Jonas W. Wastesson

Indicators of Job Strain at Midlife and Cognitive Functioning in Advanced Old Age

OBJECTIVES We used data from SWEOLD, a Swedish nationally representative study of individuals aged 77 years or older, to examine midlife indicators of job strain in relation to cognitive performance and impairment. METHODS In all, 827 participants completed an abridged 11-point version of the Mini-Mental State Examination in-person in 1992 and/or 2002 and had self-reported and/or occupation-based scores for job control and demands from data collected in 1968. Seventeen percent scored below the cutoff for cognitive impairment. RESULTS Controlling for age, sex, education, self-rated health, and year of cognitive screening, low self-reported and occupation-based job control at midlife was associated with poorer cognitive performance later (ps < .001). For the occupation-based measure, low job control was also associated with greater likelihood of impairment, whereas having an active job (high job control/high job demands) was associated with better cognitive performance and lower likelihood of impairment (ps < .01). Childhood environment, midlife depressive symptoms, and social activity had limited influence, whereas the influence of both adulthood socioeconomic position and work complexity on these results was more pronounced. DISCUSSION Job control at midlife, by itself and in combination with job demands, may influence cognitive functioning later above and beyond demographic variables and other occupational characteristics.

Remaining Life Expectancy With and Without Polypharmacy: A Register-Based Study of Swedes Aged 65 Years and Older

Objectives To investigate the remaining life expectancy with and without polypharmacy for Swedish women and men aged 65 years and older. Design Age-specific prevalence of polypharmacy from the nationwide Swedish Prescribed Drug Register (SPDR) combined with life tables from Statistics Sweden was used to calculate the survival function and remaining life expectancy with and without polypharmacy according to the Sullivan method. Setting Nationwide register-based study. Participants A total of 1,347,564 individuals aged 65 years and older who had been prescribed and dispensed a drug from July 1 to September 30, 2008. Measurements Polypharmacy was defined as the concurrent use of 5 or more drugs. Results At age 65 years, approximately 8 years of the 20 remaining years of life (41%) can be expected to be lived with polypharmacy. More than half of the remaining life expectancy will be spent with polypharmacy after the age of 75 years. Women had a longer life expectancy, but also lived more years with polypharmacy than men. Discussion Older women and men spend a considerable proportion of their lives with polypharmacy. Conclusion Given the negative health outcomes associated with polypharmacy, efforts should be made to reduce the number of years older adults spend with polypharmacy to minimize the risk of unwanted consequences.

Educational disparities in antipsychotic drug use among older people with and without dementia in Sweden

Antipsychotic drugs are commonly used to treat behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. The aim was to investigate if socioeconomic position was associated with antipsychotic drug treatment among older adults with and without dementia.

Inequalities in health care use among older adults in Sweden 1992–2011: A repeated cross-sectional study of Swedes aged 77 years and older

Aims: In the last decades, the Swedish health care system was reformed to promote free choice; however, it has been questioned whether older adults benefit from these reforms. It has also been proposed that reforms promoting free choice might increase inequalities in health care use. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate socioeconomic differences in health care use among older adults in Sweden, from 1992 to 2011. Methods: The Swedish Panel Study of the Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD) is a nationally representative study of Swedes over 76 years old, including both institutionalized and community-dwelling persons. We analyzed cross-sectional data from SWEOLD waves in 1992, 2002 and 2011 (n ≈ 600/wave); and performed multivariate analyses to investigate whether socioeconomic position was associated with health care use (inpatient, outpatient and dental services) after need was accounted for. Results: For the period of 1992–2011, we found that higher education was associated with more use of outpatient and dental care, both before and after adjustment for need. The association between education and inpatient or outpatient care use did not change over time. There was an increase in the proportion of older adults whom used dental care over the 19-year period, and there was a tendency for the socioeconomic differences regarding dentist visits to decrease over time. Conclusions: Our study covering 19 years showed relatively stable findings for socioeconomic differences in health care use among older adults in Sweden. We found there was a slight decrease in inequality in dental care; but unchanged socioeconomic differences in outpatient care, regardless of the changes that occurred in the Swedish health care system.

Socioeconomic inequalities in access to specialized psychotropic prescribing among older Swedes: a register-based study

Background: Mental disorders among older adults are mainly treated with psychotropic drugs. Few of these drugs are, however, prescribed by specialized geriatricians or psychiatrists, but rather from general practitioners (GPs). Socioeconomic inequalities in access to specialist prescribing have been found in younger age groups. Hence, we aimed to investigate whether there are socioeconomic differences in access to geriatrician and psychiatrist prescribing of psychotropic drugs among older adults. Methods: By record-linkage of The Swedish Prescribed Drug Register and The Swedish Education Register, we obtained information for persons aged 75–89 years who had filled a prescription for psychotropic drugs (antipsychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotic/sedatives or antidepressants) with information on prescriber specialty from July to October 2005 (n = 221 579). Multinomial regression analysis was used to investigate whether education was associated with geriatrician and psychiatrist prescribing of psychotropic drugs. Results: The vast majority of the psychotropic drugs were prescribed by ‘GPs and other specialists’ (∼95% GPs). Older adults with higher educational level were more likely to be prescribed psychotropic drugs from psychiatrists and geriatricians. However, after adjustment for place of residence, the association between patient’s education and prescription by a geriatrician disappeared, whereas the association with seeing a psychiatrist was only attenuated. Conclusion: Access to specialized prescribing of psychotropics is unequally distributed between socioeconomic groups of older adults in Sweden. This finding was partially confounded by place of residence for geriatrician but not for psychiatrist prescribing. Further research should examine if inequalities in specialized psychotropic prescribing translate into worse outcomes for socioeconomically deprived and non-metropolitan-living older individuals.

