Cognitive performance trends among European older adults: exploring variations across cohorts, gender, and educational levels (2007-2017).

BACKGROUND: This study explores recent cohort trends in cognitive performance among older Europeans from 2007 to 2017, addressing three key questions: (1) Did cognitive performance improve universally and across the performance distribution during this period? (2) Did these improvements occur across educational levels and for both men and women? (3) Can established risk factors explain these performance gains? METHODS: Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) across 12 European countries, we assessed immediate recall, delayed recall, and verbal fluency in individuals aged 60 to 94 in both 2007 and 2017 (n = 32 773). Differences between the two time points were estimated with linear mixed effects regression models and quantile regression. RESULTS: Cognitive performance improved in all age groups, across educational levels, and for both men and women between 2007 and 2017. Notably, improvements were more pronounced at the upper end of the performance distribution for delayed recall and verbal fluency. Education explained approximately 20% of the observed improvements. Risk factors did not explain the observed improvements. CONCLUSIONS: European cohorts of both younger-old and older adults continue to exhibit improvements in cognitive performance. Variation in the size of the cohort improvements across the performance distributions in delayed recall and in verbal fluency may contribute to growing inequalities in cognitive outcomes. Future research should further investigate the potential heterogeneity in cognitive performance gains. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

Depends on whom you ask: Discordance in reporting spousal care between older women and men across European welfare states.

PURPOSE: We aim to investigate systematic differences in reporting spousal care between caregivers and cared-for persons and their possible effects for the analysis of care regimes and correlation of care with health. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using information on care provided/received from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we estimate the prevalence of spousal care and discordance between caregivers and cared-for persons in the reporting of care among caregiving dyads. Multinomial regressions are used to estimate systematic differences in reporting spousal care. We then use multivariable logistic regressions to assess the association between discordance in reporting informal care and carer's self-rated health (SRH) and depression using the EURO-D scale. RESULTS: Only 53.9 % of dyads report care that is confirmed by both spouses. Multinomial regressions show that agreement on care being provided/received is more common when women are caregivers, while men are likely to underreport when providing or receiving personal care. Prevalence of spousal care across care regimes is sensitive to who reports care. There is no effect on the association of care with SRH regardless of who identifies the carer, while the magnitude and statistical significance of the association between depression symptoms and care varies according to the choice of respondent. CONCLUSIONS: Informal care may be understated across Europe when relying solely on carer self-identification through description of tasks in surveys. From a policy standpoint, relying on self-identification of carers to access support or social benefits may potentially reduce the take-up of such benefits or support.

Sexual health among the oldest old: a population-based study among people aged 85 years and older in Stockholm, Sweden.

Background: Sexual health is an important contributor to the well-being and life satisfaction of people aged ≥85 years, known as the oldest old. However, little is known about sexual health in this population. Aim: To examine aspects of sexual health among the oldest old and explore its associations with sociodemographic, health-related, and lifestyle factors. Methods: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study including 183 individuals aged ≥85 years who were residents in Stockholm County, Sweden. Responders (response rate, 63%) were interviewed on a range of health, sociodemographic, and lifestyle parameters, including aspects of sexual health. Participants' responses to the sexual health items were reported as proportions with 95% CIs. Associations were examined with multivariable logistic regression. Outcomes: We examined sexual activity, sexual satisfaction, problems related to sexual health, and inquiries on sexual health by a health care provider. Results: Twelve percent of participants (95% CI, 8%-17.6%) were sexually active, and 63.9% (95% CI, 56.5%-70.9%) were satisfied with their sexual lives during the past year. A third (35%; 95% CI, 28.4%-42.2%) reported at least a problem related to sexual health. Only 2.2% (95% CI, 0.6%-5.5%) were asked about sexual health by a health care provider, while 8.2% (95% CI, 4.7%-13.2%) identified a need for such an assessment. Yet, 85.2% (95% CI, 79.3%-90.0%) indicated no need for their sexual health to be evaluated by a health care provider. Being partnered was positively associated with sexual activity (adjusted odds ratio, 9.13; 95% CI, 2.53-32.90), whereas having strong social support was positively associated with being satisfied with one's sexual life (adjusted odds ratio, 2.96; 95% CI, 1.53-5.74). Clinical Implications: Health care providers should be proactive in assessing the sexual health of the oldest individuals. Strengths and Limitations: A representative sample of an underresearched population was used in this study. However, the generalizability of our findings may be restricted due to the small sample. To maintain statistical power from a relatively small sample, we might have lost explanatory power. Given the observational cross-sectional nature of the data, we cannot draw causal inferences based on the observed associations. Conclusions: A 10th of participants were sexually active, and the majority were satisfied with their sexual lives. Although many participants reported problems related to sexual health, few expressed the need to discuss sexual health with health care providers. Future studies should explore potential barriers to addressing sexual health and unmet health care needs among the oldest old.

