Cognition, even in the normal range, predicts disability: cross-sectional and prospective analyses of a population-based sample.

Objective: To determine if the modified mini-mental state examination (3MS) predicts functional status and if any effect on function is observed within the normal range of cognition.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Community-dwelling older adults in the Canadian province of Manitoba sampled in 1991 and followed in 1996.

Utility of Hippocrates' prognostic aphorism to predict death in the modern era: prospective cohort study.

Objective: To determine if one of Hippocrates' aphorisms, identifying good cognition and good appetite as two prognostic factors, predicts death in community living older adults in the modern era.

Design: Secondary analysis of an existing population based cohort study.

Setting: Manitoba Study of Health and Aging.

Acceptance of disability and the risk of frailty(*).

Background: THE OBJECTIVES ARE TO DETERMINE IF: 1) accepting disability as a part of aging is associated with frailty; and 2) accepting disability is associated with becoming frail over a five-year period.

Methods: Secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study of 1,751 community-dwelling adults aged 65+. Participants were asked to rate their agreement with the statement: "When you reach my age, you have to accept a fair degree of discomfort and physical disability" on a five-point scale.

Social position and frailty.

This study sought to determine (1) if measures of social position are associated with frailty; (2) if any observed association between social position and frailty is a threshold or gradient effect; and (3) if any observed association is independent of possible confounders. Data were drawn from a sample of 1,751 community-dwelling adults, aged 65 and older, living in the Canadian province of Manitoba in 1991. Education, self-reported income adequacy, and self-reported income satisfaction were used as measures of social position.

Life satisfaction and frailty in community-based older adults: cross-sectional and prospective analyses.

Background: Frailty may be associated with reduced life satisfaction (LS). The objectives of this paper are to determine if (1) frailty is associated with LS in community-dwelling older adults in cross-sectional analyses; (2) frailty predicts LS five years later; and (3) specific domains of LS are preferentially associated with frailty.

Methods: This paper presents analysis of an existing population-based cohort study of 1,751 persons aged 65+ who were assessed in 1991, with follow-up five years later.

Depressive symptoms and frailty.

Background: Frailty and depressive symptoms are common issues facing older adults and may be associated.

Objectives: To determine if: (i) depressive symptoms are associated with frailty; (ii) there is a gradient in this effect across the range of depressive symptoms; and (iii) the association between depressive symptoms and frailty is specific to particular types of depressive symptoms (positive affect, negative affect, somatic complaints, and interpersonal relations).

Method: Secondary analysis of an existing population-based study was conducted.

Cognitive impairment and life satisfaction in older adults.

Background: Quality of life in dementia has been studied in clinical settings. There is less population-based research on life satisfaction and cognition.

Objectives: (1) To compare the overall life satisfaction (LS), LS with material circumstances (LS (material)), and LS with social circumstances (LS (social)) of older adults with no cognitive impairment, with cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND), and with dementia; (2) To examine the effect of cognition on LS across a broad spectrum of cognition; and (3) To explore the effect of factors such as depressive symptoms, functional impairment, education, and social support.

Do depressive symptoms predict mortality in older people?

Context: Depressive symptoms are common in older persons, and may predict mortality.

Objectives: To determine: (1) If depressive symptoms predict mortality; (2) If there is a gradient in this effect; and (3) Which depressive factors predict mortality.

Population: In 1991-1992, 1751 community-dwelling older persons, sampled from a population-based registry, were interviewed.

Marital status, partner satisfaction, and depressive symptoms in older men and women.

Objectives: To determine if marital status is associated with depressive symptoms in men and women, and to determine if partner satisfaction is associated with depressive symptoms.

Methods: Community-dwelling adults (n = 1751) aged 65 years and older were sampled from a representative population-based registry. Age, sex, education, and marital status were self-reported.

Alcohol misuse, gender and depressive symptoms in community-dwelling seniors.

Objectives: Alcohol misuse in seniors has been studied in clinical samples and in small communities, but relatively few studies are population-based. Objectives are: (1) to describe the characteristics of seniors who score 1 or more on the CAGE (Cut down; Annoyed; Guilty; Eye-opener) questionnaire of alcohol problems; (2) to determine if depressive symptoms are associated with alcohol misuse after accounting for other factors.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of community-dwelling older people (65+ years) sampled from a representative population registry in Manitoba, Canada.

Cognitive scores, even within the normal range, predict death and institutionalization.

Background: Dementia is a predictor of death and institutionalization. It is less clear if variations in cognition within the normal range predict adverse outcomes.

Objective: To determine if variation at the high end of cognitive test scores predicts mortality or institutionalization, independent of the effect of potential confounders.