Physical activity partially mediates the association between health literacy and mild cognitive impairment in older adults: cross-sectional evidence from Switzerland.

Individuals' health literacy (HL) is positively associated with healthy behaviors and global cognitive functioning. Current evidence also suggests that physical activity may prevent or delay cognitive decline and dementia. This study examines the potential mediating role of physical activity in the association between HL and cognition in a population-based sample of adults aged 58+ in Switzerland.

Inadequate health literacy and higher healthcare utilisation among older adults in Switzerland: cross-sectional evidence from a population-based study.

Background And Aim: Population ageing in Switzerland poses significant challenges, including for the healthcare system. Inadequate health literacy can hinder individuals' ability to seek appropriate treatments and navigate the healthcare system efficiently. This study explores the associations between health literacy and the number of consultations with general practitioners and healthcare specialists in a population-based sample of adults aged 58+ in Switzerland.

Cognitive functioning and sustained internet use amid the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal evidence from older adults in Switzerland.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between pre-pandemic objective and subjective cognitive functioning and sustained Internet use during the pandemic among older adults in Switzerland. Data from 1299 respondents of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) in 2019/2020 and a supplementary technology use questionnaire during the pandemic in 2021 were used. Cognitive functioning was assessed in 2019/2020 through objective measures (delayed and immediate memory, verbal fluency) and self-rated memory.

Prescribing pattern insights from a longitudinal study of older adult inpatients with polypharmacy and chronic non-cancer pain.

Background: The present study sought to determine the prevalence of chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) among older adult inpatients with polypharmacy. It also aimed to analyse prescription patterns and assess the therapy adequacy and patient complexity for those with and without CNCP.

Methods: This 4-year longitudinal study examined data from an exhaustive acute care hospital register on home-dwelling older adult patients (≥65) with polypharmacy.

Concentration of critical events over the life course and life satisfaction later in life.

Critical events create turning points, disrupt individuals' life courses, and affect wellbeing. Periods of life densely populated with critical events may translate into an acute resource drain, affecting long-term wellbeing more strongly than if the same events were sparsely distributed. We investigate how the co-occurrence of critical events and their concentration in time influence life satisfaction in later life.

How loneliness increased among different age groups during COVID-19: a longitudinal analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic entailed restrictions that hampered face-to-face interactions and social gatherings. In this paper, we examine whether loneliness increased to different extents among age groups due to these restrictions, and if these differences were mediated by specific life course conditions. Based on longitudinal data from the Swiss Household Panel, our results show that loneliness increased disproportionately among younger individuals during the pandemic.

Advance Care Planning: A Story of Trust Within the Family.

As the family usually plays a central role at the end of life, the quality of family relationships may influence how individuals approach advance care planning (ACP). Our study investigates the associations of trust in relatives with regard to end-of-life (EOL) issues-used as a proxy measure of family relationship quality-with individuals' engagement in EOL discussions, advance directive (AD) awareness, approval and completion, and designation of a healthcare proxy. Using nationally representative data of adults aged 55 years and over from wave 6 (2015) of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) in Switzerland ( = 1911), we show that complete trust in relatives is related to higher engagement in ACP.

Relationship Between Health Literacy and Unhealthy Lifestyle Behaviours in Older Adults Living in Switzerland: Does Social Connectedness Matter?

To investigate the association between health literacy (HL) and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours and to explore the moderating role of social connectedness in this relationship in older adults in Switzerland. We used data from 1,455 respondents to Wave 8 of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Associations between the number of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours (smoking, risky alcohol consumption, suboptimal daily consumption of fruits/vegetables, lack of vigorous physical activity) and HL were examined using multivariable Poisson regression models, which allowed for interactions between HL and social connectedness to test the moderation hypothesis.

Development and validation of a subjective end-of-life health literacy scale.

Personal health literacy is the ability of an individual to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for oneself and others. The end of life is commonly characterized by the occurrence of one or several diseases, the use of many different types of healthcare services, and a need to make complex medical decisions that may involve challenging tradeoffs, such as choices between quality and length of life. Although end-of-life care issues concern most people at some point in life, individuals' competencies to deal with those questions have rarely been explored.

Development of a patient-centred medication management model for polymedicated home-dwelling older adults after hospital discharge: results of a mixed methods study.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate medication management among polymedicated, home-dwelling older adults after discharge from a hospital centre in French-speaking Switzerland and then develop a model to optimise medication management and prevent adverse health outcomes associated with medication-related problems (MRPs).

Design: Explanatory, sequential, mixed methods study based on detailed quantitative and qualitative findings reported previously.

Setting: Hospital and community healthcare in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Health literacy across personality traits among older adults: cross-sectional evidence from Switzerland.

This research aims to better understand the association of personality traits (PT)-Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism-with health literacy (HL) skills of adults aged 58 years and older in a nationally representative sample from Switzerland. Analyses were conducted on a subsample (n = 1546) of respondents living in Switzerland from wave 8 (2019/2020) of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). PT were assessed with the Big-Five inventory ten (BFI-10).

Association between multiple chronic conditions and insufficient health literacy: cross-sectional evidence from a population-based sample of older adults living in Switzerland.

