Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T08:11:38.378Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disability trends among older adults in ten European countries over 2004–2013, using various indicators and Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2016

GEORGIA VERROPOULOU  and
CLEON TSIMBOS
GEORGIA VERROPOULOU*
Affiliation:
University of Piraeus, Department of Statistics & Insurance Science, Greece. Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, London, UK.
CLEON TSIMBOS
Affiliation:
University of Piraeus, Department of Statistics & Insurance Science, Greece.
*
Address for correspondence: Georgia Verropoulou, University of Piraeus, Department of Statistics & Insurance Science, 80 Karaoli & Dimitriou Street, Piraeus 18534, Greece E-mail: gverrop@unipi.gr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the context of the prospective increase in the numbers of older adults in Europe and of conflicting findings regarding recent disability trends, the present study uses cross-sectional data from four waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), covering the period 2004–2013, and aims at the assessment of trends in disability by sex and broad age group (50–64 and 65 and over) for the ten countries participating in all waves, based on four different measures: limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs), limitations in instrumental ADLs, mobility difficulties and the Global Activity Limitation Indicator. The analysis uses logistic regression models adjusted for age and, subsequently, also for chronic conditions. The findings indicate improvements both in mild/moderate activity restrictions and in functional limitations for several countries, especially among men and women aged 65 and over. Regarding severe disability (ADLs) there is mostly a lack of any significant trend and only a few declines. In several instances, the observed trends are linked to changes in chronic conditions; significant improvements net of chronic conditions are found mainly in Sweden but also in the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Italy and France. Overall, the estimated trends often differentiate by country, age group and sex while they depend upon the specificities of the measures used in the analysis.

Keywords

disability trendsGlobal Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI)activities of daily livinginstrumental activities of daily livingmobility difficulties
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 37 , Issue 10 , November 2017 , pp. 2152 - 2182
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altmets, K., Puur, A., Uusküla, A., Saava, A., Sakkeus, L. and Katus, K. 2010. Self-reported activity limitations among the population aged 20–79 in Estonia: a cross-sectional study. European Journal of Public Health, 21, 1, 49–55.Google Scholar
Arber, S. and Cooper, H. 1999. Gender differences in health in later life: the new paradox? Social Science and Medicine, 48, 1, 61–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhattacharya, J., Choudhry, K. and Lakdawalla, D. 2008. Chronic disease and severe disability among working age populations. Medical Care, 46, 1, 92–100.Google Scholar
Bonneux, L., Van der Gaag, N., Bijwaard, G., Mot, E. and Willemé, P. 2012. Demographic epidemiological projections of long-term care needs in selected European countries. ENEPRI Research Report 112, European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes. Available online at file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/SSRN-id2033103.pdf [Accessed 10 December 2013].Google Scholar
Börsch-Supan, A., Brandt, M., Hunkler, C., Kneip, T., Korbmacher, J., Malter, F., Schaan, B., Stuck, S. and Zuber, S. 2013. Data resource profile: the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). International Journal of Epidemiology, 42, 4, 992–1001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cambois, E., Blachier, A. and Robine, J.-M. 2012. Aging and health in France: an unexpected expansion of disability in mid-adulthood over recent years. European Journal of Public Health, 23, 4, 575–81.Google Scholar
Cambois, E., Clavel, A., Romieu, I. and Robine, J.-M. 2008. Trends in disability-free life expectancy at age 65 in France: consistent and diverging patterns according to the underlying disability measure. European Journal of Ageing, 5, 4, 287–98.Google Scholar
Crimmins, E., Saito, Y. and Ingegneri, D. 1997. Trends in disability free life expectancy in the United States, 1970–90. Population and Development Review, 23, 3, 555–72.Google Scholar
De Luca, G. and Peracchi, F. 2005. Survey participation in the first wave of SHARE. In Börsch-Supan, A. and Jürges, H. (eds), The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe – Methodology. Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Ageing, Mannheim, Germany, 88–101.Google Scholar
Dunlop, D. D., Manheim, L. M., Sohn, M. W., Liu, X. and Chang, R. W. 2002. Incidence of functional limitation in older adults: the impact of gender, race and chronic conditions. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 83, 7, 964–71.Google Scholar
Egidi, V. 2003. Health status of older people. Genus, LIX, 1, 169–200.Google Scholar