Longitudinal associations between sensory and cognitive functioning in adults 60 years or older in Sweden and Denmark.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to explore the bidirectional, longitudinal associations between self-reported sensory functions (hearing/vision) and cognitive functioning among older adults in Sweden and Denmark during the period 2004-2017. METHODS: The study is based on data from The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and consists of 3164 persons aged 60 to 93 years. Within-person associations between sensory and cognitive functions were estimated using random intercept cross-lagged panel models. RESULTS: The results indicated that cognitive and sensory functions were associated within their respective domains over time. The results on the bidirectional associations between sensory functions and cognition over time showed weak and statistically non-significant estimates. CONCLUSION: Our study showed no clear evidence for cross-lagged effects between sensory functions and cognitive functioning. Important to note, however, is that using longitudinal data to estimate change within persons is a demanding statistical test and various factors may have contributed to the absence of conclusive evidence in our study. We discuss several of these factors.

Adult offspring and their socioeconomic resources for development and survival of stroke: A Swedish and Danish nationwide register-based study.

AIMS: To explore the relationships between adult offspring's socioeconomic resources and the development of stroke and survival after stroke among older adults in Denmark and Sweden. METHODS: The study included 1,464,740 Swedes and 835,488 Danes who had turned 65 years old between 2000 and 2015. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to analyse incident stroke and survival after stroke until 2020. RESULTS: Lower level of offspring's education, occupation and income were associated with higher hazards of stroke among both men and women in Sweden and Denmark. Associations with offspring's education, occupation and income were most consistent for death after the acute phase and for educational level. From one to five years after stroke and compared with a high educational level of offspring, low and medium educational level were associated with 1.34 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11; 1.62) and 1.18 (95% CI: 1.10; 1.27) as well as 1.26 (95% CI: 1.06; 1.48) and 1.14 (1.07; 1.21) times higher hazard of death in Swedish women and men, respectively. The corresponding estimates in the Danish population were 1.36 (1.20; 1.53) and 1.10 (1.01; 1.20) for women and 1.23 (95% CI: 1.11; 1.32) and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.05; 1.21) for men. CONCLUSIONS: Adult offspring socioeconomic resources are, independently of how we measure them and of individual socioeconomic characteristics, associated with development of stroke in old age in both Denmark and Sweden. The relationships between offspring socioeconomic resources and death after stroke are present especially after the acute phase and most pronounced for educational level as a measure of offspring socioeconomic resources.

The Association between Education and Cognitive Performance Varies at Different Levels of Cognitive Performance: A Quantile Regression Approach.

INTRODUCTION: Educational differences in cognitive performance among older adults are well documented. Studies that explore this association typically estimate a single average effect of education on cognitive performance. We argue that the processes that contribute to the association between education and cognitive performance are unlikely to have equal effects at all levels of cognitive performance. In this study, we employ an analytical approach that enables us to go beyond averages to examine the association between education and five measures of global and domain-specific cognitive performance across the outcome distributions. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 1,780 older adults aged 58-68 years from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Conditional quantile regression was used to examine variation across the outcome distribution. Cognitive outcomes included Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score, crystallized intelligence, information processing speed, episodic memory, and a composite score of global cognitive performance. RESULTS: The results showed that the associations between education and different cognitive measures varied across the outcome distributions. Specifically, we found that education had a stronger association with crystallized intelligence, MMSE, and a composite cognitive performance measure in the lower tail of performance distributions. The associations between education and information processing speed and episodic memory were uniform across the outcome distributions. CONCLUSION: Larger associations between education and some domains of cognitive performance in the lower tail of the performance distributions imply that inequalities are primarily generated among individuals with lower performance rather than among average and high performers. Additionally, the varying associations across some of the outcome distributions indicate that estimating a single average effect through standard regression methods may overlook variations in cognitive performance between educational groups. Future studies should consider heterogeneity across the outcome distribution.

