented work demonstrates that neurodegenerative diseases [dementia, cognitive impairment, parkinsonism, instability (gait ataxia), immobility (gait slowing) and motivation loss/behaviour change] have the largest and most significant increases with age of all disease groups. Therefore the hypothesis made in paper one that neurodegenerative diseases will come to dominate the health care needs of older adults, particularly when combined with population ageing, is supported. Further, results of papers two and three indicate that neurodegenerative diseases result in greater levels of disability, lending credence to the finding that it is these neurodegenerative diseases that are of central importance to the future of the health care needs of older adults of advanced age. While systemic diseases play an important role in disability, the neurodegenerative diseases are under-recognised by self-report and yet are most strongly associated with severe disability. A major recommendation of this study is that assessments and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases be included in disability assessments. With regard to the social aspects of health, the fourth paper finds that disease and disability are the main predictors of service use and social support. The fifth paper highlights important gender differences in social support and also finds that lower levels of social support are associated with increased age, male gender, single marital status and lower socioeconomic status. Because it is widely accepted that social support is protective against adverse health outcomes and low levels of wellbeing, these groups of older adults are at risk of poorer health and wellbeing. Finally the sixth paper fills some knowledge gaps with regard to the relationship between service use and social support. It shows that with regard to IADL (instrumental activities of daily living) services and IADL social support, Cantor's 'hierarchical-compensatory' mechanism (negative correlation) applies but with regard to medical services and both ADL (activities of daily living) and IADL social support the 'bridging' mechanism (positive correlation) is supported. These complex interrelationships between disease, disability, service use and social support are summarised schematically in a model. In light of significant population ageing, substantial resources in the form of medical and community services and social support from carers, family, friends and neighbours will need to be devoted to older adults with diseases, in particular neurodegenerative diseases, and to those with disabilities. Given the increasing importance of disease, disability, service use and social support in very old age, it is crucial that knowledge and understanding of these factors and their interrelationships be advanced in order to better allocate and sustain resources and to ultimately improve the health, well-being and quality of life of very old adults.

Introduktion  Fallolyckor är den vanligaste typen av olycka hos äldre personer och det finns behov av nya fallpreventiva åtgärder där fysisk träning med mobilapplikation är en möjlighet. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om träningsmängden påverkar effekten av ett års fallpreventiv träning med mobilapplikation för äldre personer i ordinärt boende mätt i funktionell benstyrka, upplevd balans och benstyrka samt fallrädsla och hälsorelaterad livskvalité hos äldre personer.  Metod  Deltagarna medverkade i ett större projekt där de under ett år erbjudits fallpreventiv träning med en mobilapplikation. Innan studiens start samt efter 12 månader besvarades en enkät som behandlade bland annat ett 30 sekunders uppresningstest för funktionell benstyrka, upplevd balans, upplevd benstyrka, fallrädsla och hälsorelaterad livskvalité. Vid 12 månader skattade deltagarna även sin genomsnittliga träningsmängd under de senaste tre månaderna. Deltagarna delades in i grupper efter träningsmängd; ingen träning (n=13), <30 minuter (n=31), 30-59 minuter (n=13), ≥60 minuter (n=25). Effekten av träningen jämfördes mellan grupperna med hjälp av Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance. Resultat 82 deltagare inkluderades i denna studie, de hade en medelålder på 76 år, varav 72% var kvinnor. Gruppen som tränat ≥60 minuter hade signifikant förbättrad funktionell benstyrka samt upplevd benstyrka i dagsläget i jämförelse med hur den var för ett år sedan vid jämförelse med gruppen som tränat <30 minuter. De som tränat ≥60 minuter visade även en signifikant förbättring i upplevd balans i dagsläget i jämförelse med ett år sedan gentemot gruppen som inte tränat alls samt gruppen som tränat <30. Inga signifikanta gruppskillnader sågs i fallrädsla eller hälsorelaterad livskvalité. Konklusion Fallpreventiv träning som utförs ≥60 minuter i veckan ger signifikanta förbättringar i jämförelse med mindre träningsmängd gällande funktionell benstyrka samt upplevd balans och benstyrka i jämförelse med för ett år sedan.

