Towards a postponement of activities of daily living dependence and mobility limitations: Trends in healthy life years in old age in Sweden

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the development of healthy life expectancy from 65 years (HLE65) in Sweden in the period 1980–2011 using the health indicators activities of daily living (ADL) and mobility limitations within the framework of the postponement, compression and expansion theories. Methods: Sources of data for the HLE computations were Swedish national mortality statistics and the nationwide Swedish Surveys of Living Conditions, conducted biennially by Statistics Sweden since 1974. We used the Sullivan method for calculations of HLE and a decomposition into mortality and disability effects was made. Results: Life expectancy at age 65 (LE65) increased by 3.1 years for women and 4.0 years for men from 1980–1985 to 2006–2011. HLE65 calculated according to ADL and mobility limitations increased more rapidly than LE65 for both men and women (p<0.05). Conclusions: Our results for trends in the Swedish LE65 and HLE65, computed on the basis of ADL and mobility limitations and using the Swedish Surveys of Living Conditions study, are in line with the postponement hypothesis and there is also a tendency for compression. Thus the years with ADL dependence and mobility limitations are postponed to a higher age and the numbers of these years have decreased.