Physical Performance in Older Cohorts: A Comparison of 81-Year-Old Swedish Men and Women Born Twelve Years Apart—Results from the Swedish Study “Good Aging in Skåne”
Table 2
Description of the 81-year-old women in the birth cohorts 1920–22 and 1932–34 from the Good Aging in Skåne general population study.
81-year-old women
Cohort born 1920–22, n = 118
Cohort born 1932–34, n = 136
value
Year of examination
2001–2004
2013–2015
Age (y), mean (SD)
81.0 (0.36)
81.0 (0.48)
0.839
Height (cm), mean (SD)
159.5 (5.9)
160.2 (5.3)
0.333
Weight (kg), mean (SD)
66.2 (11.7)
69.2 (11.9)
0.050
BMI
Normal/underweight, n (%)
53 (44.9)
42 (30.9)
Overweight, n (%)
44 (37.3)
66 (48.5)
0.066
Obese, n (%)
21 (17.8)
28 (20.6)
Marital status
Married/cohabiting, n (%)
39 (33.3)
55 (40.4)
Single/widowed/divorced
78 (66.7)
81 (59.6)
0.243
Education
Elementary school, n (%)
75 (64.7)
76 (55.9)
Secondary school/university, n (%)
41 (35.3)
60 (44.1)
0.157
Type of residential area
Rural, n (%)
8 (6.8)
19 (14.0)
Urban, n (%)
109 (93.2)
117 (86.0)
0.067
Smoking habits
Current smoker, n (%)
12 (10.3)
8 (5.9)
Former smoker, n (%)
20 (17.1)
53 (39.0)
0.001
Never smoked, n (%)
85 (72.6)
75 (55.1)
Alcohol consumption
Never/at most once per month, n (%)
91 (77.8)
85 (63.0)
2–4 times per month, n (%)
20 (17.1)
28 (20.7)
0.009
2-3 times per week, n (%)
6 (5.1)
22 (16.3)
Physical activity past year
Mostly sedentary, n (%)
16 (13.8)
16 (11.9)
Light activity, n (%)
70 (60.3)
83 (61.5)
0.889
Strenuous activity, n (%)
30 (25.9)
36 (26.7)
Pain
Back/pelvis, n (%)
40 (37.4)
38 (28.1)
0.127
Lower extremities, n (%)
24 (23.1)
37 (27.4)
0.446
Upper extremities, n (%)
20 (19.0)
32 (23.7)
0.385
Comorbidity
Pulmonary disease: tuberculosis, asthma/COPD, n (%)
17 (14.5)
20 (14.8)
0.949
Heart disease: infarction/angina/heart failure, n (%)
43 (36.4)
37 (27.6)
0.133
Stroke: infarction/hemorrhage, n (%)
9 (7.6)
12 (8.9)
0.717
Fractures: vertebrae/pelvis/lower extremities, n (%)
