Search Results (2)

Background: The vast majority of populations are facing growth in the proportion of older persons. Hence, there is an interest in identifying factors associated with longer and healthier life in older ages. Lifestyle, including diet, is crucial for healthy life expectancy, but evidence to support more specific dietary guidelines easily implemented in real life is lacking. Whole grains are specific dietary components with unexplored potential in healthy ageing. Methods: Using an illness-death multistate model approach with a priori chosen confounder control, the association between whole-grain intake and expected time as “healthy” and “with disease” during 20 years of follow-up was assessed. Healthy ageing was defined as the absence of cancer, ischemic heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and dementia. Results: Based on data from 22,606 men and 25,468 women from the Diet, Cancer and Health cohort withmean follow-up times of 14 to 17 years, respectively, a doubling in whole-grain intake was associated with 0.43 (95% CI: 0.33–0.52) and 0.15 (0.06–0.24) years more lived without disease, for men and women. When comparing extreme quartiles, men with the highest whole-grain intake lived on average one year more without disease than those consuming the least. Furthermore, whole-grain intake was inversely associated with life expectancy with disease. Conclusions: This study suggests that whole grains are associated with healthy ageing and inversely associated with life expectancy with disease after age 50. These findings should encourage guidelines for increased whole-grain intake, especially among those with low intake, to support disease-free good health in the last part of life. Full article

Objective: To estimate and compare the dementia-free life expectancy (DemFLE) and age trends of the population over 60 in 2018 in Jiangxi Province, China, by sex and urban–rural areas. Methods: Based on the Summary of Health Statistics of Jiangxi Province in 2018 and the Sixth National Health Service survey of Jiangxi Province, the model life table is used to estimate the age-specific mortality rate by sex and urban–rural areas. DemFLE and its ratio to life expectancy (LE) were calculated using the Sullivan method. Results: In 2018, the DemFLE at age 60 was 18.48 years for men and 21.31 years for women, accounting for 96.62% and 96.67% of their LE. LE and DemFLE were higher for those in urban areas than in rural areas, except for men aged 90 and above; higher in women than in men, except for people in rural areas aged 90 and above. In urban areas, DemFLE/LE was higher for women than for men; the opposite was observed in rural areas. Urban women had a higher DemFLE/LE than rural women did, urban men had a lower DemFLE/LE than rural men did. Conclusions: With increased LE, DemFLE also increases, but with older age and over time, DemFLE/LE gradually decreases. The effect of dementia on elderly adults becomes more serious. It is necessary for the government to implement a series of prevention strategies to improve the quality of life and health awareness of the elderly. Elderly urban men and elderly rural women need more attention and health care. Full article