Inequities in home care use among older Canadian adults: Are they corrected by public funding?

BACKGROUND: Although care use should parallel needs, enabling and predisposing circumstances including the socio-demographic inequities of socioeconomic status (SES), gender, or isolation often intervene to diminish care. We examine whether availability of state-funded medical and support services at home can rebalance these individual and social inequities, and do this by identifying if and how intersecting social identities predict homecare use among older Canadian adults. METHODS: Using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) of 30,097 community-dwelling adults aged 45 to 85, we performed recursive partitioning regression tree analysis using Chi-Squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID). Combinations of individual and social characteristics including sociodemographic, family-related, physical and psychological measures and contextual indicators of material and social deprivation were explored as possible predictors of formal and informal care use. RESULTS: Diminished function i.e. increased need, indicated by Activities of Daily Living, was most strongly aligned with formal care use while age, living arrangement, having no partner, depression, self-rated health and chronic medical conditions playing a lesser role in the pathway to use. Notably, sex/gender, were not determinants. Characteristics aligned with informal care were first-need, then country of birth and years since immigration. Both 'trees' showed high validity with low risk of misclassification (4.6% and 10.8% for formal and informal care, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Although often considered marginalised, women, immigrants, or those of lower SES utilised formal care equitably. Formal care was also differentially available to those without the financial or human resources to receive informal care. Need, primarily medical but also arising from living arrangement, rather than SES or gender predicted formal care, indicating that universal government-funded services may rebalance social and individual inequities in formal care use.

Individual and neighborhood risk factors of hospital admission and death during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disproportionately affects minority populations in the USA. Sweden - like other Nordic countries - have less income and wealth inequality but lacks data on the socioeconomic impact on the risk of adverse outcomes due to COVID-19. METHODS: This population-wide study from March 2020 to March 2022 included all adults in Stockholm, except those in nursing homes or receiving in-home care. Data sources include hospitals, primary care (individual diagnoses), the Swedish National Tax Agency (death dates), the Total Population Register "RTB" (sex, age, birth country), the Household Register (size of household), the Integrated Database For Labor Market Research "LISA" (educational level, income, and occupation), and SmiNet (COVID data). Individual exposures include education, income, type of work and ability to work from home, living area and living conditions as well as the individual country of origin and co-morbidities. Additionally, we have data on the risks associated with living areas. We used a Cox proportional hazards model and logistic regression to estimate associations. Area-level covariates were used in a principal component analysis to generate a measurement of neighborhood deprivation. As outcomes, we used hospitalization and death due to COVID-19. RESULTS: Among the 1,782,125 persons, male sex, comorbidities, higher age, and not being born in Sweden increase the risk of hospitalization and death. So does lower education and lower income, the lowest incomes doubled the risk of death from COVID-19. Area estimates, where the model includes individual risks, show that high population density and a high percentage of foreign-born inhabitants increased the risk of hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Segregation and deprivation are public health issues elucidated by COVID-19. Neighborhood deprivation, prevalent in Stockholm, adds to individual risks and is associated with hospitalization and death. This finding is paramount for governments, agencies, and healthcare institutions interested in targeted interventions.

Cohort Trajectories by Age and Gender for Informal Caregiving in Europe Adjusted for Sociodemographic Changes, 2004 and 2015.