Background: Health literacy is the ability to find, understand, assess, and apply health information. Individuals suffering from multiple chronic conditions have complex healthcare needs that may challenge their health literacy skills. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between multimorbidity, the number of chronic conditions, and health literacy levels in a sample of adults aged 58+ in Switzerland.

The Swiss neighbourhood index of socioeconomic position: update and re-validation.

Background: The widely used Swiss neighbourhood index of socioeconomic position (Swiss-SEP 1) was based on data from the 2000 national census on rent, household head education and occupation, and crowding. It may now be out of date.

Methods: We created a new index (Swiss-SEP 2) based on the 2012-2015 yearly micro censuses that have replaced the decennial house-to-house census in Switzerland since 2010.

Health and labor force participation among older workers in Switzerland: a growth curve analysis.

This study investigated how individual trajectories of self-rated health (SRH) and working hours among older workers in Switzerland are interrelated and how this relationship varies based on occupation. We used data from the Swiss Household Panel to analyze the long-term trajectories of older workers measured in terms of working hours and SRH. The sample included more than 4000 workers aged 50 to 65(men)/64(women).

Dimensions of end-of-life preferences in the Swiss general population aged 55+.

Background: understanding end-of-life preferences in the general population and how they are structured in people's minds is essential to inform how to better shape healthcare services in accordance with population expectations for their end of life and optimise communication on end-of-life care issues.

Objective: explore key dimensions underlying end-of-life preferences in a nationally representative sample of adults aged 55 and over in Switzerland.

Methods: respondents (n = 2,514) to the Swiss version of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe assessed the importance of 23 end-of-life items on a 4-point Likert scale.

Perceptions and Knowledge Regarding Medical Situations at the End of Life among Older Adults in Switzerland.

Perceptions and knowledge regarding end-of-life health and health care can influence individuals' advance care planning, such as the completion and content of advance directives. To assess older adults' perceptions of medical end-of-life situations in Switzerland along with their accuracy and corresponding associations with sociodemographic characteristics. This is an observational study.

Gender role attitudes and father practices as predictors of nonresident father-child contact.

Due to an increasing number of parental union dissolutions, a growing number of fathers does not cohabit with their biological children. This article analyses individual and societal gender role attitudes as well as societal father practices as determinants of nonresident father-child contact. Previous research shows that individual-level factors influence the relationship between nonresident fathers and their children.

Health literacy among older adults in Switzerland: cross-sectional evidence from a nationally representative population-based observational study.

Background And Aim: Despite being widely regarded as a major cause of health inequalities, little is known regarding health literacy and its association with certain personal characteristics among older adults in Switzerland. To fill this gap, this study assesses health literacy and its associations with individuals' social, regional, and health characteristics in a nationally representative sample of adults aged 58 years and older in Switzerland.

Method: We use data of 1,625 respondents from a paper-and-pencil self-completion questionnaire (cooperation rate: 94.

Factives at hand: When presupposition mode affects motor response.

It is well established that the processing of hand-, mouth-, and foot-related action terms can activate areas of the motor cortex that are involved in the planning and execution of the described actions. In the present study, the sensitivity of these motor structures to language processes was exploited to test linguistic theories on information layering. Human languages possess a variety of linguistic devices, so-called presupposition triggers, that allow us to convey background information without asserting it.

Functional Status among Polymedicated Geriatric Inpatients at Discharge: A Population-Based Hospital Register Analysis.

This study explored and compared the functional status of polymedicated and non-polymedicated geriatric inpatients at hospital discharge. We used a cross-sectional registry of geriatric patients' hospital records from a multi-site public hospital center in Switzerland. The analysis included all inpatients aged 65 years old or more admitted between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2017 (n = 53,690), of whom 67.

Augmented wealth in Switzerland: the influence of pension wealth on wealth inequality.

Entitlements for social security and occupational pensions present a major wealth component and play a central role for financial security. However, most individual-level data lacks information on pension wealth. By linking various data sources, this contribution estimates the present value of future pension entitlements in Switzerland for statutory pensions, occupational pensions and third pillar accounts and analyses the distribution of augmented wealth, which combines pension wealth and net worth.

Large loss in studying time during the closure of schools in Switzerland in 2020.

The majority of European, as well as many other, countries responded to the outbreak of the new coronavirus with a closure of schools and universities. The expectation of policy makers was that schools and universities would continue to provide lessons online and that students would engage in home learning. How much home learning has there been? We use nationally representative, longitudinal data on 14- to 25-year-old Swiss students to analyze the effects of school closures on studying time.

Views on a "Good Death": End-of-Life Preferences and Their Association With Socio-Demographic Characteristics in a Representative Sample of Older Adults in Switzerland.

The current study explores the end-of-life (EOL) preferences of a national representative sample of adults aged 55 and older in Switzerland and shows how these preferences vary by respondents' sociodemographic characteristics and the linguistic region in which they live. Many of the presented EOL attributes are considered as (very) important by a large majority of the older population in Switzerland with significant variations across sociodemographic groups. Specifically, gender is related to psychosocial aspects of EOL, age to the importance attached to avoiding being a burden on the society, and education levels to preferences regarding overtreatment and advance care planning.