The epidemiology of polypharmacy in older adults: register-based prospective cohort study

Objective Polypharmacy is the concomitant use of several drugs by a single person, and it increases the risk of adverse drug-related events in older adults. Little is known about the epidemiology of polypharmacy at the population level. We aimed to measure the prevalence and incidence of polypharmacy and to investigate the associated factors. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted using register data with national coverage in Sweden. A total of 1,742,336 individuals aged ≥65 years at baseline (November 1, 2010) were included and followed until death or the end of the study (December 20, 2013). Results On average, individuals were exposed to 4.6 (SD =4.0) drugs at baseline. The prevalence of polypharmacy (5+ drugs) was 44.0%, and the prevalence of excessive polypharmacy (10+ drugs) was 11.7%. The incidence rate of polypharmacy among individuals without polypharmacy at baseline was 19.9 per 100 person-years, ranging from 16.8% in individuals aged 65–74 years to 33.2% in those aged ≥95 years (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] =1.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42–1.56). The incidence rate of excessive polypharmacy was 8.0 per 100 person-years. Older adults using multi-dose dispensing were at significantly higher risk of developing incident polypharmacy compared with those receiving ordinary prescriptions (HR =1.51, 95% CI 1.47–1.55). When adjusting for confounders, living in nursing home was found to be associated with lower risks of incident polypharmacy and incident excessive polypharmacy (HR =0.79 and HR =0.86, p<0.001, respectively). Conclusion The prevalence and incidence of polypharmacy are high among older adults in Sweden. Interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence of polypharmacy should also target potential incident polypharmacy users as they are the ones who fuel future polypharmacy.

Research Priorities for Optimizing Geriatric Pharmacotherapy: An International Consensus

Medication management is becoming increasingly challenging for older people, and there is limited evidence to guide medication prescribing and administration for people with multimorbidity, frailty, or at the end of life. Currently, there is a lack of clear research priorities in the field of geriatric pharmacotherapy. To address this issue, international experts from 5 research groups in geriatric pharmacotherapy and pharmacoepidemiology research were invited to attend the inaugural Optimizing Geriatric Pharmacotherapy through Pharmacoepidemiology Network workshop. A modified nominal group technique was used to explore and consolidate the priorities for conducting research in this field. Eight research priorities were elucidated: quality of medication use; vulnerable patient groups; polypharmacy and multimorbidity; person-centered practice and research; deprescribing; methodological development; variability in medication use; and national and international comparative research. The research priorities are discussed in detail in this article with examples of current gaps and future actions presented. These priorities highlight areas for future research in geriatric pharmacotherapy to improve medication outcomes in older people.

Drug use among complete responders, partial responders and non-responders in a longitudinal survey of nonagenarians: analysis of prescription register data

In observational studies, non‐response can limit representativity and introduce bias. We aimed to investigate the longitudinal changes in the number of used drugs among complete responders, partial responders, and non‐responders in a whole birth cohort of Danish nonagenarians participating in a longitudinal survey.

Changes in Drug Use and Polypharmacy After the Age of 90: A Longitudinal Study of the Danish 1905 Cohort

To determine the longitudinal development of drug use in very old adults.

Is the level of education associated with transitions between care settings in older adults near the end of life? A nationwide, retrospective cohort study

Background: End-of-life transitions between care settings can be burdensome for older adults and their relatives. Aim: To analyze the association between the level of education of older adults and their likelihood to experience care transitions during the final months before death. Design: Nationwide, retrospective cohort study using register data. Setting/participants: Older adults (⩾65 years) who died in Sweden in 2013 (n = 75,722). Place of death was the primary outcome. Institutionalization and multiple hospital admissions during the final months of life were defined as secondary outcomes. The decedents’ level of education (primary, secondary, or tertiary education) was considered as the main exposure. Multivariable analyses were stratified by living arrangement and adjusted for sex, age at time of death, illness trajectory, and number of chronic diseases. Results: Among community-dwellers, older adults with tertiary education were more likely to die in hospitals than those with primary education (55.6% vs 49.9%; odds ratio (OR) = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.14–1.28), but less likely to be institutionalized during the final month before death (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.76–0.91). Decedents with higher education had greater odds of remaining hospitalized continuously during their final 2 weeks of life (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.02–1.22). Among older adults living in nursing homes, we found no association between the decedents’ level of education and their likelihood to be hospitalized or to die in hospitals. Conclusion: Compared with those who completed only primary education, individuals with higher educational attainment were more likely to live at home until the end of life, but also more likely to be hospitalized and die in hospitals.