Birth cohort differences in cognitive performance in 75- and 80-year-olds: a comparison of two cohorts over 28 years.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate cohort differences in cognitive performance in older men and women born and assessed 28 years apart. METHODS: Data in this study were drawn from two age-homogeneous cohorts measured in the same laboratory using the same standardized cognitive performance tests. Participants in the first cohort were born in 1910 and 1914 and assessed in 1989-1990 (Evergreen project, n = 500). Participants in the second cohort were born in 1938 or 1939 and 1942 or 1943 and assessed in 2017-2018 (Evergreen II, n = 726). Participants in both cohorts were assessed at age 75 and 80 years and were recruited from the population register. Cognitive performance was measured using the Digit Span test from the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), Digit Symbol test from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and phonemic Verbal Fluency test from the Schaie-Thurstone Adult Mental Abilities Test. Reaction time assessing motor and mental responses was measured with a simple finger movement task, followed by a complex finger movement task. T-tests were used to study cohort differences and linear regression models to study possible factors underlying differences. RESULTS: We found statistically significant cohort differences in all the cognitive performance tests, except for the digit span test and simple movement task in men, the later-born cohort performing better in all the measured outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide strong evidence that cognitive performance is better in more recent cohorts of older people compared to their counterparts measured 28 years earlier.

Change in subjective age among older people over an eight-year follow-up: 'getting older and feeling younger?'.

The purpose of this prospective study was to describe changes in subjective age over an 8-year period among community-dwelling people aged 65 to 84 years in Finland. At the baseline 1155 respondents met study criteria and 451 of these participated in the follow-up study. Participants described in years the age they felt themselves to be (feel age) and their preferred age (ideal age). Discrepancy scores relative to chronological age were calculated for feel age and ideal age. No significant mean-level changes were observed in the age discrepancy scores over the 8-year time frame. The baseline discrepancy between chronological and feel age remained constant among 48% of the participants, with 26% reporting a younger and 26% an older feel age. Similar patterns were observed in the discrepancy between chronological age and ideal age. The findings point both to stability and to individual variability in feel and preferred age identification over time in older adults.

Changes in cognitive functioning from 75 to 80 years of age: a 5-year follow-up in two Nordic localities.

The purpose of the study was to analyze changes and stability in cognitive functions among older persons aged from 75 to 80 years, as well as differences in this development between two Nordic localities. The number of subjects taking part in the follow-up phase was 188 in Jyväskylä, Finland, and 184 in Göteborg, Sweden. Cognitive functions were assessed using conventional memory tests (Digit Span Forward and Backward for assessing primary working memory; Visual Reproduction for visual memory) and intelligence tests (Digit Symbol for assessing psychomotor speed; Word Fluency for verbal ability; Raven's Matrices for non-verbal reasoning). With few exceptions, the mean test scores declined significantly among the retested men and women in both localities. Analyses showed that generally over half of the subjects maintained their level of performance over the 5-year period, while a part of the deteriorating minority had a steep decline. There were significant differences in the test performance between the localities both at the baseline and follow-up assessments, but few differences between women and men. On the whole, however, the groups of older women and men from the two Nordic localities had a similar pattern of cognitive development from 75 to 80 years of age.

Age identification in the framework of successful aging. A study of older Finnish people.

A person-oriented approach was used in a study of age identification among community-dwelling older people. The study was based on 8-year follow-up data; 843 persons aged 65-84 were involved in the first phase of the study, and 426 persons aged 73-92, in the second phase. Loosely, on the basis of the distinction between successful, usual, and pathological aging (Rowe & Kahn, 1987, 1997), participants were grouped according to their self-ratings of cognitive and physical functioning as "Positive," "Negative," and "Others." Participants possessing at least 4 out of the 5 criteria used as indicators of successful aging in the study (no illness or injury presenting problems in daily life, no health problems imposing limitations on hobbies, self-rated cognitive functioning better than satisfactory, age-comparative functional capacity as good, and no signs of depression) were assigned to the "Positive" group. The results showed these individuals typically to have a more youthful age identity, indicated by a lower feel age and thus a lower subjective age-perception score, lower mental, physical, and look ages, and a less frequently reported sense of age weighing on them. Moreover, this group reported a higher ideal age and had a chronological age satisfaction score closer to 0, suggesting higher satisfaction with chronological age. Also a tendency to set the onset of old age later and a willingness to live to 100 years of age were features that were more characteristic of the "Positive" than the other groups. The findings, supported by multivariate analyses, were in line with those of previous variable-oriented studies on age identification, suggesting that an association exists between perceptions of personal aging and physical and psychological well-being.

Social and behavioural science perspectives on out-of-home mobility in later life: findings from the European project MOBILATE.

Out-of-home mobility is a crucial prerequisite for autonomy and well-being. The European research project entitled Enhancing Mobility in Later Life: Personal Coping, Environmental Resources, and Technical Support (MOBILATE), funded within the European Commission's Fifth Framework Programme, focused on older adults' day-to-day mobility and the complex interplay between their personal resources and resources of their physical and social environments. A survey conducted in 2000 in urban and rural areas of five European countries (Finland, The Netherlands, Germany, Hungary and Italy) with various geographical, structural, and cultural conditions enabled us to compare patterns of older men's and women's actual mobility in different regional settings. The sample included n=3,950 randomly selected persons aged 55 years or older, stratified according to gender and age. Standardised questionnaires and a diary were used to assess the persons' socio-structural, health-related, psychological and social resources as well as features of the community that may affect their options of realising outdoor oriented needs. The findings confirm that a person's physical, economic, social and technical resources as well as the structural resources prevailing in the area in which he or she lives in are decisive preconditions of out-of-home mobility. Older persons living singly, women, persons with impaired health and low economic resources, and the rural elderly tend to be particularly at risk of losing their abilities to move about. We conclude that further support and stimulation for enhancing out-of-home mobility in later life must focus as much on transport policy measures as on appropriate social policy measures.