Background: The use of health technology by older people is coming increasingly in focus with the demographic changes. Health information technology is generally perceived as an important factor in enabling increased quality of life and reducing the cost of care for this group. Age-appropriate design and facilitation of technology adoption are important to ensure functionality and removal of various barriers to usage. Development of assessment tools and instruments for evaluating older persons' technology adoption and usage as well as measuring the effects of the interventions are of high priority. Both usability and acceptance of a specific technology or service are important factors in evaluating the impact of a health information technology intervention. Psychometric measures are seldom included in evaluations of health technology. However, basic attitudes and sentiments toward technology (eg, technophilia) could be argued to influence both the level of satisfaction with the technology itself as well as the perception of the health intervention outcome. Objective: The purpose of this study is to develop a reduced and refined instrument for measuring older people's attitudes and enthusiasm for technology based on relevant existing instruments for measuring technophilia A requirement of the new instrument is that it should be short and simple to make it usable for evaluation of health technology for older people. Methods: Initial items for the TechPH questionnaire were drawn from a content analysis of relevant existing technophilia measure instruments. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted in a random selection of persons aged 65 years or older (N=374) on eight initial items. The scale was reduced to six items, and the internal consistency and reliability of the scale were examined. Further validation was made by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: The exploratory factor analysis resulted in two factors. These factors were analyzed and labeled techEnthusiasm and techAnxiety. They demonstrated relatively good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha=.72 and .68, respectively). The factors were confirmed in the CFA and showed good model fit (chi(2)(8)=21.2, chi(2)/df=2.65, comparative fit index=0.97, adjusted goodness-of-fit index=0.95, root mean square error of approximation=0.067, standardized root mean square residual=0.036). Conclusions: The construed TechPH score showed expected relations to external real-world criteria, and the two factors showed interesting internal relations. Different technophilia personality traits distinguish clusters with different behaviors of adaptation as well as usage of new technology. Whether there is an independent association with the TechPH score against outcomes in health technology projects needs to be shown in further studies. The instrument must also be validated in different contexts, such as other countries.

Background The assessment of bone age and skeletal maturity and its comparison to chronological age is an important task in the medical environment for the diagnosis of pediatric endocrinology, orthodontics and orthopedic disorders, and legal environment in what concerns if an individual is a minor or not when there is a lack of documents. Being a time-consuming activity that can be prone to inter- and intra-rater variability, the use of methods which can automate it, like Machine Learning techniques, is of value. Objective The goal of this paper is to present the state of the art evidence, trends and gaps in the research related to bone age assessment studies that make use of Machine Learning techniques. Method A systematic literature review was carried out, starting with the writing of the protocol, followed by searches on three databases: Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science to identify the relevant evidence related to bone age assessment using Machine Learning techniques. One round of backward snowballing was performed to find additional studies. A quality assessment was performed on the selected studies to check for bias and low quality studies, which were removed. Data was extracted from the included studies to build summary tables. Lastly, a meta-analysis was performed on the performances of the selected studies. Results 26 studies constituted the final set of included studies. Most of them proposed automatic systems for bone age assessment and investigated methods for bone age assessment based on hand and wrist radiographs. The samples used in the studies were mostly comprehensive or bordered the age of 18, and the data origin was in most of cases from United States and West Europe. Few studies explored ethnic differences. Conclusions There is a clear focus of the research on bone age assessment methods based on radiographs whilst other types of medical imaging without radiation exposure (e.g. magnetic resonance imaging) are not much explored in the literature. Also, socioeconomic and other aspects that could influence in bone age were not addressed in the literature. Finally, studies that make use of more than one region of interest for bone age assessment are scarce. Copyright: © 2019 Dallora et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Aim: This study aimed to identify factors affecting health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of older adults with cognitive impairment and to describe the association of these factors with different components of HRQoL. Design: A cross-sectional, descriptive research design was used. Methods: Data were collected from 247 individuals aged 60 years and older from a Swedish longitudinal cohort study. The Short-Form Health Survey-12 (SF-12) and EuroQol (EQ-5D) were used to assess HRQoL. The data were analysed using descriptive and comparative statistics. Results: The present study identified several factors that influenced HRQoL of older adults with cognitive impairment. The results of a multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the following factors were associated with physical and mental HRQoL: dependency in activities of daily living (ADL), receiving informal care and feelings of loneliness and pain. © 2019 The Authors. Nursing Open published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Aim: To evaluate pattern of change in periodontal variables and tooth loss in a twelve-year follow-up study of older adults living in Sweden. Methods: In a prospective population study of older adults, a clinical examination and radiographic dental examination were performed at baseline (2001–2003) and after 12 years (2013–2015). In 375 individuals, the number and proportion of sites with a distance ≥4 mm and ≥5 mm from cemento-enamel junction to the bone level, the number and proportion of teeth with pockets ≥5 mm and number of teeth lost were calculated. Dental caries was registered. Periodontitis was defined as having ≥2 sites with ≥5 mm distance from cemento-enamel junction to the marginal bone level and ≥1 tooth with pockets ≥5 mm. Results: A diagnosis of periodontitis was evident in 39% of the individuals, and 23% of the individuals lost ≥3 teeth over the study period. The proportion of sites with ≥4 mm and ≥5 mm bone loss increased with age, while the proportion of teeth with pockets remained stable. Periodontitis was the strongest predictor for losing ≥3 teeth, OR 2.9 (p <.001) in the final model. Conclusions: Periodontitis is a risk factor for future tooth loss among older adults. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Objectives: Maintaining good cognitive function with aging may be aided by technology such as computers, tablets, and their applications. Little research so far has investigated whether internet use helps to maintain cognitive function over time.Design: Two population-based studies with a longitudinal design from 2001/2003 (T1) to 2007/2010 (T2).Setting: Sweden and the Netherlands.Participants: Older adults aged 66 years and above from the Swedish National Study on Ageing and Care (N = 2,564) and from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (N = 683).Measurements: Internet use was self-reported. Using the scores from the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) from T1 and T2, both a difference score and a significant change index was calculated. Linear and logistic regression analysis were performed with difference score and significant change index, respectively, as the dependent variable and internet use as the independent variable, and adjusted for sex, education, age, living situation, and functional limitations. Using a meta-analytic approach, summary coefficients were calculated across both studies.Results: Internet use at baseline was 26.4% in Sweden and 13.3% in the Netherlands. Significant cognitive decline over six years amounted to 9.2% in Sweden and 17.0% in the Netherlands. Considering the difference score, the summary linear regression coefficient for internet use was-0.32 (95% CI:-0.62,-0.02). Considering the significant change index, the summary odds ratio for internet use was 0.54 (95% CI: 0.37, 0.78).Conclusions: The results suggest that internet use might play a role in maintaining cognitive functioning. Further research into the specific activities that older adults are doing on the internet may shine light on this issue. © 2019 International Psychogeriatric Association.