Fonda, S. and Herzog, A. 2004. Documentation of physical functioning measured in the Health and Retirement Study and the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old Study. HRS/AHEAD Documentation Report. Ann Arbor, MI: Survey Research Center, University of Michigan. Available online http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/sitedocs/userg/dr-008.pdf [Accessed 8 June 2014].Google Scholar
Freedman, V. A., Crimmins, E., Schoeni, R. F., Spillman, B. C., Aykan, H., Kramarow, E., Land, K., Lubitz, J., Manton, K., Martin, L. G. , Shinberg, D. and Waidmann, T. 2004. Resolving inconsistencies in trends in old age disability: report from a technical working group. Demography, 41, 3, 417–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freedman, V. A., Martin, L. G. and Schoeni, R. F. 2002. Recent trends in disability and functioning among older US adults. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288, 24, 3137–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freedman, V. A., Spillman, B. C., Andreski, P. M., Comman, J. C., Crimmins, E. M., Kramarow, E. and Lubitz, J. 2013. Trends in late-life activity limitations in the United States: an update from five national surveys. Demography, 50, 2, 661–71.Google Scholar
Geerts, J., Willemé, P., Pickard, L., King, D., Comas-Herrera, A., Wittwer, J., Goltz, A., Mot, E., Schultz, E., Sowa, A. and Vegas, R. 2012. Projections of use and supply of long-term care in Europe: policy implications. ENEPRI Policy Brief 12, European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes. Available online at http://aei.pitt.edu/34721/1/RR_No_116__ANCIEN_WP6__Projecting_LTC_Use_%26_Supply.pdf [Accessed 10 March 2014].Google Scholar
Giannakouris, K. 2008. Ageing Characterises the Demographic Perspectives of the European Societies. Population and Social Conditions, Eurostat, Statistics in Focus. Available online at http://www.apapr.ro/images/BIBLIOTECA/demografie/eurostat%20focus%202008.pdf [Accessed 12 March 2012].Google Scholar
Gilmour, H. and Park, J. 2006. Dependency, chronic conditions and pain in seniors. Health Reports, 16, supplement, 21–31.Google Scholar
Goldman, N., Lin, I. F. Weinstein, M. and Lin, Y. H. 2003. Evaluating the quality of self-reports of hypertension and diabetes. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 56, 2, 148–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffith, L., Raina, P., Wu, H., Zhu, B. and Stathokostas, L. 2010. Population attributable risk for functional disability associated with chronic conditions in Canadian older adults. Age and Ageing, 39, 6, 738–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grundy, E., Tomassini, C. and Festy, P. 2006. Demographic change and the care of older people: introduction. European Journal of Population, 22, 3, 215–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jagger, C., Cox, B., Le Roy, S., Clavel, A., Robine, J. M., Romieu, I. and Van Oyen, H. 2007. Health Expectancy Calculation by the Sullivan Method: A Practical Guide. EHEMU, Montpellier, France.Google Scholar
Jagger, C. and Fouweather, T. 2012. Cross-sectional analysis of health expectancies in 2008. EHLEIS Technical Report 2012–5.1. Available online at http://maryland.mri.cnrs.fr/pdf/Reports_2012/2012_TR5%201_Cross-sectional%20analysis%20of%20HE%20in%202008.pdf [Accessed 10 March 2014].Google Scholar
Jagger, C., Gillies, C., Cambois, E., Van Oyen, H., Nusselder, W., Robine, J.-M. and the EHLEIS Team 2010. The Global Activity Limitation Index measured function and disability similarly across European countries. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 63, 8, 892–9.Google Scholar
Jette, A. M. 1994. How measurement techniques influence estimates of disability in older populations. Social Science and Medicine, 38, 7, 937–42.Google Scholar
Katz, S. 1983. Assessing self maintenance: activities of daily living, mobility and instrumental activities of daily living. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 31, 12, 721–6.Google Scholar
Katz, S., Downs, T. D., Cash, H. R. and Grotz, R. C. 1970. Progress in development of the index of ADL. Gerontologist, 10, 1, 20–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katz, S., Ford, A. B., Moskowitz, R. W., Jackson, B. A. and Jaffe, M. W. 1963. Studies of illness in the aged. The index of ADL: a standardised measure of biological and psychological function. Journal of the American Medical Association, 185, 12, 914–9.Google Scholar
Klevmarken, A. N., Swensson, B. and Hesselins, P. 2005. The SHARE sampling procedures and calibrated design weights. In Börsch-Supan, A. and Jürges, H. (eds), The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe – Methodology. Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Ageing, Mannheim, Germany, 28–37.Google Scholar
Lawton, M. P. and Brody, E. M. 1969. Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist, 9, 3, 179–86.Google Scholar
Lutz, W. and Scherbov, S. 2005. Will population ageing lead to an increase in the number of persons with disability? Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 3, 219–34.Google Scholar
Lutz, W., Sanderson, W. and Scherbov, S. 2001. The end of world population growth. Nature, 412, 6846, 543–5.Google Scholar
