Erik Timmermans

• University Medical Center Utrecht

Background The rapidly emerging integration of both technological applications and environmental factors in physical activity (PA) interventions among older adults highlights the need for an overarching investigation. Objective This scoping review compiled the current literature and aimed to provide an overview of the role of physical, social, soc...

Background Diabetes can be detected at the primary health-care level, and effective treatments lower the risk of complications. There are insufficient data on the coverage of treatment for diabetes and how it has changed. We estimated trends from 1990 to 2022 in diabetes prevalence and treatment for 200 countries and territories. Methods We used da...

Background and Objectives 'Blue Zones' (BZs) are regions with exceptionally high numbers of longevous inhabitants. Several factors have been suggested to promote longevity in BZs, but the evidence generally does not meet scientific quality criteria. We aimed to characterize a municipality as a ‘relative BZ’, satisfying three criteria: compared to o...

Background Adiposity can be measured using BMI (which is based on weight and height) as well as indices of abdominal adiposity. We examined the association between BMI and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) within and across populations of different world regions and quantified how well these two metrics discriminate between people with and without hyper...

BACKGROUND The rapidly emerging integration of both technological applications and environmental factors in physical activity (PA) interventions among older adults highlights the need for an overarching investigation. OBJECTIVE This scoping review compiled the current literature and aimed to provide an overview of the role of physical, social, soc...

Summary Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data...

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are both used to diagnose diabetes, but these measurements can identify different people as having diabetes. We used data from 117 population-based studies and quantified, in different world regions, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, and whether those who were previously undiagnosed and de...

Aim: To provide a comprehensive overview of the current evidence on objectively measured neighbourhood built environment exposures in relation to cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in adults. Review methods: We searched seven databases for systematic reviews on associations between objectively measured long-term built environmental exposures, c...

Background We investigated the association of neighborhood walkability with accelerometer‐measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) and examined whether objective and subjective measures of walkability resulted in similar findings. Methods PA and SB from the first 7689 Maastricht Study participants ages 40–75 from 2010 to 2017 we...

Objective: A growing literature suggests that neighbourhood characteristics are associated with mental health outcomes, but the evidence in older adults is inconsistent. We investigated the association of neighbourhood characteristics, pertaining to demographic, socio-economic, social and physical environment domains, with the subsequent 10-year i...

Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6 . Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural an...

This study examined associations of neighbourhood walkability with cognitive functioning (i.e., global cognition, memory, language, attention-psychomotor speed, and executive functioning) in participants without or with either heart failure, carotid occlusive disease, or vascular cognitive impairment. Neighbourhood walkability at baseline was posit...

Objective Environmental factors that drive obesity are often studied individually, whereas obesogenic environments are likely to consist of multiple factors from food and physical activity (PA) environments. This study aimed to compose and describe a comprehensive, theory-based, expert-informed index to quantify obesogenicity for all neighborhoods...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop an index to measure older adults' exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic and to study its association with various domains of functioning. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), a cohort study in the Netherlands. Participants: Community-dwelling older...

Background Walkability indices have been developed and linked to behavioural and health outcomes elsewhere in the world, but not comprehensively for Europe. We aimed to 1) develop a theory-based and evidence-informed Dutch walkability index, 2) examine its cross-sectional associations with total and purpose-specific walking behaviours of adults acr...

Background Resilience refers to the process in which people function well despite adversity. Persistent severe pain may be considered an adversity in people with lower limb osteoarthritis (LLOA). The objectives of this study are: (1) to identify what proportion of older adults with LLOA and persistent severe pain show good functioning; and (2) to e...

Objectives The aim of this study was to develop an index to measure older adults’ exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to study its association with various domains of functioning. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), a cohort study in the Netherlands. Participants Community dwelling older adults...

Objectives: This study compares the associations of two subjective lifetime perspectives, subjective age (SA) and subjective life expectancy (SLE), with physical performance, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms. Methods: 64 91-year-old participants were selected from three waves of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (2008/09, 2011/12, 20...

Background Hypertension can be detected at the primary health-care level and low-cost treatments can effectively control hypertension. We aimed to measure the prevalence of hypertension and progress in its detection, treatment, and control from 1990 to 2019 for 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 1990 to 2019 on people aged 30...

Objective To investigate factors that together with hand or hip/knee osteoarthritis (OA) could contribute to functional decline over a year’s time in elderly individuals. Methods The data of 1,886 individuals between ages 65 and 85 years in a prospective, observational population‐based study with 12–18 months of follow‐up in the context of the Eur...

Background Supporting older adults to engage in physically active lifestyles requires supporting environments. Walkable environments may increase walking activity in older adults, but evidence for this subgroup is scarce, and longitudinal studies are lacking. This study therefore examined whether changes in neighbourhood walkability were associated...

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...

Older adults with lower limb osteoarthritis (LLOA) are highly dependent on their physical and social environment for being physically active. Longitudinal data from 2286 older adults (Mage = 73.8 years; 50.3% female) in six European countries were analyzed using cross-lagged Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and multi-group SEM. In cross-sectional...

