Lifestyle predictors of successful aging: A 20-year prospective HUNT study.

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle factors predicting successful aging as a unified concept or as separate components of successful aging are important for understanding healthy aging, interventions and preventions. The main objective was to investigate the effect of midlife predictors on subsequent successful aging 20 years later. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were from a population-based health survey, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT), with an average follow-up of 22.6 years. Individuals free of major disease at baseline in 1984-86 with complete datasets for the successful aging components in HUNT3 in 2006-08, were included (n = 4497; mean age at baseline 52.7, range 45-59, years). Successful aging was defined either as a unified category or as three components: being free of nine specified diseases and depression, having no physical or cognitive impairment, and being actively engaged with life. The midlife predictors (smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, obesity and social support) were analysed both as separate predictors and combined into a lifestyle index controlling for sociodemographic variables, using multivariable regression analysis. RESULTS: Successful aging as a unified concept was related to all the lifestyle factors in the unadjusted analyses, and all except alcohol consumption in the adjusted analyses. The individual components of successful aging were differently associated with the lifestyle factors; engagement with life was less associated with the lifestyle factors. Non- smoking and good social support were the most powerful predictors for successful aging as a unified concept. When the lifestyle factors were summed into a lifestyle index, there was a trend for more positive lifestyle to be related to higher odds for successful aging. CONCLUSIONS: Lifestyle factors predicted an overall measure of SA, as well as the individual components, more than 20 years later. Modifiable risk factors in midlife, exemplified by social support, may be used for interventions to promote overall health and specific aspects of health in aging.

Adolescent personality traits, low self-esteem and self-harm hospitalisation: a 15-year follow-up of the Norwegian Young-HUNT1 cohort.

Affective disorders are closely related to self-harm and suicidal behaviours. Less is known about how adolescent personality traits and self-esteem influence the development of later self-harm. We examined associations between personality traits such as neuroticism, psychoticism and extroversion, and self-esteem, in adolescence, and the risk of future self-harm hospitalisation. Baseline information from 13 to 19-year-old participants in the Norwegian Young-HUNT1 study in 1995-97 (n = 8965) was linked to endpoint data recorded from participants' hospital records, describing self-harm hospitalisation episodes within the catchment area. Crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HR) were estimated by Cox regression analyses. A one-unit increase on the 0-6 scale for neuroticism was associated with a HR of 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14-1.47. Corresponding HR for psychoticism was 1.30, 95% CI 1.03-1.63 per unit increase, and for extroversion risk was reduced (HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.77-1.04). Positive perception of self-esteem was more strongly associated with reduced risk of self-harm hospitalisation (HR per unit increase on the 0-12 scale was 0.74, 95% CI 0.68-0.82). Additional adjustment for alcohol use and symptoms of combined anxiety and depression symptoms attenuated effect estimates, in particular for neuroticism (HR 1.13, 95% CI 0.96-1.32) and psychoticism (HR 1.07, 95% CI 0.82-1.40). In contrast, self-esteem associations remained largely the same after adjustment. Our results indicate that brief assessments of personality and self-esteem might add additional relevant information, and could be included as a supplement to standard suicidal risk assessment in adolescents.

Physical activity in adolescents who later developed schizophrenia: A prospective case-control study from the Young-HUNT.

BACKGROUND: Adults suffering from schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders report low levels of physical activity. In addition, these patients have an increased risk of overweight and poor nutritional habits. Less is known about patterns and levels of physical activity before the onset of disease. AIMS: The purpose of the study was to investigate whether there were specific patterns of physical activity in the premorbid phase of schizophrenia and whether these participants differed from those with bipolar disorder (BD). A group of healthy controls (HC) was also included. METHODS: The study was a prospective, longitudinal, comparative cohort design in which 15 adolescents who later developed schizophrenia and 18 with later BD were compared with HC. Data were analysed using non-parametric statistical tests. RESULTS: Patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were less physically active with fewer days per week (p < 0.05) and fewer hours per week (p < 0.05) in the premorbid phase than both BD and HC. They also participated less in team sports than HC (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that individuals who develop schizophrenia in their teens may be at risk of establishing a lifestyle harmful to health. From a preventive perspective it is important to gain more knowledge about the connections between health habits and later development of disease.

ADHD symptoms are differentially related to specific aspects of quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships between ADHD symptoms and specific domains of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) mental component. METHOD: A sample of 149 adults participated in the study. Data were collected from the participant's medical records and from self-report questionnaires. Multiple regression analyses were applied to identify predictors of the SF-36 mental component outcomes. RESULTS: The sample was highly impaired in terms of low health-related quality of life on all SF-36 mental component scales. The ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) inattentiveness was the strongest predictor of vitality and the only significant predictor of role-emotional outcome. The ASRS hyperactivity/impulsivity was the strongest predictor of social function and the only predictor of mental health outcome. CONCLUSION: Inattentiveness and hyperactivity/impulsivity were differentially related to specific quality-of-life domains. Inattentiveness was significantly predicting vitality and role-emotional outcomes, and hyperactivity/impulsivity predicted social function and mental health outcomes.