Abstract

Little is known about how and why functional ability changes in the very old (aged 85+) although this is the fastest growing section of most populations worldwide.  Moreover, there is little information on whether socioeconomic status (SES) measured across the life course still has an impact on disability incidence and progression in the very old.

I will use the Newcastle 85+ Study, a cohort of around 850 people in Newcastle and North Tyneside, UK, who were all born in 1921 and age 85 at first interview in 2006, to explore by multi-state modelling, the impact of disease on incident disability and all-cause mortality and whether the impact of diseases are the same for men and women.  I will also examine whether we can characterise disability trajectories between age 85 and 90 into distinct trajectories using Group Based Trajectory Modelling (GBTM), and whether differences in 

Biographical details

Dr Andrew Kingston, Newcastle University, UK, is visiting CRAHW from 7 to 23 March 2016