The association between neighborhood characteristics and mental health in old age – register based study of urban areas in three European countries

This study aimed to fill the gap in research regarding the longitudinal studies on the association between urban neighborhood characteristics and mental health of older populations. Individual level register-based data sets from Finland (10 largest cities), Sweden (Stockholm), and Italy (Turin) including satellite based land cover data were used. The data included sociodemographic individual information on population aged 50+, their antidepressant purchases, and socioeconomic and physical characteristics regarding area of residence. We followed individuals for antidepressant purchases for 5 years in 2001-2015, depending on dataset, and used hierarchical negative binomial models to assess whether there was an association between social and physical area characteristics and antidepressant use and to what extent was this association attributable to individual sociodemographic characteristics of the residents and whether the findings were consistent across countries. We found weak and inconsistent evidence of high levels of area characteristics related to dense physical urban structure being predictive of increased antidepressant use in ages above 50. However, generally the extent to which antidepressant use was clustered by areas in the studied contexts was minimal

Association between neighbourhood characteristics and antidepressant use at older ages: A register-based study of urban areas in three European countries

Background: Research evidence on the association between neighbourhood characteristics and individual mental health at older ages is inconsistent, possibly due to heterogeneity in the measurement of mental-health outcomes, neighbourhood characteristics and confounders. Register-based data enabled us to avoid these problems in this longitudinal study on the associations between socioeconomic and physical neighbourhood characteristics and individual antidepressant use in three national contexts. Methods: We used register-based longitudinal data on the population aged 50+ from Turin (Italy), Stockholm (Sweden), and the nine largest cities in Finland linked to satellite-based land-cover data. This included individual-level information on sociodemographic factors and antidepressant use, and on neighbourhood soci

Trends in mortality by labour market position around retirement ages in three European countries with different welfare regimes

<p>Objectives: In the face of economic downturn and increasing life expectancy, many industrial nations are adopting a policy of postponing the retirement age. However, questions still remain around the consequence of working longer into old age. We examine mortality by work status around retirement ages in countries with different welfare regimes; Finland (social democratic), Turin (Italy; conservative), and England and Wales (liberal).</p> <p>Methods: Death rates and rate ratios (RRs) (reference rates = ‘in-work’), 1970 s–2000 s, were estimated for those aged 45–64 years using the England and Wales longitudinal study, Turin longitudinal study, and the Finnish linked register study.</p> <p>Results: Mortality of the not-in-work was consistently higher than the in-work. Death rates for the not-in-work were lowest in Turin and highest in Finland. Rate ratios were smallest in Turin (RR men 1972–76 1.73; 2002–06 1.63; women 1.22; 1.68) and largest in Finland (RR men 1991–95 3.03; 2001–05 3.80; women 3.62; 4.11). Unlike RRs for men, RRs for women increased in every country (greatest in Finland).</p> <p>Conclusions: These findings signal that overall, employment in later life is associated with lower mortality, regardless of welfare regime.</p&gt