Do positive psychological characteristics modify the associations of physical performance with functional decline and institutionalization? Findings from the longitudinal aging study Amsterdam.

Objectives: To investigate whether 3 positive psychological characteristics, related to sense of control, modify the associations of physical performance levels with subsequent functional decline and institutionalization.

Method: One thousand five hundred and thirty-two men and women participating in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam and not living in an institution in 2005-2006 were included. Mastery, self-efficacy, investment in independence, and objective physical performance scores were ascertained in 2005-2006.

Cognitive functioning and the natural course of depressive symptoms in late life.

Objectives: To investigate whether specific domains of cognitive functioning predict the natural course of depressive symptoms in older people.

Design And Participants: Using the nationally representative, population-based cohort of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, 281 participants with clinically relevant depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale ≥16) aged 55 years and older were followed longitudinally during a period of 6 years.

Measurements: Using a maximum of 14 successive Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale observations, three clinical course types of depressive symptoms were defined.

Unmet needs of outpatients with late-life depression; a comparison of patient, staff and carer perceptions.

Background: There is evidence that late life depression is associated with high levels of unmet needs. Only a minority of the depressed patients appears to be adequately treated.

Methods: Ninety-nine older patients (58-92 years), 96 informal carers and 85 health-care professionals were recruited from six outpatient facilities for old age psychiatry in the Netherlands and interviewed to identify met and unmet needs, using the Camberwell Assessment of Needs for the Elderly (CANE).

War stress and late-life mortality in World War II male civilian resistance veterans.

The mental and physical health of 146 Dutch males exposed to severe war stress during their young adulthood were examined in 1986-1987 when they were at ages 61 to 66 years. The veterans' data were compared with a randomly selected population-based sample of same-aged males. In 2005, 70% of the war stress veterans had died, and only 35% of the comparison group.

Optimal cutoff values for high-risk waist circumference in older adults based on related health outcomes.

The authors aimed to explore optimal cutoffs for high-risk waist circumference (WC) in older adults to assess the health risks of obesity. Prospective data from 4,996 measurements in 2,232 participants aged ≥70 years were collected during 5 triennial measurement cycles (1992/1993-2005/2006) of a population-based cohort study, the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). Cross-sectional associations of WC with pain, mobility limitations, incontinence, knee osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes were studied.

Physical inactivity in Parkinson's disease.

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are likely to become physically inactive, because of their motor, mental, and emotional symptoms. However, specific studies on physical activity in PD are scarce, and results are conflicting. Here, we quantified daily physical activities in a large cohort of PD patients and another large cohort of matched controls.

The role of extracerebral cholesterol homeostasis and ApoE e4 in cognitive decline.

We examined the associations between extracerebral markers of cholesterol homeostasis and cognitive decline over 6 years of follow-up, and studied the modifying effect of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) e4. Data were collected in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (n = 967, with longitudinal data on cognition, ages ≥ 65 years) and analyzed using linear mixed models. General cognition (Mini-Mental State Examination; MMSE), memory (Auditory Verbal Learning Test), and information processing speed (Coding task) were measured.

Early determinants for the development of undernutrition in an older general population: Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam.

Undernutrition may be an important modifiable risk factor for poor clinical outcomes in older individuals. To achieve earlier detection or prevention of undernutrition, more information is needed about risk factors for the development of undernutrition in community-dwelling older individuals. The objective was to identify early determinants of incident undernutrition in a prospective population-based study.

Somatic multimorbidity and self-rated health in the older population.

Objectives: Chronic diseases are important predictors of self-rated health (SRH). This study investigated whether multimorbidity has a synergistic or cumulative impact on SRH. Moderation by gender and age was examined.

Accumulated and differential effects of life events on cognitive decline in older persons: depending on depression, baseline cognition, or ApoE epsilon4 status?

Objectives: The study examined the accumulated as well as the differential influence of negative life events on cognitive decline in older persons, and whether this association was different for persons with normal and poor cognitive functioning, and for ApoE ε4 carriers and noncarriers.

Methods: We used data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (N = 1,356). Data were analyzed using linear mixed models.

Region-specific fat mass and muscle mass and mortality in community-dwelling older men and women.