OBJECTIVES: We present a dynamic view of gender patterns in informal caregiving across Europe in a context of sociodemographic transformations. We aim to answer the following research questions: (a) has the gender gap in informal caregiving changed; (b) if so, is this due to changes among women and/or men; and (c) has the gender care gap changed differently across care regimes? METHODS: Multilevel growth curve models are applied to gendered trajectories of informal caregiving of a panel sample of 50+ Europeans, grouped into 5-year cohorts and followed across 5 waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe survey, stratified by sex and adjusted for several covariates. RESULTS: For men in cohorts born more recently, there is a decrease in the prevalence of informal care outside the household, whereas cohort trajectories for women are mostly stable. Prevalence of care inside the household has increased for later-born cohorts for all without discernible changes to the gender care gap. Gender care gaps overall widened among later-born cohorts in the Continental cluster, whereas they remained constant in Southern Europe, and narrowed in the Nordic cluster. DISCUSSION: We discuss the cohort effects found in the context of gender differences in employment and care around retirement age, as well as possible demographic explanations for these. The shift from care outside to inside the household, where it mostly consists of spousal care, may require different policies to support carers, whose age profile and possible care burden seem to be increasing.

Increasing inequalities in disability-free life expectancy among older adults in Sweden 2002-2014.

BACKGROUND: In an aging society with increasing old age life expectancy, it has become increasingly important to monitor the health development in the population. This paper combines information on mortality and disability and explores educational inequalities in disability-free life expectancy in the aging population in Sweden, and to what extent these inequalities have increased or decreased over time. METHODS: A random sample of the Swedish population aged 77 years and above (n=2895) provided information about disability in the population in the years 2002, 2004, 2011 and 2014. The prevalence of disability was assessed by five items of personal activities of daily living and incorporated in period life tables for the corresponding years, using the Sullivan method. The analyses were stratified by sex and educational attainment. Estimates at ages 77 and 85 years are presented. RESULTS: Disability-free life expectancy at age 77 years increased more than total life expectancy for all except men with lower education. Women with higher education had a 2.7-year increase and women with lower education a 1.6-year increase. The corresponding numbers for men were 2.0 and 0.8 years. The educational gap in disability-free life expectancy increased by 1.2 years at age 77 years for both men and women. CONCLUSIONS: While most of the increase in life expectancy was years free from disability, men with lower education had an increase of years with disability. The educational differences prevailed and increased over the period as the gains in disability-free life expectancy were smaller among those with lower education.

Why Are Old-Age Disabilities Decreasing in Sweden and Denmark? Evidence on the Contribution of Cognition, Education, and Sensory Functions.

OBJECTIVES: Improvements in educational attainment, cognitive and sensory functions, and a decline in the prevalence of disabilities have been observed in older adults in Sweden and Denmark. In the present study, it was investigated whether better cognition, higher educational attainment, and improved sensory function among older adults aged 60 and older in these countries have contributed to decreasing rates of old-age disabilities. METHODS: The analyses were based on repeated cross-sectional data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe for the 2004-2017 period. Descriptive data were used to benchmark the declining prevalence of disabilities, improving cognitive and sensory functions, and increased educational level. The association between time and disabilities was analyzed with logistic regression models, and the contribution of the improved cognitive function, education, and sensory function to the declining prevalence of old-age disabilities was estimated using the Karlson-Holm-Breen method for mediation analysis. RESULTS: The analysis suggests that the declining prevalence of old-age disabilities in Sweden and Denmark between 2004 and 2017 can largely be attributed to improved cognitive function and vision and to a lesser extent by education and hearing ability. DISCUSSION: These findings raise important questions about the causal mechanisms producing the associations between cognition, education, and sensory functions and disability in older age. Future studies should explore the causal nature of the associations between these mediators and old-age disabilities. In addition, they should explore whether these findings differ across regional and cultural contexts and over different time periods.

Cohort-specific disability trajectories among older women and men in Europe 2004-2017.

As the population of Europe grows older, one crucial issue is how the incidence and prevalence of disabilities are developing over time in the older population. In this study, we compare cohort-specific disability trajectories in old age across subsequent birth cohorts in Europe, during the period 2004-2017.We used data from seven waves of data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Mixed effects logistic regression models were used to model trajectories of accumulation of ADL limitations for subsequent birth cohorts of older women and men in different European regions. The results showed that there were sex differences in ADL and IADL limitations in all regions for most cohorts. Women reported more limitations than men, particularly in Eastern and Southern rather than Northern and Western Europe. Among men in Eastern, Northern and Western Europe, later born cohorts reported more disabilities than did earlier born birth cohorts at the same ages. Similar patterns were observed for women in Northern and Western Europe. In contrast, the risk of disabilities was lower in later born cohorts than in earlier born birth cohorts among women in Eastern Europe. Overall, results from this study suggest that disability trajectories in different cohorts of men and women were by and large similar across Europe. The trajectories varied more depending on sex, age and region than depending on cohort. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-022-00684-4.

