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Aging Study Amsterdam (aging + study_amsterdam)
Kinds of Aging Study Amsterdam Selected AbstractsThe last 3 months of life: care, transitions and the place of death of older peopleHEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 5 2005Marianne Klinkenberg PhD Abstract Many older people die in hospitals, whereas research indicates that they would prefer to die at home. Little is known about the factors associated with place of death. The aim of the present study was to investigate the care received by older people in the last 3 months of their life, the transitions in care and the predictors of place of death. In this population-based study, interviews were held with 270 proxy respondents to obtain data on 342 deceased participants (79% response rate) in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. In the last 3 months of life, the utilisation of formal care increased. Half of the community-dwelling older people and their families were confronted with transitions to institutional care, in most cases to hospitals. Women relied less often on informal care only, and were more dependent than men on institutional care. For people who only received informal care, the odds of dying in a hospital were 3.68 times the odds for those who received a combination of formal and informal home care. The chance of dying in a hospital was also related to the geographical region. The authors argue that future research is needed into the association that they found in the present study, i.e. that decedents who received both formal and informal care were more likely to die at home. In view of the differences found in geographical region in relation to place of death, further investigation of regional differences in the availability and accessibility of care is indicated. [source] The effect of chronic benzodiazepine use on cognitive functioning in older persons: good, bad or indifferent?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 12 2007E. J. M. Bierman Abstract Objective This study investigates the effects of benzodiazepine (BZ) use on cognitive performance in elderly persons in a longitudinal design. Study design and setting Data were obtained from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), in the Netherlands. 2,105 respondents (,62 years of age) were included and had repeated measurements over a period of 9 years. For all BZs the type, dosage, frequency and duration of use was measured. The equivalent of a dose of diazepam was determined with regard to type and dosage and a cumulative dosage was calculated. General cognitive functioning was measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination, information processing speed was measured with the coding task, fluid intelligence with Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and episodic memory with the Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Multilevel analyses were used to investigate the relationship between BZ use and cognitive decline. Results A negative effect of BZ use on cognitive performance was found. However, the effect sizes were very small. Conclusion This study suggests that both duration and cumulative exposure to BZ has a small negative effect on the long-term cognitive functioning of elderly people in the community. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The association between depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in community-dwelling elderly personsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 4 2001Hannie C. Comijs Abstract Objective To investigate whether depressive symptoms predict specific types of cognitive decline in order to elucidate the association between late life depression and cognitive decline. Background Mechanisms underlying the association between late life depression and cognitive decline are still unclear. Method Six hundred and forty-one elderly persons of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) aged 70,85 were examined by means of two measurement occasions over a period of 3 years. Depressive symptoms were assessed by means of the CES-D. Various cognitive functions were examined using neuropsychological tests. Results Depressive symptoms were associated with decline in speed of information processing over a 3-year period, whereas there was no association between depression and increasing memory impairment or global mental deterioration. Conclusion These findings suggest that depressive symptoms are associated with subcortical pathology, most probable white matter lesions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Reducing the length of mental health instruments through structurally incomplete designsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 3 2007Niels Smits Abstract This paper presents structurally incomplete designs as an approach to reduce the length of mental health tests. In structurally incomplete test designs, respondents only fill out a subset of the total item set. The scores on the unadministered items are estimated using methods for missing data. As an illustration, structurally incomplete test designs recording, respectively, two thirds, one half, one third and one quarter of the complete item set were applied to item scores on the Centre of Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale of the respondents in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). The resulting unobserved item scores were estimated with the missing data method Data Augmentation. The complete and reconstructed data yielded very similar total scores and depression classifications. In contrast, the diagnostic accuracy of the incomplete designs decreased as the designs had more unobserved item scores. The discussion addresses the strengths and limitations of the application of incomplete designs in mental health research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Maintaining work-related personal ties following retirementPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 3 2010RABINA COZIJNSEN This study examines the consequences of retirement for the continuation of work-related personal ties. The hypothesis is that their inclusion in personal networks after retirement has become more likely because these relationships have become less role based in today's social-cultural context. Data are from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Members of two cohorts born during the periods 1928,1937 (N = 109) and 1938,1947 (N = 131) were interviewed in 1992 and 2002, respectively, with a follow-up 3 years later. Among retirees, the likelihood of having work-related relationships in their personal network after retirement increased by 19% in 10 years. This suggests that retirement has become less disruptive. Retirees seem more inclined to form intrinsically rewarding work-related relationships that continue to be important following retirement. [source] | ||||||||||