Background: Increased mortality risk at low body mass index values is well established for older persons. It is, however, unclear how the underlying body mass components (fat and muscle mass - FM and MM, respectively) are associated with mortality in old age.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the mortality risk of four body composition measures (appendicular skeletal MM, leg, arm and trunk FM) with 12-year mortality in community-dwelling older men and women.

Trends in activity limitations: the Dutch older population between 1990 and 2007.

Background: It is not clear whether recent increases in life expectancy are accompanied by a concurrent postponement of activity limitations. The objective of this study was to give best estimates of the trend in the prevalence of activity limitations among the non-institutionalized population aged 55-84 years over the period 1990-2007 in The Netherlands.

Methods: We examined self-reports on 12 measures of moderate or severe activity limitations in stair climbing, walking and getting dressed as assessed by OECD long-term disability questionnaire or Short Form-36 (SF-36) items, using original data from five population-based cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys (n = 54,847 respondents).

Ten-year trends in benzodiazepine use in the Dutch population.

Background: In the past decades knowledge on adequate treatment of affective disorders and awareness of the negative consequences of long-term benzodiazepine use increased. Therefore, a decrease in benzodiazepine use is expected, particularly in prolonged use. The aim of this study was to assess time trends in benzodiazepine use.

Religiousness and mood in the last week of life: an explorative approach based on after-death proxy interviews.

Although religiousness may, to a certain extent, be expected to alleviate emotional suffering in the last week of life, some religious beliefs might also provoke emotional distress. For the current study, after-death interviews with proxy respondents of deceased sample members of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam provided information on depressive mood and anxiety in the last week of life, as well as on the presence of a sense of peace at the approaching end of life. Proxy respondents also were asked about serious physical symptoms in the last week of life of the respondent, the respondent's cognitive decline, and their estimate of the salience of religion for the sample member.

Language differences in qualitative research: is meaning lost in translation?

This article discusses challenges of language differences in qualitative research, when participants and the main researcher have the same non-English native language and the non-English data lead to an English publication. Challenges of translation are discussed from the perspective that interpretation of meaning is the core of qualitative research. As translation is also an interpretive act, meaning may get lost in the translation process.

Cohort differences in 3-year adaptation to health problems among Dutch middle-aged, 1992-1995 and 2002-2005.

Midlife is a period during which ageing-related health problems first emerge. In view of increasing life expectancy, it is of great importance that people in midlife adapt to possible health problems, to be able to lead productive and engaged lives as long as possible. It may be expected that given the better circumstances in which more recent cohorts grew up, they are better equipped to adapt to health problems than earlier cohorts.

Major depressive disorder in late life: a multifocus perspective on care needs.

Background: The effectiveness of late-life depression treatment can be improved by tailoring interventions to patients' needs. Unmet needs perceived by patients suffering from a severe mental illness, e.g.

The association of serum insulin-like growth factor-I with mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer in the elderly: a population-based study.

Context: Numerous studies have investigated the effect of serum IGF-I concentration on aging and different aging-related diseases, e.g. cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer.

Role of lipoproteins and inflammation in cognitive decline: do they interact?

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, and cognition and focus on the modifying effect of inflammation. Data were collected in the population-based Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam and analyzed with mixed linear models. The sample comprised 1003 persons ≥ 65 years with cognitive data on at least 2 occasions over 6 years of follow-up.

Vision-related quality of life Core Measure (VCM1) showed low-impact differential item functioning between groups with different administration modes.

Objective: To assess psychometric quality of the vision-related quality of life core measure (VCM1) and feasibility in a community-based sample.

Study Design And Setting: Cross-sectional data were used from an observational study among visually impaired patients (n=296) and a community-based sample with low vision (n=98) from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Calibration was performed within the graded response model on the patient sample, including item fit, differential item functioning (DIF), DIF impact, and psychometric information.

Exploring cut-off values for large waist circumference in older adults: a new methodological approach.

Background: There is an ongoing debate about the applicability of current criteria for large waist circumference (WC) in older adults.

Objectives: Our aim was to explore cut-off values for large WC in adults aged 70 years and older, using previously used and new methods.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Personality characteristics and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis regulation in older persons.

Objective: To investigate the cross-sectional association between personality characteristics and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulation in older persons.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 1,150 participants (mean age 74.8 +/- 7.