[Mobility, driving, and functional competence in older people-selected results from the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS)].

Mobility is crucial for independent living in old age. Older people with reduced physical ability (frailty) begin to limit their personal range of activities to their immediate living environment and ultimately to their immediate home. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system as well as neurological, psychological, cognitive, sensory, and circulatory disorders can limit functional competence (ability to live independently).

[Disease sequelae on function in persons 70 years and older and the acceptance of a new supporting network, the NetzWerk GesundAktiv (NWGA)].

Background: The growing need of nursing care as life expectancy increases is a problem. The Netzwerk AktivGesund (NWGA) tries to change this development in a positive way. In a pilot region of the city of Hamburg, persons 70 years and older were invited by their health insurance companies to participate in the NWGA supportive network.

Effectiveness of a multi-component community-based care approach for older people at risk of care dependency - results of a prospective quasi-experimental study.

Background: Due to demographic changes, the elderly population in western countries is constantly growing. As the risk of functional decline and multimorbidity increases with age, health care systems need to face the challenge of high demand for health care services and related costs. Therefore, innovative health care approaches and geriatric screenings are needed to provide individualised care.

Comparison of FORTA, PRISCUS and EU(7)-PIM lists on identifying potentially inappropriate medication and its impact on cognitive function in multimorbid elderly German people in primary care: a multicentre observational study.

Objectives: Our study aimed to assess the frequency of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use (according to three PIM lists) and to examine the association between PIM use and cognitive function among participants in the MultiCare cohort.

Design: MultiCare is conducted as a longitudinal, multicentre, observational cohort study.

Setting: The MultiCare study is located in eight different study centres in Germany.

Non-random relations in drug use expressed as patterns comprising prescription and over-the-counter drugs in multimorbid elderly patients in primary care: Data of the exploratory analysis of the multicentre, observational cohort study MultiCare.

Background: The elderly population deals with multimorbidity (three chronic conditions) and increasinged drug use with age. A comprehensive characterisation of the medication - including prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs - of elderly patients in primary care is still insufficient.

Objectives: This study aims to characterise the medication (prescription and OTC) of multimorbid elderly patients in primary care and living at home by identifying drug patterns to evaluate the relationship between drugs and drug groups and reveal associations with recently published multimorbidity clusters of the same cohort.

[The "Hamburg home visit for older citizens" : Development, execution and acceptance in 4716 older people in 15 months].

Background: Preventive home visits are part of communal programs for older citizens. The city of Hamburg promoted the pilot project "The Hamburg home visit for older citizens" in two city districts. The voluntary program is offered to persons on their 80th birthday, without comprehensive assessment and is performed by visitors with a background in healthcare or social work.

Anticholinergic drug burden according to the anticholinergic drug scale and the German anticholinergic burden and their impact on cognitive function in multimorbid elderly German people: a multicentre observational study.

Objectives: The aims of our study were to examine the anticholinergic drug use and to assess the association between anticholinergic burden and cognitive function in the multimorbid elderly patients of the MultiCare cohort.

Setting: MultiCare was conducted as a longitudinal cohort study in primary care, located in eight different study centres in Germany.

Participants: 3189 patients (59.

The inter-relationship between depressed mood, functional decline and disability over a 10-year observational period within the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS).

Background: The WHO defines 'healthy ageing' as 'the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability'. Late-life depression and frailty compromise well-being and independence of older people. To date, there exists little research on the interaction of the dynamic processes of frailty and depression and only a few studies were longitudinal.

[Effectiveness of "Active health promotion in old age" : Results regarding compression of morbidity by target groups in 13.8 years of observation in LUCAS].

Background And Objective: Healthy ageing as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) is the development and maintenance of functional competence. Unfavourable ageing is described by the term frailty and is characterised by a decline in functional reserves. The frailty process can be influenced in a positive way.

[Comparability of studies of epidemiological research on aging : Results from the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS) and three representative Hamburg cross-sectional studies of healthy aging].

Background: Participants of the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS) were recruited from patients 60 years and older from general practitioner's offices in Hamburg. This is different from the usual methods of drawing representative samples.

Objectives: The research question addressed the comparability of LUCAS results with those from cross-sectional surveys with participants randomly chosen from a population list.

[Frailty in Germany: status and perspectives : Results from a workshop of the German Society for Epidemiology].

Background: A standardized, valid and comparable operationalization and assessment of frailty in population-based studies is essential in order to describe the prevalence and determinants of frailty in the population.

