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Development in life expectancy with good and poor cognitive function in the elderly European Population from 2004-05 to 2015

  • MORTALITY
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Abstract

Background

Living not just longer, but also cognitively healthier, and more independent lives is essential if European countries are to cope with the financial challenges that the shifting age composition of Europe’s population presents. Here we investigate the change in life expectancy (LE) spent with good and poor cognitive function among older adults across Europe.

Methods

LE with good/poor cognitive function was estimated by the Sullivan Method. Cross-sectional data on cognitive functioning was obtained from 23,213 (wave 1, 2004-05) and 40,874 (wave 6, 2015) 50+-year-olds of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Information on mortality was obtained from the Eurostat Database. Results for 70+-year-olds were emphasized.

Results

LE with good cognitive function increased with 1.6 years from 10.7 years (95% CI: 10.6–10.9) in 2004-05 to 12.4 years (95% CI: 12.3–12.5) in 2015 for 70+-year-olds. Disparity was observed across sex and region. In 2004-05, a 70+-year-old woman could expect to spend 30.9% (95% CI: 29.4–32.4) of her remaining LE with poor cognitive function compared to 27.7% (95% CI: 26.0 -29.4) for men. In 2015, women (24.4% (95% CI: 23.4–25.3)) had considerably caught up with men (24.8% (95% CI:23.7.25.8)), shifting the pattern in favor of women. In 2004-05 and 2015, Northern Europeans had the lowest LE with poor cognitive function while Southern Europeans had the highest, but made the most improvement during the period.

Conclusions

Overall we find that LE with poor cognitive function has been compressed in the European population of 70+-year-olds.

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Availability of data and material:

Access to SHARE data can be gained from their website: http://www.share-project.org/data-access.html.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

Supplementary Data.

Supplementary data are available at European Journal of Epidemiology online.

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Funding

This paper uses data from SHARE Waves 1 and 6 (DOIs: https://doi.org/10.6103/SHARE.w1.7.1.0., https://doi.org/10.6103/SHARE.w6.7.1.0.), see Börsch-Supan et al. (2013) for methodological details (15). The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through FP5 (QLK6-CT-2001-00360), FP6 (SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5-CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812) and FP7 (SHARE-PREP: N°211909, SHARE-LEAP: N°227822, SHARE M4: N°261982). Additional funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR06-11, OGHA_04–064, HHSN271201300071C) and from various national funding sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit for Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Camilla Riis Nielsen, Linda Juel Ahrenfeldt, Bernard Jeune, Kaare Christensen & Rune Lindahl-Jacobsen

  2. Interdisiciplinary Center on Population Dynamics, University of Southern Denmark, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Camilla Riis Nielsen & Rune Lindahl-Jacobsen

  3. Danish Aging Research Center, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Bernard Jeune & Kaare Christensen

  4. Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Odense University Hospital, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Kaare Christensen

  5. Department of Clinical Genetics, Odense University Hospital, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Kaare Christensen

  6. Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, J.B. Winsløws Vej 9B, 5000, Odense C, Denmark

    Camilla Riis Nielsen

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  1. Camilla Riis Nielsen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Camilla Riis Nielsen.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest/Competing interests:

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval:

Ethics approval was handled by SHARE (Survey of Health, Aging, and retirement in Europe). See: Börsch-Supan, A., Jürges, Hendrik. The Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe – Methodology. MEA, 2005.

Consent to participate:

Consent was obtained by SHARE (Survey of Health, Aging, and retirement in Europe). See: Börsch-Supan, A., Jürges, Hendrik. The Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe – Methodology. MEA, 2005.

Consent for publication:

Consent was obtained by SHARE (Survey of Health, Aging, and retirement in Europe). See: Börsch-Supan, A., Jürges, Hendrik. The Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe – Methodology. MEA, 2005.

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Nielsen, C.R., Ahrenfeldt, L.J., Jeune, B. et al. Development in life expectancy with good and poor cognitive function in the elderly European Population from 2004-05 to 2015. Eur J Epidemiol 37, 495–502 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-022-00860-x

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