Background With urbanization and aging increasing in coming decades, societies face the challenge of keeping aging populations active. Land use mix (LUM) has been associated with cycling and walking, but whether changes in LUM relate to changes in cycling/walking is less known. Objectives Our objective was to study the effect of LUM on cycling/wal...

Background Studies on associations between urban green space and mental health have yielded mixed results. This study examines associations of green space exposures with subjective health and depressed affect of middle-aged and older adults in four European cohorts. Methods Data came from four Western-European and Central-European ageing cohorts h...

BACKGROUND: The MINDMAP project implemented a multinational data infrastructure to investigate the direct and interactive effects of urban environments and individual determinants of mental well-being and cognitive function in ageing populations. Using a rigorous process involving multiple teams of experts, longitudinal data from six cohort studies...

Background: Although ageing populations are increasingly residing in cities, it is unknown whether depression inequalities are moderated by urbanicity degree. We estimated gender, marital and educational inequalities in depressive symptoms among older European and Canadian adults, and examined whether higher levels of urbanicity, captured by popula...

Background: Loneliness is associated with several adverse mental and physical health outcomes in older adults. Previous studies have shown that a variety of individual-level and perceived area-level characteristics are associated with loneliness. This study examined the associations of objectively measured social and physical neighbourhood characte...

Background: This study examines the impact of environmental noise policy on depressive symptoms by exploiting the national experiment afforded by the New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Schiphol (Amsterdam) in 2008. Methods: Data came from older adults (ages 57-102) participating in three waves (2005/2006, 2008/2009 and 2011/201...

Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled ana...

BACKGROUND With urbanization and aging increasing in coming decades, societies face the challenge of keeping aging populations active. Land use mix (LUM) has been associated with cycling and walking, but whether changes in LUM relate to changes in cycling/walking is less known. OBJECTIVES Our objective was to study the effect of LUM on cycling/wal...

BACKGROUND With urbanization and aging increasing in coming decades, societies face the challenge of keeping aging populations active. Land use mix (LUM) has been associated with cycling and walking, but whether changes in LUM relate to changes in cycling/walking is less known. OBJECTIVES Our objective was to study the effect of LUM on cycling/wal...

BACKGROUND With urbanization and aging increasing in coming decades, societies face the challenge of keeping aging populations active. Land use mix (LUM) has been associated with cycling and walking, but whether changes in LUM relate to changes in cycling/walking is less known. OBJECTIVES Our objective was to study the effect of LUM on cycling/walk...

This study examines the impact of the Dutch District Approach, a major urban regeneration programme that was started in 2008 in the Netherlands, on social, physical and mental functioning of older adults. Data from 1092 participants (58–93 years at baseline) across two waves (2005/06 and 2011/12) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam were linke...

Objectives: To study associations between perceived neighborhood resources and time spent by older adults in active travel. Methods: Respondents in six European countries, aged 65-85 years, reported on the perceived presence of neighborhood resources (parks, places to sit, public transportation, and facilities) with response options "a lot," "so...

Objective Low individual socioeconomic status (SES) is known to be associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but the extent to which the local context in which people live may influence T2DM rates remains unclear. This study examines whether living in a low property value neighbourhood is associated with higher rates of T2DM...

The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) is a prospective cohort study of older adults in the Netherlands, initially based on a nationally representative sample of people aged 55–84 years. The study has been ongoing since 1992, and focuses on the determinants, trajectories and consequences of physical, cognitive, emotional and social functioni...

Background: Monitoring of trends in functioning of older adults provides indispensable information for health care policy. This study examined trends in multiple indicators of functioning among Dutch older adults across a period of 20 years. Methods: Data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam were used. We included 10 870 observations of 3...

Objective: To determine whether there is an association between osteoarthritis (OA) and incident social isolation using data from the European Project on OSteoArthritis (EPOSA) study. Design: Prospective, observational study with 12 to 18 months of follow-up. Setting: Community dwelling. Participants: Older people living in six European coun...

We examined the long-term association between objective neighbourhood sociodemographic characteristics (index of socioeconomic position (SEP), average income, percent low-income earners, average house price, percent immigrants and urban density) with depressive and anxiety symptoms, covering five 3-year waves of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterd...

To create neighbourhood environments that encourage physical activity, it is important to know which neighbourhood characteristics are most influential. We examined the association of neighbourhood safety with leisure-time walking and cycling in the population at large, as well as in some subgroups in terms of sex, age, ethnicity and socio-economic...

Background The Australian/Canadian hand Osteoarthritis Index (AUSCAN) and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities knee and hip Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) are the most commonly used clinical tools to manage and monitor osteoarthritis (OA). Few studies have as yet reported longitudinal changes in the AUSCAN index regarding the hand. While the...

Background Studies on neighbourhood characteristics and depression show equivocal results. Aims This large-scale pooled analysis examines whether urbanisation, socioeconomic, physical and social neighbourhood characteristics are associated with the prevalence and severity of depression. Method Cross-sectional design including data are from eight...

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities1,2. This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity3–6. Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and...

Background This study examines the association of both pain severity and within-person pain variability with physical activity (PA) in older adults with osteoarthritis (OA). Methods Data from the European Project on OSteoArthritis were used. At baseline, clinical classification criteria of the American College of Rheumatology were used to diagnose...

