Forskningsartikler

Abstract:
Background: With the increasing number of older adults globally, there is a constant search for new ways to organize health care services. Digital health services are promising and may reduce workload and at the same time improve patient well-being. A certain level of eHealth literacy is needed to be able to use digital health services. However, knowledge of technology readiness in this target group of older adults is unclear.

Objective: The aim of this study was to understand the technology readiness level of a group of older adults who were provided home care services in order to address the present and future needs of this group in relation to the implementation of digital health care services.

Methods: This quantitative cross-sectional study included 149 older adults from Norway receiving home care services. The participants completed the Readiness and Enablement Index for Health Technology (READHY) instrument, assessments of well-being (World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index [WHO-5]), and assessments of demographic and clinical variables (sex, age, education, living situation, comorbidity, use of digital devices, and use of IT). Cluster analyses were used to group the users according to their technology readiness.

Results: The mean participant age was 78.6 (SD 8.0) years, and 55.7% (83/149) were women. There was good consistency within the assumed READHY scales (Cronbach α=.61-.91). The participants were grouped into 4 clusters, which differed in terms of READHY scores, demographic variables, and the use of IT in daily life. Participants in cluster 1 (n=40) had the highest scores on the READHY scales, were younger, had a larger proportion of men, had higher education, and had better access to digital devices and IT. Participants in cluster 4 (n=16) scored the lowest on eHealth literacy knowledge. Participants in cluster 1 had relatively high levels of eHealth literacy knowledge and were expected to benefit from digital health services, while participants in cluster 4 had the lowest level of eHealth literacy and would not easily be able to start using digital health services.

Conclusions: The technology readiness level varied in our cohort of Norwegian participants receiving home care. Not all elderly people have the eHealth literacy to fully benefit from digital health services. Participants in cluster 4 (n=16) had the lowest scores in the eHealth Literacy Questionnaire scales in the READHY instrument and should be offered nondigital services or would need extensive management support. The demographic differences between the 4 clusters may inform stakeholders about which older people need the most training and support to take advantage of digital health care services.

Sverre Bergh, Jūratė Šaltytė Benth, Lisbeth Dyrendal Høgset, Britt Rydjord, Lars Kayser

Abstract:
Introduction: The presence of psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is suggested to be associated with distinct molecular and neuropathological profiles in the brain.

Methods: We assessed brain DNA methylation in AD donors with psychosis (AD+P) and without psychosis (AD-P) using the EPIC array. Weighted gene correlation network analysis identified modules of co-methylated genes in a discovery cohort (PITT-ADRC: N = 113 AD+P, N = 40 AD-P), with validation in an independent cohort (BDR: N = 79 AD+P, N = 117 AD-P), with Gene Ontology and cell-type enrichment analysis. Genetic data were integrated to identify methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs), which were co-localized with GWAS for related traits.

Results: We replicated one AD+P associated module, which was enriched for synaptic pathways and in excitatory and inhibitory neurons. mQTLs in this module co-localized with variants associated with schizophrenia and educational attainment.

Discussion: This represents the largest epigenetic study of AD+P to date, identifying pleiotropic relationships between AD+P and related traits.

Highlights: DNA methylation was assessed in the prefrontal cortex in subjects with AD+P and AD-P. WGCNA identified six modules of co-methylated loci associated with AD+P in a discovery cohort. One of the modules was replicated in an independent cohort. This module was enriched for synaptic genes and in excitatory and inhibitory neurons. mQTLs mapping to genes in the module co-localized with GWAS loci for schizophrenia and educational attainment.

Morteza Kouhsar, Luke Weymouth, Adam R Smith, Jennifer Imm, Claudia Bredemeyer, Yehani Wedatilake, Ali Torkamani, Sverre Bergh, Geir Selbæk, Jonathan Mill, Clive Ballard, Robert A Sweet, Julia Kofler, Byron Creese, Ehsan Pishva, Katie Lunnon

