All pensioners in a primary care district (n=142) participating in a multi-disciplinary population study were followed from 67 years of age to the age of 87 with regard to survival. A multivariate survival analysis of psychological and social factors and medical symptoms at 67 years of age was used to test the relationship between such data and survival. Out of the 23 original medical, social and psychological factors/variables, the successive ranking risk factors for men were: positive attitudes to old-age homes, high social class, many reported disease at age 67, low degree of need satisfaction, and many reported earlier disease. For women the ranking of risk factors for early death were: early death age of mother, low degree of social rigidity, smoking, field-dependency and need of social help. The results reflect the interplay between hereditary, medical, social and psychological factors in predicting survival and how this interplay differs between males and females.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Laboratory values, symptoms and survival in an 80-year-old population.

Medical, psychological and sociological factors were related to laboratory values in an 80-year-old population encompassing 211 persons. 21% of the men and 17% of the women had elevated ESR. 36% had elevated blood glucose (7% had diabetes). 13% of the men and 7% of the women had anaemia. Persons with anaemia generally had a lower quality of life compared with non-anaemic persons. Low haemoglobin, elevated ESR and low serum iron were all associated with impaired subjective and objective health. There were no significant correlations between the laboratory data and psychological and social parameters. The survival over 5 years was significantly decreased for those with anaemia, elevated ESR, high white blood count, high blood glucose, low serum iron or deviating serum potassium.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Preliminary chemical characterization of pharmacologically active compounds in aqueous plant extracts.

A test system is described which, based on the use of ion exchangers, gel filtration on Sephadex, and extraction with organic solvents, gives information about the stability, molecular size, charge, and polarity of pharmacologically active compounds in aqueous plant extracts. Knowledge of these properties permits development of a suitable isolation method for the compounds. The method is illustrated by the identification of quaternary ammonium salts as responsible for the contracting activity on the isolated guinea pig ileum of an aqueous extract of roots of Maeura subcordata.

Acetone↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Caring for elderly parents in Sweden: the biographies of two groups of elderly and their parents.

In this study two sample groups of very old people report on needs for care among their parents. We report on who gave the care and if parents were institutionalized. Information on social class, preferences for care for oneself, etc., was also collected. Comparisons with contemporary data indicate that patterns of care remain historically quite stable, and that experiences of providing care influences one's own preferences many years later. The welfare state seems to have increased the freedom of choice for, especially, the poorer elderly.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Intergenerational transfers: aging parents living with adult children and vice versa.

The family remains important for care of the elderly; less well understood is the significance of even aging parents for their offspring, which may be more so today than in the past and more so in the welfare states--with 'resourceful' old people--than in the less affluent societies. This study tries to verify this by an analysis of coresidence patterns between generations, with particular emphasis on the younger one. In particular, men with various handicaps may more often find refuge with their family of origin than do others, and more often today than they did in the not-so-distant past.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Social class and social mobility--effects on survival. A study of an entire birth cohort during an 80-year life span.

The survival of all individuals living within a limited area (N = 489), born in 1902 and 1903, were studied from birth until 80 years of age according to parents' social class, own social class, and occupational mobility. There were no statistical significant differences in survival according to parents' social class. Bivariate survival analysis between 20-80 years of age, based on own social class, shown no significant differences. Concerning social mobility, when males and females were analyzed separately, those men with no mobility had a significantly lower survival rate than those with downward or upward mobility. For women there was no such difference in survival. In a multivariate survival analysis among eight social factors, sex and marital status had the greatest effect on survival between 20-80 years of age. Widows and widowers had, unexpectedly, a higher survival compared to married and never married persons.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Medical, psychological, and sociological aspects of drug treatment in 80-year-olds.

The use of drugs was related to medical, psychological, and sociological parameters in an 80-year-old population. Use of drugs on the whole, as well as the use of specific drug categories such as digitalis, diuretics, other cardiovascular drugs, hypnotics, sedatives, analgesics and laxatives were related to an impaired quality of life. However, the use of vitamins and herbal pills was not related to an impaired quality of life. Use of hypnotics was related to neuroticism and to depressed mood. Persons using digitalis, diuretics and other cardiovascular drugs felt more lonely and had a stronger feeling of loneliness. According to a discriminant analysis, five questions could identify 70% of the persons using drugs. These questions were: frequency of visits to the doctor, subjective health, smoking (smokers used fewer drugs), feeling of loneliness, and objective health.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Quality attributes of Swedish home-help services--from a consumer perspective.

From existing Swedish literature, we examined different possible quality aspects of home-help services. We ordered the quality attributes of home help services under six headings: consumer adjustment of the services, competence of the staff and their attitudes, continuity, staff hours per services input, accessibility and information and communication. Concerning the relative importance of different quality aspects, our study indicates that the competence/attitudes of staff were clearly the most important quality factor. Within this category, individual qualities and attitudes were regarded as having greater importance than trained professional competence.

Aged↗