Objectifs : La prévalence de chute chez les femmes âgées incontinentes est plus élevée que celle des femmes continentes. Une des hypothèses est qu'une envie pressante (EP) d’uriner pourrait altérer la marche. Les objectifs ont été d’étudier l’effet de l’EP sur la marche chez les femmes âgées continentes/incontinentes et de déterminer la relation entre la sévérité de l’incontinence et les paramètres de marche chez les participantes incontinentes. Méthode : Une étude pilote quasi-expérimentale a été menée auprès de deux groupes de femmes âgées en bonne santé vivant dans la communauté : continentes (n=17; âge: 74,1 ± 4,3) et incontinentes (incontinence urinaire (IU) d’urgence/IU mixte) (n=15; âge : 73,5 ± 5,9), ayant fait au minimum une chute au cours de la dernière année. Nous avons comparé et analysé les paramètres de marche pour chaque groupe et condition (EP/sans l’envie d’uriner). Résultats : Nous avons observé chez les deux groupes lors de l’EP une diminution de vitesse (p=0,05) et de largeur de pas (p=0,02). Lors de l’EP, l’incontinence plus sévère a été corrélée avec une diminution de vitesse (rs=-0,56, p=0,03) et une augmentation de la variabilité de la longueur de cycle de marche (rs=0,54, p=0,04). Sans l’envie d’uriner, l’incontinence plus sévère a été corrélée avec une diminution de vitesse (rs=-0,63, p=0,01), une augmentation du temps d’appui unipodal (rs=0,65, p=0.01) et de sa variabilité (rs=0,65, p=0,01). Conclusions : L’EP affecte la marche peu importe la présence ou non d’incontinence. La sévérité de l’IU est corrélée à des paramètres de marche qui constituent des risques de chute. / Aims: The fall rate in urinary incontinent (UI) older women is higher when compared that with continent women. One hypothesis is that a strong desire to void (SDV) could alter gait parameters and therefore increase the risk of falls. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the effect of SDV on gait parameters in incontinent and continent older women who experienced falls. The secondary aim was to determine the relationship between UI severity and gait parameters in incontinent women. Methods: A quasi-experimental pilot study was conducted with two groups of healthy community-dwelling women who experienced at least one fall in the last year: continent (n=17; age: 74.1 ± 4.3) and urgency UI and mixed UI women (n=15; age: 73.5 ± 5.9). We recorded, analyzed and compared spatiotemporal gait parameters for participants in each group with both SDV and no desire to void condition. Results: Reduced velocity (p=0.05) and stride width (p=0.02) were observed in both groups with SDV. An increased incontinence severity was correlated with reduced velocity (rs=-0.56, p=0.03) and increased stride length variability (rs=0.54, p=0.04) in SDV condition. An increased incontinence severity was correlated with reduced velocity (rs=-0.63, p=0.01), increased stance time (rs=0.65, p=0.01) and stance time variability (rs=0.65, p=0.01) in no desire to void condition. Conclusions: SDV alter gait parameters regardless of continence status. Further, UI severity was correlated to gait parameters that constitute a risk of falling.

No description available.

Although the female menopause has been extensively characterized as a well-defined symptomatic state of oestrogen deficiency, which responds relatively well to oestrogen replacement therapy, the symptomatic state of androgen deficiency in men is poorly defined and uncertainty exists whether it responds to testosterone replacement. It has been proposed that hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular (HPT)-axis function (responsible for the production of androgens) and regulation could be viewed as a ‘barometer’ of health status in older men and that potential alterations in HPT-axis function and regulation reflect subclinical and clinical deficits in function and health, which may result in an aged phenotype of human health and disease in older men. The HPT-axis constitutes a well-defined, tractable, clinically-relevant, biological system, which may permit insight into the mechanisms underlying the expression of ageing-related phenotypes of human health and disease. By using a different lens – such as the genetic background; the compensatory responses within the HPT-axis; the syndromes of androgen deficiency; the ethnic background of an individual or the life course trajectory of function and health from conception into older age – to magnify potential dysregulation in the HPT-axis will it be possible to visualize and understand the phenotypic expression of human male ageing as a gradient of functional and health outcomes. This will allow for a better understanding of the physiological mechanics underlying symptomatic expression of dysregulation in the HPT-axis.