Abstract

Late-life depression (LLD) has been linked to increased likelihood of dementia, although mechanisms responsible for this association remain largely unknown. One feature frequently observed in both LLD and dementia is elevated levels of plasma inflammatory markers. The present study aimed to compare the levels of 12 plasma inflammatory markers between older people with LLD and controls, and to explore whether these markers, along with clinical characteristics, can predict dementia in patients with LLD within 3 years of follow-up. Using multiple linear regression with stepwise adjustment, we compared levels of plasma inflammatory markers (IL-1β, IL-1ra, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17a, IL-18, IL-33, TNFα, CD40L, IFN-γ, CCL-2 and CCL-4) between 136 inpatients with LLD (PRODE cohort) and 103 cognitively healthy non-depressed controls (COGNORM cohort). In the PRODE cohort, follow-up data was available for 139 patients (of them 123 had data on baseline plasma inflammatory markers); 36 (25.9%) developed dementia by Year 3 (n = 31 for those with cytokine data). Using Cox proportional hazards regression, we explored whether inflammatory markers and clinical characteristics of LLD (age of onset, treatment response, number of episodes) predicted progression to dementia during follow-up. Levels of IL-1ra, CCL-2, CCL-4, IFN-γ and IL-17a were significantly higher in LLD patients compared to controls in the majority of models. However, none of the inflammatory markers predicted progression from LLD to dementia in the PRODE cohort. Among clinical features, only poor response to treatment significantly predicted higher risk of progression to dementia.

M Bocharova, T Borza, L O Watne, K Engedal, J T O’Brien, G Selbæk, A V Idland, J Hodsoll, A H Young & D Aarsland

Abstract
Background:
There is a growing concern and debate over the inappropriate use of analgesics and psychotropic medications by older adults, especially those with dementia. The long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures on these prescriptions remain uncertain.

Aim:
The primary aim was to examine changes in the prescription of analgesics (opioids and other analgesics) and psychotropics (anxiolytics/sedatives, antidepressants, and antipsychotics) in Norwegian home-dwelling older adults before, during, and up to 2 years after the COVID-19 lockdown, with a particular focus on dementia status. Secondarily, we explored individual characteristics associated with changes in medication prescriptions.

Methods:
A prospective cohort study using baseline data from 10,464 participants (54% females, mean age 76 years [SD 5.8]) from the Norwegian Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4 70+) linked with the Norwegian Prescription Database. Age- and education-adjusted Poisson regression was applied to examine changes in prescription fills, and multilevel mixed-effects linear regression was used to estimate the mean sum of defined daily dose (DDD) per person per period during the lockdown (March–September 2020) compared to that during the corresponding months (March–September) in 2019, 2021, and 2022.

Results:
Overall, prescriptions of opioids, other analgesics, and anxiolytics/sedatives were higher in 2022 than during the lockdown. People without dementia had increased prescriptions of opioids, other analgesics, and antidepressants after lockdown, whereas no changes were observed among those with dementia. Increases in prescriptions of opioids, other analgesics, anxiolytics/sedatives, and antidepressants between the lockdown and 2022 occurred mainly among those aged < 80 years, without comorbidities or mental distress, with good physical function, low fear of COVID-19, and no social isolation during COVID-19.

Conclusion:
An increase in analgesics and psychotropics after the lockdown was predominantly observed among younger-old and healthier participants. This indicates that in high-income countries, such as Norway, home-dwelling vulnerable individuals seem to have received adequate care. However, the pandemic may have increased the number of vulnerable individuals. These findings should be considered when identifying future nationwide stressors that may impair social interactions and threaten mental health. They also highlight the need to evaluate medication prescriptions for older adults after the pandemic.

Tanja Louise Ibsen, Ekaterina Zotcheva, Sverre Bergh, Debby Gerritsen, Gill Livingston, Hilde Lurås, Svenn-Erik Mamelund, Anne Marie Mork Rokstad, Bjørn Heine Strand, Richard C. Oude Voshaar & Geir Selbæk

Abstract

Background:
Childlessness, as well as having a high number of children, has been reported to be associated with an elevated risk of dementia compared to having 2–3 children. The mechanisms underlying these relationships are not well understood and may be mediated by different midlife risk factors. We examined the mediating role of various factors on the relationship between the number of children and dementia risk. These factors include socioeconomic factors (e.g., occupational complexity), psychosocial (e.g.., social activities, loneliness, life satisfaction), lifestyle (e.g., smoking, physical inactivity, alcohol intake), and chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, depression, hearing impairment and hypertension).

