H. Ekstrom

Lund University | LU

Gait Speed Reserve (GSR) expresses a difference between fast and comfortable gait speed and may have an impact on everyday functioning. It was also hypothesized as a useful proxy measure of physiological reserve. However, height-normalizing values of GSR and its associated factors have not been evaluated in a general population of older adults. The...

Background: The association between physical frailty and performance in different cognitive domains in the absence of cognitive disorders is poorly understood. Hence, we aimed to explore the associations between frailty levels based on the Fried Physical Frailty Phenotype and performance of different cognitive domains. We also aimed to examine the...

Background/Objectives: Recent decades have witnessed a sharp increase in research investigating the association between hearing loss and cognitive impairment. Few previous studies have stratified for sex when investigating this issue, where results were inconsistent and require further clarification. Thus, the objective was to investigate the assoc...

Background The body mass index (BMI) is prone to misclassification of obesity due to age-related height loss and resulting measurement errors. Knee-height based BMI (KH-BMI) has not been previously studied in relation to mortality risk in older adults. Aim To evaluate the age- and sex-specific mortality risk relationship using classic BMI and knee...

Objectives The aim of this follow-up study was to investigate whether loneliness and social isolation in a sample of older adults, mean age of 67.4 years at baseline examination, were associated with sleep disturbances at re-examination at a mean age of 76.4 years. Methods The study sample consisted of 2897 participants. Data on loneliness, social...

Feeling in control of one’s environment, and perceiving one’s home as meaningful, have been found to be associated with health and wellbeing among older adults. As longitudinal studies of younger-old adults are lacking, this study aimed to investigate whether this association exists over time among older adults around retirement age. This study use...

Background: Polypharmacy is increasing. The longitudinal association of polypharmacy and social isolation has not been previously reported. The aim of this study was to explore longitudinal associations of polypharmacy with loneliness and social isolation among older adults. Methods: Participants aged 60 years and above in southern Sweden were i...

Purpose To explore associations between perceived loneliness, social isolation, and health complaints among older people. Methods 5804 participants from the Swedish population study “Good Aging in Skåne” were included. Structured interviews and questionnaires were used to assess perceived loneliness, social isolation, 30 somatic and mental-health...

Materials and methods: Birth cohorts of both sexes drawn from the Swedish study "Good Aging in Skåne" for the years 1920-22 and 1932-34 were compared. Walking, the step test, the chair stand test, and the handgrip strength test were used as proxies for the physical performance. The results were adjusted for lifestyle habits and common chronic geri...

Background Will being a caregiver further impact the health of a group already at risk of adverse health due to old age? This study aimed to answer the questions whether short- and long-term healthcare consumption and mortality differ between informal caregivers and non-caregivers and between high-burden and low-burden informal caregivers. Method...

Purpose of Study To gain Swedish norm value for the Life Satisfaction Index-A (LSI-A) in a population 60–93+ years old stratified for sex and age and to relate these norm values with respect to number of chronic diseases and functional impairment. Materials and Methods The study population included a random sample of 2656 men (45.7%) and 3159 (54....

Background/aim: Certain groups of informal caregivers have been shown to have worse health compared to noncaregivers. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore the health and gender aspects of caregiving in an older Swedish population. Methods: Our study included 5457 participants from the longitudinal, general population study "Good...

Perceived aspects of home, such as usability and the meaning of home, are important for very old people’s health. This study is a synthesis of quantitative (N=371) and qualitative (N=13) findings that explored associations between perceived aspects of home, health and well-being among younger older people. Participants were aged 67 - 70 years, and...

Background: Different kinds of chronic diseases might imply different dimensions of caregiver burden, not previously described among the caregivers to recipients from the general elder population. Aim: The main objective was to examine differences in burden between the 343 caregivers to persons with different diagnoses. Methods: A group of eld...

Background and aims: Pain, use of painkillers and alcohol are highly prevalent in the general population. Aims of the study were to describe differences in pain, alcohol consumption and use of painkillers among two 60 year old birth cohorts stratified by gender. Methods: Participants were recruited from the Skåne centre of The Swedish National s...

Research on very old people has shown that perceived aspects of home are important for health, but research on such associations in younger cohorts of older people is lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate whether perceived aspects of home were associated with psychological well-being among community-living people aged 67e70. Interview d...

Objectives: To identify factors associated with life satisfaction (LS) in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), including a specific focus on those with late-stage PD. Material and methods: The study included 251 persons with PD (median age 70 years; PD duration 8 years). Analyses involved the total sample and a subsample with late-stage PD, tha...

