We proudly present and congratulate Chengxuan Qiu and Debora Rizzuto for approved grants from Forte. Chengxuan Qiu with the approved project grant for research project “Time trends and determinants of disability in activities of daily living among elderly people in central Stockholm, 1987-2013” with 2 230 000 kr and Debora Rizutto postdoc grant for “Examining the factors that contribute to human longevity using a life-course perspective” with 1 600 000 kr. See below descriptions of the projects.
Time trends and determinants of disability in activities of daily living among elderly people in central Stockholm, 1987-2013
We seek to examine whether occurrence of disability in activities of daily living (ADL), that consist of basic self-care tasks, such as bathing, dressing, eating, transferring, and toileting, has increased from 1987 to 2013 among elderly people living in the Kungsholmen area of central Stockholm.
We further will investigate to what extent changes in lifestyles (e.g., smoking, drinking alcohol, and physical exercise), metabolic factors (e.g., hypertension, obesity, and diabetes), chronic health conditions (e.g., heart disease, stroke, and cognitive impairment), and use of medications (e.g., antihypertensive agents, statins, and anti-diabetic drugs) may contribute to the time trends of disability in basic ADL among elderly people. We also will estimate the changes in ADL-disability free years at ages 60, 75, and 80 during 1987-2013.
This study is important, because late-life disability in self-care ADL significantly affects the quality of life of elderly people, increases the needs and costs of long-term care and social services, and reduces life expectancies. Findings from this study can help policymakers to plan and allocate health care resources and to develop intervention strategies to prevent or delay the onset of ADL disability and thus, aid in meeting the EU’s target of a 2-year increase in healthy life years in the next decade.
Examining the factors that contribute to human longevity using a life-course perspective
In the last decennium, it has become increasingly evident that most important age-related health outcomes, including mortality, are interrelated and associated with similar risk factors. However, identification of the possible determinants of human longevity is an ongoing effort, and the underlying social and biological pathways remain to be clarified. It is clear that none of the factors identified to date is necessary or sufficient to determine the aging phenotype at the individual level; people may achieve exceptional longevity in multiple ways by engaging in different combinations of protective behaviors.
To understand the mechanisms behind longevity, we should consider the complex interplay among demographic, physiological, behavioral, and biological factors and their association with different health outcomes. Moreover, not only biological, social, and psychological factors contribute equally to health in aging, but they are also active across the whole lifespan.
The current challenge is to understand the interplay among these multiple factors, which may facilitate the identification of people more prone to experience adverse health-related conditions in late life and consequently functional impairment, disability, and premature death.