Abstract
Objective: To determine prevalence of cognitive impairment (CI) and to estimate life expectancy with and without cognitive impairment in the Australian population over age 60. Method: Adults aged 60 and older participating in the 12 year follow-up of the Australia Diabetes Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) were included in the sample (n=1666). The mean age was 69.5 years, and 46.3% of the sample was male. The Mini-Mental State Examination was used to assess cognitive impairment. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the effect of predictor variables (age, gender, education), measured at baseline, on cognitive impairment status. The Sullivan Method was used to estimate Total Life Expectancy (TLE), Cognitively Impaired (CILE) and Cognitive Impairment-free life expectancies (CIFLE). Results: Odds of CI were greater for males than females (OR 2.1, 95% confidence interval: 1.2-3.7) and among Australians with low education levels compared with Australians with high education levels (OR 2.1, 95% confidence interval: 1.2-3.7). The odds of CI also increased each year with age (OR 1.1, (95% confidence interval: 1.0-1.1). It was found that in all age groups females have greater TLE and CIFLE when compared to their male counterparts.
Highlights
Increases in life expectancy observed in the past decade have given rise to a need for increased focus on mental health conditions that impair cognitive function and that are strongly associated with increasing age [1]
Healthy life expectancy is used to quantify the burden of disease and enables researchers to monitor the overall health of the population [2]
While data on mental health expectancies are scarce for most countries, previously published data are available for Australia but these are based on a regional study rather than data drawn from a national study [5,6]
Summary
Increases in life expectancy observed in the past decade have given rise to a need for increased focus on mental health conditions that impair cognitive function and that are strongly associated with increasing age [1]. While data on mental health expectancies are scarce for most countries, previously published data are available for Australia but these are based on a regional study rather than data drawn from a national study [5,6]. We aimed to produce the first Australian estimates of Cognitive Impairment Free Life Expectancy using cognitive function data from a national and population-based study. Recently published findings have shown a reduction in late life cognitive impairment in the UK, Denmark and Sweden and this moving target of dementia prevalence makes the conduct of this study worthwhile to investigate if similar changes have occurred in Australia [7,8,9]
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