Background There are knowledge gaps about the life situation for people ageing with Parkinson’s disease (PD), with virtually no understanding of home and health dynamics. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the association between aspects of health and objective as well as perceived housing in people with PD. Methods Participant...

Background At present a majority of older people remain in their ordinary homes. Research has generated knowledge about home and health dynamics and increased the awareness of the complexity of housing as related to ageing. As this knowledge is based mainly on research on very old, single-living people in ordinary housing there is a need to study o...

The importance of the home environment increases with age. Perceived aspects of home influence life satisfaction, perceived health, independence in daily activities and well-being among very old people. However, research on health and perceived aspects of home among senior citizens in earlier phases of the aging process is lacking. Therefore, the m...

A majority of us will at some point in our lives take care of family members, relatives and friends in need of assistance. How will this affect us? Strain related to life satisfaction (LS) and health related quality of life (HRQoL) among caregivers aged 60 years and older has not been previously studied. The main objective was to describe character...

Objectives To determine the relationship between long-term change in activities of daily living (ADL) and falls in the elderly and to identify characteristics of groups at risk for falls. Methods This was a 6-year, prospective cohort study using data from the Good Aging in Skåne study in southern Sweden, involving 1,540 elderly subjects, including...

Purpose: To describe the most prominent use of or perceived unmet need of assistive technology (AT) and to compare the characteristics of users, non-users and those expressing perceived unmet need with respect to overall health, independence in everyday life, environmental barriers and socio-demographic features. Method: The study is based on da...

Background: The understanding of the complex relationship between the home environment, well-being and daily functioning in the third age is currently weak. The aim of this paper is to present the methodological background of the Home and Health in the Third Age Study, and describe a sample of men and women in relation to their home and health sit...

As the physical consequences of accidental falls in the elderly are well-researched, the long-term associations between falls and quality of life and related concepts are less known. The aim of this study was to prospectively examine the long-term relations between falls and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and life satisfaction (LS) over six...

Accidental falls in the elderly are a major health problem, despite extensive research on risk factors and prevention. Only a limited number of multifactorial, long-term prospective studies have been performed on risk factors for falls in the general elderly population. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors predicting falls in a genera...

Studies on the associations between cognitive abilities and life satisfaction (LS) in the oldest-old are few. The aim of this study was to explore whether abilities in six different cognitive domains could predict LS in the oldest-old 3 years later. The study population consisted of 681 individuals aged 78-98 years, drawn from the longitudinal popu...

This population-based cross-sectional study describes social participation expressed as the accomplishment of social, cultural, and leisure activities resulting from informal support given by relatives or friends, formal support given by the municipality or county, or a combination of the two, among 452 individuals aged 60-93 years suffering from o...

To describe change in functional ability in the oldest-old population during 3 years and examine its relation to life satisfaction (LS). A total of 681 individuals aged 78 and older from the population-based study Good Aging in Skåne took part. Functional ability was assessed using Sonn and Åsberg's Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale and relate...

Objectives: To investigate the relationships between physical performance, quality of life (QoL), and social participation among elderly men and women with a history of osteoporosis-related fractures. Method: The study was a population-based cross-sectional study including 155 participants aged 60 to 93 years from the Swedish longitudinal investiga...

Studies on the prevalence of symptoms in the general population and its' relation to LS in the oldest-old are to our knowledge non-existent. The aim of this study was to describe the frequency and experienced severity of elderly subjects' reported symptoms and how symptoms are related to LS. The study population consisted of 681 individuals aged 78...

Few studies have examined the association between LS in the oldest-old and not only health-related, but also psychological and socio-economical factors. The aim of this study was to examine LS in relation to functional capacity, locus of control (LoC) health status and other factors previously known to influence LS in the oldest-old. The study popu...

The aim of this study was to describe social participation expressed as accomplished ordinary activities, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and life satisfaction (LS), among elderly men and women with osteoporosis-related fractures with and without pain, compared to non-fractured controls. The study was a population-based case-control study co...

Earlier reports on reduced physical performance and osteoporosis-related fractures have mostly been short-term studies. The aim of this investigation was to examine the effects of fractures on physical functioning 3 years after trauma, the latter being stratified for pain. The study consisted of a population-based case-control study including 289 s...

Postmenopausal women treated with corticosteroids are regarded as a high-risk group due to the effect of both natural bone loss and possible adverse effects of treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (IC). To compare bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women exposed only to IC (IC group, n = 106) with that of BMD in women not exposed to cor...

During the last decades, there has been increased concern about the association between oral corticosteroid (OC) therapy and osteoporosis. The question currently discussed is whether inhaled corticosteroids (ICs) in recommended doses have any clinically relevant effects on bone mineral density (BMD). We compared BMD in postmenopausal women exposed...