Ellen Melbye Langballe

INTRODUCTION: Loneliness is postulated to be a risk factor for dementia. However, the findings are inconsistent, and long‐term studies on this association remain scarce.METHODS: In all, 9389 participants self‐reported loneliness in the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) in HUNT1 (1984–1986), HUNT2 (1995–1997), and/or HUNT3 (2006–2008) and underwent cognitive assessment in HUNT4 (2017–2019) at age 70 years or older. Logistic regression was employed to analyze the association between the course of loneliness and dementia, with those never lonely as a reference.RESULTS: In the fully adjusted model, the odds ratio (OR) for persistent loneliness was 1.47 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10, 1.95). This attenuated when adjusting for depression (OR 1.28, 95% CI 0.95, 1.72).DISCUSSION: Persistent loneliness from midlife into older age, as well as becoming lonely, were associated with increased odds of dementia, whereas transient loneliness in midlife was not. These findings underscore the importance of reducing loneliness.Clinical trial registration: The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04786561) and is available online .Highlights: Persistent and incident loneliness was associated with a higher risk of dementia. Transient loneliness was not associated with a higher risk of dementia. Loneliness 11 years before to the cognitive assessment was associated with dementia. Reducing the sense of loneliness might reduce or delay the onset of dementia.

Aims: Independent living among older adults is a global political goal aimed at reducing government spending on health and care services. This study investigates the prevalence of having someone to rely on for help when needed among community-dwelling adults aged 70 and older. Methods: The study sample comprised population-based data from 24,289 adults aged 70 or older participating in the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4). Standardized prevalence of having someone to rely on for help if needed in total, and from family, friends, or neighbors was estimated using Trøndelag county as the standard population. Prevalences were additionally stratified by gender, age, living situation, activities of daily living (ADL), and utilization of home-based services. Results: Standardized results showed that overall, 97.3% reported having someone to ask for help if needed, of whom 92.5% relied on family, 31.7% on friends, 23.1% on neighbors. The youngest men living alone had fewer to rely on compared to those living with others. Moreover, living alone was associated with relying less on family and more on friends and neighbors. Factors associated with relying on family members were female gender, younger age, cohabitation, no ADL problems, and no home-based services. Along with education, these factors also correlated with relying on friends for help. Conclusions: Nearly all those aged 70 and older in Norway have someone to ask for help, which is positive for aging in place policies. However, those living alone, especially men, are at a higher risk of not having anyone to rely on for help when needed.

Background: Life expectancy (LE) is increasing worldwide, while there is lack of information on how this affects older individuals' use of formal home care services.Aim: We aimed to decompose LE into years with and without home care services and estimate projected number of users towards 2050 in Norway for people 70 years or older.Methods: This study is based on a sample of 25,536 participants aged 70 years and older in the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) survey 2 (1995–1997), 3 (2006–2008), or 4 (2017–2019) linked with national data on mortality. Prevalence of home care services was standardised to the Norwegian population by age and sex. The Sullivan method was used to estimate expected years with and without home help services and nursing services for the years 1995, 2006 and 2016. Data from HUNT4 and Statistics Norway were used to estimate projected use of these services between 2020 and 2050.Results: During 1995–2017, the use of home help services decreased from 22.6% to 6.2% (p < 0.001), and from 6.4% to 5.5% (p = 0.004) for home nursing services. Adjusted for age and sex, the use of home help services decreased significantly over time (p < 0.001), while home nursing services were stable (p = 0.69). LE at age 70 increased from 11.9 to 15.3 years in men (p < 0.05) during 1995–2017, and from 14.7 to 17.1 in women (p < 0.05). In the same period, the expected years receiving home help decreased from 2.6 to 1.1 in men (p < 0.05), and from 4.4 to 2.1 in women (p < 0.05). The expected years receiving home nursing increased from 0.6 to 0.9 in men (p < 0.05), and from 1.3 to 1.7 in women (p < 0.05). Projected numbers of people 70+ in Norway in need of either of these services were estimated to rise from 64,000 in 2020 to 160,000 in 2050.Conclusion: While overall life expectancy increased, the expected years receiving home help have decreased and home nursing slightly increased among the Norwegian population aged 70 years and older during 1995–2017. However, the substantial increase in the projected number of older adults using home care services in the future is an alert for the current health care planners.

This study investigates the relationships between subjective age, intrinsic capacity, functional ability and health among Norwegians aged 60 years and older. The Norwegian Survey of Health and Ageing (NORSE) is a population-based, cross-sectional study of home-dwelling individuals aged 60–96 years in the former county of Oppland. Age- and sex-adjusted regression models were used to investigate the gap between subjective and chronological age and this gap’s association with self-reported and objectively measured intrinsic capacity (covering all six sub domains defined by WHO), health, and functional ability among 817 NORSE participants. The results show most participants felt younger than their chronological age (86.5%), while relatively few felt the same as their chronological age (8.3%) or older (5.2%). The mean subjective age was 13.8 years lower than mean chronological age. Participants with incontinence, poor vision, or poor hearing felt 3.1 [95% confidence interval (CI) (0.6, 5.5)], 2.9 [95% CI (0.2, 5.6)], and 2.9 [95% CI (0.3, 5.5)] years older, respectively, than participants without those conditions, whereas none of the following factors—anxiety, depression, chronic disease, Short Physical Performance Battery score, grip strength, cognition, or frailty—significantly had an impact on the gap. In line with prior research, this study finds that feeling considerably younger than one’s chronological age is common at older ages. However, those with poor hearing, poor vision, and incontinence felt less young compared to those not having these conditions. These relationships may exert undesirable effects on vitality and autonomy, which are considered key factors of intrinsic capacity and healthy ageing.

This study investigates the use of health and dental care services in adults with intellectual disability in the last 12 months according to Norwegian recommendations and in relation to age and int...