Correction to: Changes in socioeconomic differentials in old age life expectancy in four Nordic countries: the impact of educational expansion and education-specific mortality.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s10433-022-00698-y.].

Gender differences in access to community-based care: a longitudinal analysis of widowhood and living arrangements.

Persistent inequalities in access to community-based support limit opportunities for independent living for older people with care needs in Europe. Our study focuses on investigating how gender, widowhood and living arrangement associate with the probability of receiving home and community-based care, while accounting for the shorter-term associations of transitions into widowhood (bereavement) and living alone, as well as the longer-term associations of being widowed and living alone. We use comparative, longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (collected between 2004 and 2015 in 15 countries) specifying sex-disaggregated random-effects within-between models, which allow us to examine both cross-sectional and longitudinal associations among widowhood, living arrangements and community-based care use. We find widowhood and living alone are independently associated with care use for both older women and men, while bereavement is associated with higher probability of care use only for women. Socio-economic status was associated with care use for older women, but not for men in our sample. The gender-specific associations we identify have important implications for fairness in European long-term care systems. They can inform improved care targeting towards individuals with limited informal care resources (e.g. bereaved older men) and lower socio-economic status, who are particularly vulnerable to experiencing unmet care needs. Gender differences are attenuated in countries that support formal care provision, suggesting gender equity can be promoted by decoupling access to care from household and family circumstances. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-022-00717-y.

Changes in socioeconomic differentials in old age life expectancy in four Nordic countries: the impact of educational expansion and education-specific mortality.

Overall progress in life expectancy (LE) depends increasingly on survival in older ages. The birth cohorts now reaching old age have experienced considerable educational expansion, which is a driving force for the social change and social inequality. Thus, this study examines changes in old age LE by educational attainment in the Nordic countries and aims to find out to what extent the change in national LEs is attributable to education-specific mortality and the shifting educational composition. We used national register data comprising total 65 + populations in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to create period life tables stratified by five-year age groups (65-90 +), sex and educational attainment. Difference in LE between 2001 and 2015 was decomposed into the contributions of mortality changes within each educational group and changes in educational composition. Increasing LE at all ages and in all educational groups coincided with persistent and growing educational inequalities in all countries. Most of the gains in LE at age 65 could be attributed to decreased mortality (63-90%), especially among those with low education, the largest educational group in most countries. The proportion of the increase in LE attributable to improved education was 10-37%, with the highest contributions recorded for women in Norway and Sweden. The rising educational levels in the Nordic countries still carry potential for further gains in national LEs. However, the educational expansion has contributed to uneven gains in LE between education groups, which poses a risk for the future increase of inequalities in LE. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-022-00698-y.

Trends in the shape of the income-mortality association in Sweden between 1995 and 2017: a repeated cross-sectional population register study.

OBJECTIVE: We investigate recent trends in income inequalities in mortality and the shape of the association in Sweden. We consider all-cause, preventable and non-preventable mortality for three age groups (30-64, 65-79 and 80+ years). DESIGN AND SETTING: Repeated cross-sectional design using Swedish total population register data. PARTICIPANTS: All persons aged 30 years and older living in Sweden 1995-1996, 2005-2006 and 2016-2017 (n=8 084 620). METHODS: Rate differences and rate ratios for all-cause, preventable and non-preventable mortality were calculated per income decile and age group. RESULTS: From 1995 to 2017, relative inequalities in mortality by income increased in Sweden in the age groups 30-64 years and 65-79 years. Absolute inequalities increased in the age group 65-79 years. Among persons aged 80+ years, inequalities were small. The shape of the income-mortality association was curvilinear in the age group 30-64 years; the gradient was stronger below the fourth percentile. In the age group 65-79 years, the shape shifted from linear in 1995-1996 to a more curvilinear shape in 2016-2017. In the oldest age group (80+ years), varied shapes were observed. Inequalities were more pronounced in preventable mortality compared with non-preventable mortality. Income inequalities in preventable and non-preventable mortality increased at similar rates between 1995 and 2017. CONCLUSIONS: The continued increase of relative (ages 30-79 years) and absolute (ages 65-79 years) mortality inequalities in Sweden should be a primary concern for public health policy. The uniform increase of inequalities in preventable and non-preventable mortality suggests that a more complex explanatory model than only social causation is responsible for increased health inequalities.