Methods:
Using a historic cohort design, we included 9,745 participants born between 1931–48, with a mean age of 78.2 (SD = 6.4) years at the time of cognitive testing in the HUNT4 70 + sub-study (2017–2019). Further measures were obtained through data linkage between information from Statistics Norway and the HUNT1(1984–86), and HUNT2 (1995–97) Surveys. Causal mediation analyses using an inverse odd weighting approach were conducted to decompose the total effect of the number of children (0, 1, or 4 + children vs. 2–3) on the risk of dementia at age 70 + years into direct and indirect effects with mediators assessed at a mean age of 50.7 (SD = 6.4) years. The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, marital status at age 25 years, educational status, and religion assessed during HUNT3 (2006–2008).

Results:
Overall, 15.7% were diagnosed with dementia. The proportions with dementia by the number of children were 22.3% among those with no children, 21.4% for those with one child, 13% for those with 2–3 children (specifically, 12.6% for those with 2 children and 13.4% for those with 3 children), and 19.9% for those with 4 + children. Compared to the reference group of individuals with 2–3 children, the dementia risk was higher among the groups with no children (relative risk (RR): 1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.12, 1.51)), those with one child (RR: 1.30, 95% CI (1.14, 1.47)) and those with 4 + children (RR: 1.12, 95% CI (1.01, 1.24)). The elevated risks of dementia were not mediated by the socioeconomic, psychosocial, lifestyle, or chronic diseases related factors that we tested. Sex-stratified analysis showed higher dementia risk for men without children and women with one or 4 + children compared to those with 2–3 children, with similar patterns across sexes. None of the mediators contributed to mediation in either group. None of the mediators appeared to contribute through mediation in either group.

Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that the number of children—specifically being childless, having one child, or having four or more children—may influence the risk of dementia. These relationships were not mediated by psychosocial, lifestyle, and socioeconomic factors, or markers of chronic diseases in adulthood considered in this study.

Teferi Mekonnen, Vegard Skirbekk, Ekaterina Zotcheva, Bo Engdahl, Bernt Bratsberg, Astanand Jugessur, Catherine Bowen, Geir Selbæk, Hans-Peter Kohler, Jennifer R. Harris, Sarah E. Tom, Steinar Krokstad, Trine Holt Edwin, Yehani Wedatilake, Katrin Wolfova, Dana Kristjansson, Yaakov Stern, Asta Kristine Håberg & Bjørn Heine Strand

Abstract:
Aims:
The aim of this study is to explore patterns of the lived experiences of first-generation Turkish immigrants (≥ 60 years) living and ageing in Norway regarding their experiences with healthcare services and ageing.

Design:
This study used a qualitative study.

Methods:
The sample consisted of 17 individuals aged 60 and above who were of Turkish origin, and immigrated to and living in Norway. All participants resided in the same city in the middle part of Norway. Individual face-to-face interviews were conducted between February and June 2023. All transcripts were examined using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results:
Two main themes and five subthemes were identified. The first theme was ‘Utilization of the healthcare service to their best’, with the subthemes: (a) ‘Communication through a translator: Expressing health problems’ and (b) ‘From physician to physician: Seeking a second opinion in health’. The second theme was ‘Being born in Türkiye: Aging in Norway’, with the subthemes: (a) ‘Between two worlds: Efforts to establish balance’, (b) ‘Family ties and care preferences: Understanding the care preferences’ and (c) ‘Two cultures, one life: Lifestyles’.

Conclusion:
This study reveals the experiences Turkish immigrants have with the healthcare service and ageing while living in Norway and balancing between two cultures. These findings offer a valuable perspective for healthcare providers and social workers and offer insight relevant to developing a cross-cultural healthcare service programme.

Süleyman Şahin, Büşra Nur Temür, Selma Öncel, Nilgün Aksoy, Anne-Sofie Helvik

Introduction:
Hearing impairment is associated with dementia. We aimed to clarify the association between hearing impairment and future cognitive test performance measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA), adjusted for confounders, avoiding reverse causation through long follow-up.

