Prevalence, clustering and combined effects of lifestyle behaviours and their association with health after retirement age in a prospective cohort study, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, Norway

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Reading and writing difficulties in adolescence and later risk of welfare dependence. A ten year follow-up, the HUNT Study, Norway

Background: Welfare dependence and low work participation among young people have raised concern in many European countries. Reading and writing difficulties (RWD) might make young people vulnerable to work integration problems and welfare dependence through negative influences on education and health. Our main objective of this study was to examine if RWD in adolescence affected the risk of welfare dependence in young adulthood. Methods: Baseline information on self-reported RWD, health and family was obtained for 8950 school-attending adolescents in Nord-Trøndelag County, Norway, participating in the Young-HUNT1 survey, 1995-97. All individuals were linked to biological parents to identify siblings and parental education from national registers. Welfare dependence was assessed by the reception of social benefits (medical and economic) from the national social insurance database (1998-2007). Only long-term benefits (> 180 days) were included. Results: The adolescents who reported RWD at baseline were more likely to receive medical or social benefits during follow-up compared with those who did not report RWD. In girls with RWD, the adjusted 5-year risk (at age 24 to 28) for receiving medical benefits was 0.20 (95% confidence interval 0.14-0.26), compared with 0.11 (0.09- 0.12) in girls without RWD. In boys the corresponding risks were 0.13 (0.09-0.17) and 0.08 (0.07-0.09). Conclusions: The associations between RWD in adolescence and welfare dependence later in life suggest that increased attention should be paid to these problems when discussing the public health aspects of work integration, since there might be a potential for prevention

Factors associated with basic and instrumental activities of daily living in elderly participants of a population-based survey : The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, Norway

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Associations between complex multimorbidity, activities of daily living and mortality among older Norwegians. A prospective cohort study : the HUNT Study, Norway

Background With increasing age, having multiple chronic conditions is the norm. It is of importance to study how co-existence of diseases affects functioning and mortality among older persons. Complex multimorbidity may be defined as three or more conditions affecting at least three different organ systems. The aim of this study was to investigate how complex multimorbidity affects activities of daily living and mortality amongst older Norwegians. Methods Participants were 60–69-year-olds at baseline in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study 1995-1997 (HUNT2) n = 9058. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between complex multimorbidity in HUNT2, basic and instrumental activities of daily living in HUNT3 (2006–2008) and mortality during follow-up (n = 5819/5836). Risk ratios (RR) and risk differences (RD) in percentage points (pp) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported. Results 47.8% of 60–69-year-olds met the criteria of complex multimorbidity at baseline (HUNT2). Having complex multimorbidity was strongly associated with the need for assistance in IADL in HUNT3 11 years later (RR = 1.80 (1.58–2.04) and RD = 8.7 (6.8–10.5) pp) and moderately associated with mortality during the follow-up time (RR = 1.22 (1.12–1.33) and RD = 5.1 (2.9–7.3) pp). Complex multimorbidity was to a lesser extent associated with basic activities of daily living 11 years later (RR = 1.24 (0.85–1.83) and RD = 0.4 (− 0.3–1.1) pp). Conclusions This is the first study to show an association between complex multimorbidity and activities of daily living. Complex multimorbidity should receive more attention in order to prevent future disability amongst older persons.publishedVersio

Cultural participation and all-cause mortality, with possible gender differences: an 8-year follow-up in the HUNT Study, Norway

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Trends in social inequality and how mental wellbeing vary and covary among Norwegian adolescents and their families: the Young-HUNT Study

Background: The study had two aims: first, to investigate trends in socioeconomic inequalities in psychological distress and loneliness among Norwegian adolescents, and second, to study variation and covariation of psychological distress and loneliness within adolescents and between siblings within families. Methods: Multivariate mixed models were used to investigate trends in socioeconomic inequality in psychological distress and loneliness using three separate cohorts of Norwegian adolescents from the Young-HUNT study conducted in 1995–1997 (Young-HUNT1, n = 8980), 2006–2008 (Young-HUNT3, n = 8199) and 2017–2019 (Young-HUNT4, n = 8066). Register data on parental education level was used as a marker of socioeconomic position (SEP), and a unique family number was used to identify adolescents belonging to the same family. A three-level multivariate mixed model was created, consisting of the outcomes at level 1, adolescents at level 2 and families at level 3. Results: No statistically significant difference in scores on loneliness and psychological distress was observed between low and high parental education level in Young-HUNT1, whereas in Young-HUNT4, low parental education level was associated with a higher score on both psychological distress (β = 0.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.03–0.14) and loneliness (β = 0.12; 95% CI 0.07–0.17). Analyses of covariation between psychological distress and loneliness showed that they were correlated within adolescents and strongly correlated within families across all timepoints. Conclusions: Increasing socioeconomic inequalities in psychological distress and loneliness among Norwegian adolescents is worrisome. Further, the family seems to be an important arena for potential prevention of psychological distress and loneliness among adolescents, regardless of parental education level.publishedVersio

HUNT for better public health

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Divergent decennial trends in mental health according to age reveal poorer mental health for young people: Repeated cross-sectional population-based surveys from the HUNT Study, Norway

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Public health in restructuring coastal communities : Generational trends in self-rated health following the decline in small-scale fishing. The HUNT study, Norway

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