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Cohort differences in disease and disability in the young-old: Findings from the MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC-CFAS)

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posted on 2012-10-24, 09:01 authored by Carol Jagger, Ruth J. Matthews, F.E. Matthews, Nicola A. Spiers, J. Nickson, E.S. Paykel, F.A. Huppert, C. Brayne, The Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC-CFAS)
Background: Projections of health and social care need are highly sensitive to assumptions about cohort trends in health and disability. We use a repeated population-based cross-sectional study from the Cambridgeshire centre of the UK Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study to investigate trends in the health of the young-old UK population Methods: Non-overlapping cohorts of men and women aged 65–69 years in 1991/2 (n = 689) and 1996/7 (n = 687) were compared on: self-reported diseases and conditions; self-rated health; mobility limitation; disability by logistic regression and four-year survival by Cox Proportional Hazards Regression models, with adjustments for differences in socio-economic and lifestyle factors. Results: Survival was similar between cohorts (HR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.62 to 1.32). There was a significant increase in the number of conditions reported between cohorts, with more participants reporting 3 or more conditions in the new cohort (14.2% vs. 10.1%). When individual conditions were considered, there was a 10% increase in the reporting of arthritis and a significant increase in the reporting of chronic airways obstruction (OR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.78). Conclusion: This study provides evidence of rising levels of ill-health, as measured by the prevalence of self-reported chronic conditions, in the newer cohorts of the young-old. Though changes in diagnosis or reporting of disease cannot, as yet, be excluded, to better understand whether our findings reflect real increases in ill-health, investment should be made into improved population-based databases, linking self-report and objective measures of health and function, and including those in long-term care.

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Citation

BMC Public Health, 2007, 7 : 156

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  • VoR (Version of Record)

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BMC Public Health

Publisher

BioMed Central Ltd

eissn

1471-2458

Copyright date

2007

Available date

2012-10-24

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http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/156

Language

en

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