Methods:
We used the Norwegian population-based longitudinal cohort study, The Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). At baseline, we invited all residents 20+ for an audiometric hearing assessment, and at 20+ years follow-up, we cognitively assessed all persons 70+ including MoCA adjusted for hearing impairment. We analyzed the association using linear regression.
Results:
We included 6879 persons (mean 56.1 years, standard deviation 6.2). At follow-up, the MoCA score was −0.25 (95% confidence interval [CI] −0.35, −0.14), per 10 dB increase in hearing threshold and for persons < 85 years, −0.31 (95% CI −0.42, −0.20).
Discussion:
This study finds a long-term association between hearing impairment and dose related reduced cognitive performance, particularly in those aged < 85.

Christian Myrstad, Bo Lars Engdahl, Sergi Gonzalez Costafreda, Steinar Krokstad, Gill Livingston, Geir Selbæk

Background: Spatial orientation is required for independent mobility in society. Deficits in spatial orientation can be an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and there is a need for brief assessment tools to identify impairments.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the construct and known-group validity of our newly developed Spatial Orientation Screening (SOS) questionnaire.

Methods: We included 132 patients with subjective cognitive decline (n = 16), mild cognitive impairment (n = 32), or all-cause dementia (n = 84) from a memory clinic and a reference group of cognitively unimpaired older adults (n = 108). The patients and their next-of-kin answered the self- and proxy-rated versions of the 4-item SOS (0-8 points) and the 10-item Questionnaire of Everyday Navigational Ability (QuENA, 0-30 points). The patients also performed the Floor Maze Test (FMT) for performance-based spatial abilities.

Results: Mean ages (SD) of the patient and reference groups were 68.6 (±7.6) years and 73.7 (±6.7) years, respectively. Construct validity between self-rated versions of the SOS and QuENA was satisfactory with rs = 0.66, between the proxy-rated versions rs = 0.61, and between the proxy-reported SOS and FMT rs = 0.49 (all p < 0.001). Known-group validity was also acceptable, with significantly higher median (IQR) SOS self-reported scores in patients 1.0 (2.0) compared to the reference group 0.2 (0.5) points, (p < 0.001). Informants reported more severe impairments compared to the patients’ self-reports on both SOS and QuENA (both p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The SOS had satisfactory validity for use as a screening instrument for assessment of spatial orientation in memory clinic patients.

Gro Gujord Tangen, Knut Engedal, Karin Persson, Geir Selbæk, Shams Dakhil, Riona McArdle, Marit Mjørud, Janne Røsvik, Anne Marit Mengshoel, Anne Brita Knapskog

Introduction
Informal care estimates for use in health-economic models are lacking. We aimed to estimate the association between informal care time and dementia symptoms across Europe.
Methods
A secondary analysis was performed on 13,529 observations in 5,369 persons from 9 European pooled cohort or trial studies in community-dwelling persons with dementia. A mixed regression model was fitted to time spent on instrumental or basic activities of daily living using disease severity and demographic characteristics.
Results
Daily informal care time was 0.5 hours higher in moderate compared to mild and 1.3h higher in severe compared to mild cognitive impairment. Likewise, this was 1.2h and 2.7h for functional disability and 0.3h and 0.6h for behavioral symptoms in the same directions.
Discussion
Estimates can be used in both single- and multi-domain health-economic models for dementia in European settings.

Ron Handels, Somboon Hataiyusuk, Anders Wimo, Anders Sköldunger, Christian Bakker, Anja Bieber, Alfonso Ciccone, Carlo Alberto Defanti, Andrea Fabbo, Sara Fascendini, Lutz Frölich, Chloé Gervès-Pinquié, Manuel Gonçalves-Pereira, Kate Irving, Raymond Koopmans, Patrizia Mecocci, Paola Merlo, Bernhard Michalowsky, Oliver Peters, Yolande Pijnenburg, Óscar Ribeiro, Geir Salbaek, Larissa Schwarzkopf, Hilde Verbeek, Marjolein de Vugt, Bob Woods, Orazio Zanetti, Bengt Winblad, Linus Jönsson; Actifcare consortium, ICTUS/DSA group, PLASA/DSA group, RECAGE consortium, RightTimePlaceCare consortium