Aim: After an introduction to the subject the main goal of a workshop at the 9th annual meeting of the German Society for Epidemiology (DGEpi) was to present approaches and results from four different studies in Germany.

Material And Methods: The following four population-based studies were used to describe frailty in Germany: the German health interview and examination survey for adults (DEGS1), the epidemiological study on the chances of prevention, early recognition and optimized treatment of chronic diseases in the older population (ESTHER), the cooperative health research in the region Augsburg (KORA Age) study and the longitudinal urban cohort ageing study (LUCAS) in Hamburg.

[Home and dwelling arrangements in old age].

The increase of life expectancy provides the unique opportunity to participate actively in social life many years after retirement and upbringing of children. In Germany, over 80 % of the population 60 years and older are living independently in the community, and approximately 95 % stay in their own homes. On the other hand, the probability to suffer from diseases, frailty and impaired activities of daily life activities also rises with higher age.

Dysphagia in Dementia: Influence of Dementia Severity and Food Texture on the Prevalence of Aspiration and Latency to Swallow in Hospitalized Geriatric Patients.

Objectives: To evaluate influences of disease severity and food texture on prevalence and type of dysphagia in hospitalized geriatric patients.

Design: We screened for dysphagia in 161 geriatric inpatients with different forms of dementia and 30 control patients.

Measurements: Signs of aspiration were registered with 3 different food consistencies (water, apple puree, and slice of an apple) and the latency until the first swallow was documented.

Geriatric patients with cognitive impairment.

Background: Hospitals are now faced with increasing numbers of cognitively impaired patients aged 80 and older who are at increased risk of treatment complications. This study concerns the outcomes when such patients are treated in a specialized ward for cognitive geriatric medicine.

Methods: Observation of a cohort of 2084 patients from 2009 to 2014, supplemented by a sample of 380 patients from the hospital cohort of the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS) for the years 2010 and 2011.

Long-term prediction of changes in health status, frailty, nursing care and mortality in community-dwelling senior citizens—results from the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS).

Background: The detection of incipient functional decline in elderly persons is not an easy task. Here, we propose the self-reporting Functional Ability Index (FA index) suitable to screen functional competence in senior citizens in the community setting. Its prognostic validity was investigated in the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS).

The Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS): study protocol and participation in the first decade.

Background: We present concept, study protocol and selected baseline data of the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS) in Germany. LUCAS is a long-running cohort study of community-dwelling seniors complemented by specific studies of geriatric patients or diseases. Aims were to (1) Describe individual ageing trajectories in a metropolitan setting, documenting changes in functional status, the onset of frailty, disability and need of care; (2) Find determinants of healthy ageing; (3) Assess long-term effects of specific health promotion interventions; (4) Produce results for health care planning for fit, pre-frail, frail and disabled elderly persons; (5) Set up a framework for embedded studies to investigate various hypotheses in specific subgroups of elderly.

Effects of subcortical vascular ischemic dementia and aging on negative and neutral word list learning.

Background: Subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) represents an important subgroup of vascular dementia. Besides characteristic cognitive deficits, particular emotional problems support the diagnosis. Emotional disturbances in SIVD are not well understood.

A randomized trial of effects of health risk appraisal combined with group sessions or home visits on preventive behaviors in older adults.

Background: To explore effects of a health risk appraisal for older people (HRA-O) program with reinforcement, we conducted a randomized controlled trial in 21 general practices in Hamburg, Germany.

Methods: Overall, 2,580 older patients of 14 general practitioners trained in reinforcing recommendations related to HRA-O-identified risk factors were randomized into intervention (n = 878) and control (n = 1,702) groups. Patients (n = 746) of seven additional matched general practitioners who did not receive this training served as a comparison group.

Range and specificity of war-related trauma to posttraumatic stress; depression and general health perception: displaced former World War II children in late life.

Background: Dose-response relation of war experiences and posttraumatic stress, depression and poor health functioning in late life is well documented in war-affected populations. The influence of differing trauma types experienced by war-affected population in the study of dose-response relation of war trauma and psychological maladaptation in late life has not been investigated. We examined a subgroup of displaced elders and investigated whether specific trauma types were associated with differential health outcomes.

Evaluation of operative risk in elderly patients undergoing aortic valve replacement: the predictive value of operative risk scores.

Objectives: An increasing number of elderly patients develop aortic valve disease requiring surgery. Operative risk scores are currently used to identify patients at high operative risk who may benefit from interventional treatment options. The aim of this study was to analyze the predictive value of these risk scores in geriatric patients undergoing aortic valve replacement.