The importance of close next of kin for independent living and readmissions among older Swedish hip fracture patients.

We investigate the importance of adult children and/or cohabitation with a partner for older hip fracture patients' probability of independent living, public home care use and hospital readmission. Data from 35,066 Swedish hip fracture patients between 2012 and 2017, aged 65 years, and living at home at the time of the fracture in the Swedish Registry for Hip Fracture Patients and Treatment were linked with national registers. We applied adjusted logistic regression models and Cox proportional hazard models. In total, 959 (4.0%) women and 817 (7.3%) men had no adult children, 13,384 (56.0%) women and 3,623 (32.5%) men had no cohabiting partner and 2,780 (11.6%) women and 1,389 (12.5%) men neither had a cohabiting partner nor adult children. In comparison with women and men who had both a cohabiting partner and adult children, those without a cohabiting partner (i.e. only adult children) and those who neither had a cohabiting partner nor adult children had significantly lower probabilities of returning home (at discharge and after 4 months). They also had a greater probability of both receiving home care and having an increase in the amount of home care they receive. Having a close next of kin and hospital readmission were not associated. In conclusion, absence of a close next of kin, specifically a cohabiting partner, reduces the chance of return to independent living and increases the use of home care after a hip fracture hospitalisation. The findings highlight the importance of family support for older adults living situation after a hip fracture.

Excess Mortality by Individual and Spousal Education for Recent and Long-Term Widowed.

OBJECTIVES: The loss of a spouse is followed by a dramatic but short-lived increase in the mortality risk of the survivor. Contrary to expectations, several studies have found this increase to be larger among those with high education. Having a spouse with high education is associated with lower mortality, which suggests that losing a spouse with high education means the loss of a stronger protective factor than losing a spouse with low education. This may disproportionately affect the high educated because of educational homogamy. METHODS: We use Swedish total population registers to construct an open cohort of 1,842,487 married individuals aged 60-89 during 2007-2016, observing 239,276 transitions into widowhood and 277,946 deaths. We use Poisson regression to estimate relative and absolute mortality risks by own and spousal education among the married and recent and long-term widows. RESULTS: We find an absolute increase in mortality risk, concentrated to the first 6 months of widowhood across all educational strata. The relative increase in mortality risk is larger in higher educational strata. Losing a spouse with high education is associated with higher excess mortality, which attenuates this difference. DISCUSSION: When considering the timing and the absolute level of excess mortality, we find that the overall patterns of excess mortality are similar across educational strata. We argue that widowhood has a dramatic impact on health, regardless of education.

Trends in the Social Class Inequalities in Disability and Self-Rated Health: Repeated Cross-Sectional Surveys from Finland and Sweden 2001-2018.

Objectives: To assess time trends in the social class inequalities and in total inequality in disability and self-rated health (SRH) in two oldest old populations. Methods: The data came from the Finnish Vitality 90+ Study (2001, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2018; n = 5,440) and from the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (2002, 2004, 2011 and 2014; n = 1,645). Inequalities in mobility and activities of daily living (ADL) disability and SRH were examined cross-sectionally and over time using relative and absolute measures. Results: Lower social classes had greater mobility and ADL disability and worse SRH than higher social classes and the inequalities tended to increase over time. Findings were remarkably similar in both studies and with absolute and relative measures. Total inequality, referring to the variance in health outcome in the total population, remained stable or decreased. Conclusion: The study suggests that the earlier findings of improved mobility and ADL are largely driven by the positive development in higher social classes while findings of decline in SRH are related to the worsening of SRH in lower social classes.