Background: Although there is growing evidence that depressed mood is affected by road traffic noise, previous results are not fully consistent. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no previous research has assessed ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in the association of noise exposure with depressed mood. Objective: To investigate the association...

Beperkingen in het fysiek functioneren behoren tot de belangrijkste oorzaken van afhankelijkheid en de behoefte aan langdurige zorg bij ouderen. Het is daarom van belang om zoveel mogelijk voorspellende factoren van fysiek functioneren van ouderen in kaart te brengen. Verschillende buitenlandse studies suggereren dat de blootstelling aan luchtveron...

Purpose In the Netherlands, a great variety of objectively measured geo-data is available, but these data are scattered and measured at varying spatial and temporal scales. The centralisation of these geo-data and the linkage of these data to individual-level data from longitudinal cohort studies enable large-scale epidemiological research on the i...

This study examines the associations between neighbourhood safety and three types of smoking behaviour, and whether these associations differ by sex, age, ethnicity and individual-level socio-economic position. Baseline data (2011-2015) from the The HEalthy LIfe in an Urban Setting (HELIUS) study (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) were used. Smoking beha...

Background Which neighbourhood factors most consistently impact on depression and anxiety remains unclear. This study examines whether objectively obtained socioeconomic, physical and social aspects of the neighbourhood in which persons live are associated with the presence and severity of depressive and anxiety disorders. Methods Cross-sectional...

Pain is a key symptom of Osteoarthritis (OA) and has been linked to poor mental health. Pain fluctuates over time within individuals, but a paucity of studies have considered day-to-day fluctuations of joint pain in relation to affective symptoms in older persons with OA. This study investigated the relationship of both pain severity and within-per...

Background This study examined whether smoking cessation in middle age and old age is associated with following a successful trajectory of functional limitations over time in Dutch older adults. Methods We used 16-year longitudinal data from 645 participants of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Three types of trajectories regarding functiona...

Background: Functional limitations are a major cause for needing care and institutionalization among older adults. Exposure to air pollution has been suggested to be associated with increased functional limitations in older people. Objective: Our objective was to assess the association between air pollution and physical functioning in Dutch olde...

Literature suggests that diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) and osteoarthritis (OA) often co-occur in old age. This concomitance might be explained by the presence of metabolic risk factors such as increased body weight. Logistic regression analyses using data from the European Project on OSteoArthritis (EPOSA) were performed to examine the association...

This study examined whether the association of quality of life (QoL) with perceived neighbourhood problems is stronger in older adults with osteoarthritis (OA) than in those without OA. Of all 294 participants, 23.8% had OA. More perceived neighbourhood problems were associated with a stronger decrease in QoL over time in participants with OA (B=-0...

Ouderen met artrose beweren vaak dat hun gewrichtspijn wordt beïnvloed door het weer en sommige ouderen met artrose menen het weer te kunnen voorspellen aan de hand van hun gewrichtsklachten. In welke mate zijn ouderen met artrose weergevoelig en heeft het weer daadwerkelijk invloed op hun gewrichtspijn?

This study aimed to examine the associations of perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion and neighbourhood problems and objectively measured neighbourhood deprivation with the use of neighbourhood resources by older adults with and without lower limb osteoarthritis (LLOA), and to assess whether these relationships are stronger in older persons with LL...

Background: Older adults with osteoarthritis (OA) often report that their disease symptoms are exacerbated by weather conditions. This study examines the association between outdoor physical activity (PA) and weather conditions in older adults from six European countries and assesses whether outdoor PA and weather conditions are more strongly asso...

Background This study examined the associations of objectively measured neighbourhood built environment characteristics with objectively measured physical activity (PA) in older people with and without lower limb osteoarthritis (LLOA), and assessed whether these relationships differ between both groups. Methods Data from the Dutch component of the...

Objective: To examine the role of comorbidity and pain in the associations existing between hand osteoarthritis (OA) and self-reported as well as performance-based physical function in a general elderly population. Methods: The data of 2942 participants in the European Project on OSteoArthritis, aged 65 to 85 years, belonging to 6 European cohor...

This study examined whether daily weather conditions, 3-day average weather conditions, and changes in weather conditions influence joint pain in older people with osteoarthritis (OA) in 6 European countries. Data from the population-based European Project on OSteoArthritis were used. The American College of Rheumatology classification criteria wer...

This study investigates patterns of physical activity in older adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA) compared to older adults without knee OA across six European countries. We expect country specific differences in the physical activity levels between persons with knee OA compared to persons without knee OA. A varying degree of physical activity lev...

People with osteoarthritis (OA) frequently report that their joint pain is influenced by weather conditions. This study aimed to examine whether there are differences in perceived joint pain between older people with OA who reported to be weather-sensitive versus those who did not in six European countries with different climates and to identify ch...

Little is known about the biopsychological underpinnings of expert performance in team sports. In this paper we show that there is a vast support for oxytocin as a neuropeptide involved in the encouragement of important processes linked to greater team performance in sport. We argue that oxytocin is related to biopsychological processes aimed at co...