Association of childhood adversities and home atmosphere with functioning in old age: the Helsinki birth cohort study.

Objective: childhood adversities have been linked with adverse health outcomes, but less is known about the long-term consequences of childhood home atmosphere. We investigated whether childhood adversities and home atmosphere were associated with physical and mental functioning in older age. Methods: in the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study 2003, participants born in the year 1934-44 had data available on nine childhood home atmosphere items, e.g. whether it was supportive and warm (sum score ranged between 0 and 36, higher score indicating better atmosphere), and nine childhood adversities, e.g. unemployment and divorce (sum score 0-9, coded into no; one; and two or more adversities) assessed in 2001-04. Of those, 835 had data on physical and mental functioning assessed using the Short Form 36 questionnaire in 2011-13. Results: those who had experienced two or more childhood adversities were more likely to have poorer physical and mental functioning in older age compared to those with no adversities. A better home atmosphere score was associated with better mental functioning (per one unit higher score ß 0.24, 95% CI 0.16-0.32, P < 0.001). In models including both childhood adversities and home atmosphere, a more favourable home atmosphere was associated with better mental functioning while the association for childhood adversities attenuated. There were no associations between childhood adversities or home atmosphere and physical functioning in the models that included both childhood exposures. Conclusions: childhood adversities and home atmosphere have long-term associations with physical and mental functioning in older age.

Association of tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment with out-of-home mobility among community-dwelling older people.

BACKGROUND: As people age, functional losses may limit the potential to get outside the home and participate in desired activities and community life. Coping with age-related losses has been reported to be important for psychological well-being. Hitherto is not known whether active use of coping strategies also helps maintain out-of-home mobility. AIMS: We investigated how two coping strategies, tenacious goal pursuit (TGP; persistency in reaching one's goals) and flexible goal adjustment (FGA; adjusting one's goals to changed circumstances), are associated with life-space mobility and perceived autonomy in participation outdoors among community-dwelling older people. METHODS: Participants (n = 186) were aged 79-93 years. TGP and FGA were self-reported using separate scales. Perceived autonomy in participation was assessed with the Impact on Participation and Autonomy Outdoors-subscale, and life-space mobility with the Life-Space Assessment. Two-step cluster analysis was used to create data-driven coping profiles of TGP and FGA. RESULTS: General linear model analyses showed that the profile including highly tenacious and flexible older people had the highest life-space mobility and perceived autonomy outdoors, whereas the profile including people with low TGP and low FGA showed the lowest scores. Depressive symptoms attenuated the associations. CONCLUSIONS: Active use of both TGP and FGA is favorable for out-of-home mobility and enables more active participation in society in later life.

Executive function and life-space mobility in old age.

BACKGROUND: Life-space assessment incorporates all movements in terms of the distance from home, the frequency of movement and the need of assistance for movement. Executive function (EF) is an important higher order cognitive ability that controls and guides people's goal-directed actions. We examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between EF and life-space mobility, and investigated if perceived walking difficulties, lower extremity performance, and transportation difficulties explain the association. METHODS: 157 community-dwelling persons aged 76-91 years participated in the study at the baseline, and 103 of them in 2-year follow-up study. Based on the distribution on the Trail Making Test participants were categorized into tertiles of EF. Life-space mobility was assessed using the Life-Space Assessment (range 0-120). Perceived walking difficulties and transportation difficulties were self-reported, and lower extremity performance was assessed with the short physical performance battery (SPPB). Adjustments were made for gender, age, number of chronic conditions, and years of education. RESULTS: Average age of participants at the baseline was 82.6 (SD 4.2) years and 61% were women. Individuals with poor EF had lower life-space mobility compared to those with good EF. SPPB and transportation difficulties explained the association. Over the 2-year follow-up, those with poor EF at the baseline showed steeper decline but the difference did not quite reach statistical significance (p = 0.068). CONCLUSIONS: People with better executive function had higher life-space mobility. This was explained by better lower extremity performance and absence of transportation difficulties. Cognitive decline may hinder access to community amenities, which in turn may further accelerate cognitive decline.

Intellectual ability in young adulthood as an antecedent of physical functioning in older age.

OBJECTIVES: low cognitive ability is associated with subsequent functional disability. Whether this association extends across adult life has been little studied. The aim of this study was to examine the association between intellectual ability in young adulthood and physical functioning during a 10-year follow-up in older age. METHODS: three hundred and sixty persons of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (HBCS) male members, born between 1934 and 1944 and residing in Finland in 1971, took part in The Finnish Defence Forces Basic Intellectual Ability Test during the first 2 weeks of their military service training between 1952 and 1972. Their physical functioning was assessed twice using the Short Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire at average ages of 61 and 71 years. A longitudinal path model linking Intellectual Ability Test score to the physical functioning assessments was used to explore the effect of intellectual ability in young adulthood on physical functioning in older age. RESULTS: after adjustments for age at measurement, childhood socioeconomic status and adult BMI (kg/m(2)), better intellectual ability total and arithmetic and verbal reasoning subtest scores in young adulthood predicted better physical functioning at age 61 years (P values <0.021). Intellectual ability total and arithmetic and verbal reasoning subtest scores in young adulthood had indirect effects on physical functioning at age 71 years (P values <0.022) through better physical functioning at age 61 years. Adjustment for main chronic diseases did not change the results materially. CONCLUSION: better early-life intellectual ability helps in maintaining better physical functioning in older age.