Macintyre, S., Hunt, K. and Sweeting, H. 1996. Gender differences in health: are things really as simple as they seem? Social Science and Medicine, 42, 4, 617–24.Google Scholar
Manton, K. G. and Gu, X. 2001. Changes in the prevalence of chronic disability in the United States, black and nonblack population above age 65 from 1982 to 1999. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98, 11, 6354–459.Google Scholar
Martin, L. G., Freedman, V. A., Schoeni, R. F. and Andreski, P. A. 2010. Trends in disability and related chronic conditions among people ages fifty to sixty-four. Health Affairs, 29, 4, 725–31.Google Scholar
Martin, L. G. and Schoeni, R. F. 2014. Trends in disability and related chronic conditions among the forty-and-over population: 1997–2010. Disability and Health Journal, 7, S4–14.Google Scholar
Martin, L. G., Zimmer, Z. and Hurng, B.-S. 2011. Trends in late-life disability in Taiwan, 1989–2007: the roles of education, environment and technology. Population Studies, 65, 3, 289–304.Google Scholar
Melvin, J., Hummer, R., Elo, I. and Mehta, N. 2014. Age patterns of racial/ethnic/nativity differences in disability and physical functioning in the United States. Demographic Research, 31, 2, 497–509.Google Scholar
Moe, J. O. and Hagen, T. P. 2011. Trends and variations in mild disability and functional limitations among older adults in Norway, 1986–2008. European Journal of Ageing, 8, 1, 49–61.Google Scholar
Parker, M. G., Ahacic, K. and Thorslund, M. 2005. Health changes among Swedish oldest old: prevalence rates from 1992 and 2002 show increasing health problems. Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, Series A, 60, 10, 1351–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Parker, M. G., Schön, P., Legergren, M. and Thorslund, M. 2008. Functional ability in the elderly Swedish population from 1980 to 2005. European Journal of Ageing, 5, 4, 299–309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parker, M. G. and Thorslund, M. 2007. Health trends in the elderly population: getting better and getting worse. The Gerontologist, 47, 2, 150–8.Google Scholar
Robine, J.-M., Cambois, E., Nusselder, W., Jeune, B., Van Oyen, H. and Jagger, C. 2013. The joint action on healthy life years (JA:EHLEIS). Archives of Public Health, 71, 1, 2–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robine, J.-M. and Jagger, C. 2003. Creating a coherent set of indicators to monitor health across Europe. The Euro-REVES2 project. European Journal of Public Health, 13, 3, supplement, 6–14.Google Scholar
Schoeni, R. F., Freedman, V. A. and Martin, L. G. 2008. Why is late-life disability declining? The Milbank Quarterly, 86, 1, 47–89.Google Scholar
Schoeni, R. F., Liang, J., Bennet, J., Sugisawa, H., Fukaya, T. and Kobayashi, E. 2006. Trends in old-age functioning and disability in Japan 1993–2002. Population Studies, 60, 1, 39–53.Google Scholar
Seeman, T. E., Merkin, S. S., Crimmins, E. M. and Karlamangla, A. S. 2010. Disability trends among older Americans: National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1988–1994 and 1999–2004. Research and Practice, 100, 1, 100–7.Google Scholar
SHARE 2013. SHARE Release Guide 2.6.0 Waves 1 & 2. Available online at http://www.share-project.org/fileadmin/pdf_documentation/SHARE_guide_release_2-6-0.pdf [Accessed 16 February 2014].Google Scholar
SHARE 2015 a. SHARE Release Guide 1.1.1 Wave 4. Available online at http://www.share-project.org/fileadmin/pdf_documentation/SHARE_wave_4_release_guide_1.1.1_01.pdf [Accessed 15 November 2015].Google Scholar
SHARE 2015 b. SHARE Release Guide 1.0.0 Wave 5. Available online at http://www.share-project.org/fileadmin/pdf_documentation/SHARE_wave_5_release_guide_1.0.0.pdf [Accessed 15 November 2015].Google Scholar
Skinner, K. M., Miller, D. R., Lincoln, E., Lee, A. and Kazis, L. E. 2005. Concordance between respondent self-reports and medical records for chronic conditions: experience from the Veterans Health Study. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, 28, 2, 102–10.Google Scholar
Sulander, T., Martelin, T., Sainio, P., Rahkonen, O., Nissinen, A. and Uutela, A. 2006. Trends and educational disparities in functional capacity among people 65–84 years. International Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 5, 1255–61.Google Scholar
Van Oyen, H., van der Heyden, J., Perenboom, R. and Jagger, C. 2006. Monitoring population disability: evaluation of a new Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI). Sozial-und Praventivmedizin, 51, 3, 153–61.Google Scholar
Verbrugge, L. M. and Jette, A. M. 1994. The disablement process. Social Science and Medicine, 38, 1, 1–14.Google Scholar
Wahrendorf, M., Reinhardt, J. D. and Siegrist, J. 2013. Relationships of disability with age among adults aged 50 to 85: evidence from the United States, England and continental Europe. PLOS ONE, 8, 8, e71893.Google Scholar
Woo, J., Ho, S. C., Yu, L. M., Lau, J. and Yuen, Y. K. 1998. Impact of chronic diseases on functional limitations in elderly Chinese aged 70 years and over: a cross-sectional and longitudinal survey. Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 53, 2, M102–6.Google Scholar
World Health Organization 2001. International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF). World Health Organization, Geneva.Google Scholar