The Combined Effect of Lower Extremity Function and Cognitive Performance on Perceived Walking Ability Among Older People: A 2-Year Follow-up Study.

Background: We studied the combined effects of cognitive performance and lower extremity function on self-reported walking modifications and walking difficulty and on self-reported walking difficulty incidence over a 2-year follow-up. Methods: A total of 848 community-dwelling older people aged 75-90 years participated at baseline, 816 at the 1-year follow-up, and 761 at the 2-year follow-up. Baseline lower extremity function was measured with the Short Physical Performance Battery (<10 vs. ≥10) and cognitive performance with the Mini-Mental State Examination (<24 vs. ≥24). Difficulty in walking 2 km was self-reported and categorized into no difficulties, no difficulties but walking modifications, and prevalent difficulties. Data were analyzed with multinomial and Cox regressions and a mediation analysis. Results: At baseline, 33% reported no walking difficulties, 25% walking modifications, and 42% walking difficulty. Poorer lower extremity function and lower cognition increased the odds for walking difficulty. For those with both, the odds were almost eightfold higher for walking difficulty and threefold higher for walking modifications compared with having neither. Poorer lower extremity function mediated the association between low cognition and poorer perceived walking ability. Of those with no walking difficulty at baseline, 31% developed walking difficulty during the follow-up, the risk being almost twofold higher among those with poorer lower extremity function at baseline (hazard ratio = 1.82, 95% confidence interval = 1.28-2.59). Conclusion: Older people with poorer lower extremity function and cognitive performance are likely to have walking difficulties, rendering them especially vulnerable to further disability. Cognitive performance should be considered in interventions aimed at preventing mobility disability.

The Temporal Association Between Executive Function and Life-Space Mobility in Old Age.

Background: Life-space mobility, an indicator of community mobility, describes person's movements in terms of the distance from home, the frequency of movement, and the need of assistance for movement. Executive function (EF) is a higher-order cognitive function that supervises motor control and plays a key role in a person's ability to function independently. Cognitive impairment often co-occurs with restricted life-space mobility; however, the direction of the longitudinal associations between EF and life-space mobility is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal associations between EF and life-space mobility among community-dwelling older people. Methods: One hundred eight community-dwelling persons aged 76 to 91 years participated in the 2 year follow-up study. EF was measured with the Trail Making Test. The Life-Space Assessment (range 0-120, higher scores indicate more mobility) was used to assess life-space mobility. Cross-lagged model design was used to examine longitudinal relationship between EF and life-space mobility. The model was adjusted for age and gender. Results: Average age of participants at baseline was 82.2 (SD 4.1) years and 59% were women. Better EF at baseline predicted higher life-space mobility at follow-up (path coefficient = 3.81, 95% confidential interval; 0.84, 6.78, p = .012), whereas baseline life-space mobility did not predict EF at follow-up. Conclusion: EF was a determinant of life-space mobility. Supporting EF may enhance maintaining independence and active participation in old age.

Infant motor development and cognitive performance in early old age: the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study.

Motor development and cognitive development in childhood have been found to be fundamentally interrelated, but less is known about the association extending over the life course. The aim of this study was to examine the association between early motor development and cognitive performance in early old age. From men and women belonging to the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, who were born between 1934 and 1944 and resided in Finland in 1971, 1279 participated in cognitive performance tests (CogState®, version 3.0.5) between 2001 and 2006 at an average age of 64.2 years (SD 3.0). Of these, age at first walking extracted from child welfare clinic records was available for 398 participants. Longer reaction times in cognitive tasks measuring simple reaction time (SRT), choice reaction time (CRT), working memory (WM), divided attention (DA), and associated learning (AL) indicated poorer cognitive performance. Adjustment was made for sex, age at testing, father's occupational status and own highest attained education, and occupation in adulthood. Average age of learning to walk was 12.2 months (SD 2.1). After adjusting for covariates, earlier attainment of learning to walk was associated with shorter reaction times in cognitive performance tasks (SRT 10.32 % per month, 95 % CI 0.48-21.12, p = 0.039; CRT 14.17 % per month, 95 % CI 3.75-25.63, p = 0.007; WM 15.14 % per month, 95 % CI 4.95-26.32, p = 0.003). People who learned to walk earlier had better cognitive performance in early old age. The earlier attainment of motor skills may track over to early old age and possibly reflect greater cognitive reserve in older age.