Aim: To study the prevalence and cumulative incidence of arrhythmias in the general population of adults aged 60 and older over a 6-year period. Study Design and Setting: Data were taken from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC), a national, longitudinal, multidisciplinary study of the general elderly population (defined as 60 years of age or older). A 12-lead resting electrocardiography (ECG) was performed at baseline and 6-year follow-up. Results: The baseline prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) was 4.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = [4.5%, 5.5%]), and other arrhythmias including ventricular premature complexes (VPCs), supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), and supraventricular extrasystole (SVES) were seen in 8.4% (7.7%, 9.0%) of the population. A first- or second-degree atrioventricular (AV) block was found in 7.1% of the population (95% CI = [6.5%, 7.7%]), and there were no significant differences between men and women in baseline arrhythmia prevalence. The 6-year cumulative incidence of AF was 4.1% (95% CI = [3.5%, 4.9%]), or 6.9/1,000 person-years (py; 95% CI = [5.7, 8.0]). The incidence of AF, other arrhythmias, AV block, and pacemaker-induced rhythm was significantly higher in men in all cohorts except for the oldest. Conclusion: Our data highlight the prevalence and incidence of arrhythmias, which rapidly increase with advancing age in the general population.

Background: The ZOE-50 (NCT01165177) and ZOE-70 (NCT01165229) phase 3 clinical trials showed that the adjuvanted recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) was ≥90% efficacious in preventing herpes zoster in adults. Here we present a comprehensive overview of the safety data from these studies. Methods: Adults aged ≥50 (ZOE-50) and ≥70 (ZOE-70) years were randomly vaccinated with RZV or placebo. Safety analyses were performed on the pooled total vaccinated cohort, consisting of participants receiving at least one dose of RZV or placebo. Solicited and unsolicited adverse events (AEs) were collected for 7 and 30 days after each vaccination, respectively. Serious AEs (SAEs) were collected from the first vaccination until 12 months post-last dose. Fatal AEs, vaccination-related SAEs, and potential immune-mediated diseases (pIMDs) were collected during the entire study period. Results: Safety was evaluated in 14,645 RZV and 14,660 placebo recipients. More RZV than placebo recipients reported unsolicited AEs (50.5% versus 32.0%); the difference was driven by transient injection site and solicited systemic reactions that were generally seen in the first week post-vaccination. The occurrence of overall SAEs (RZV: 10.1%; Placebo: 10.4%), fatal AEs (RZV: 4.3%; Placebo: 4.6%), and pIMDs (RZV: 1.2%; Placebo: 1.4%) was balanced between groups. The occurrence of possible exacerbations of pIMDs was rare and similar between groups. Overall, except for the expected local and systemic symptoms, the safety results were comparable between the RZV and Placebo groups irrespective of participant age, gender, or race. Conclusions: No safety concerns arose, supporting the favorable benefit-risk profile of RZV. © 2019 GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA

Background: Many countries are witnessing a trend of growth in the number and proportion of older adults within the total population. In Europe, population aging has had and will continue to have major social and economic consequences. This is a fundamentally positive development where the added life span is of great benefit for both the individual and the society. Yet, the risk for the individual to contract noncommunicable diseases and disability increases with age. This may adversely affect the individual's ability to live his or her life in the way that is desired. Cognitive conditions constitute a group of chronic diseases that predominantly affects older people. Recent technology advancements can help support the day-to-day living activities at home for people with cognitive impairments. Objective: A digital platform (Support Monitoring and Reminder for Mild Dementia; SMART4MD) is created to improve or maintain the quality of life for people with mild cognitive impairment (PwMCI) and their carers. The platform will provide reminders, information, and memory support in everyday life, with the purpose of giving structure and lowering stress. In the trial, we will include participants with a diagnosed neurocognitive disorder as well as persons with an undiagnosed subjective memory problem and cognitive impairment, that is, 20 to 28 points on the Mini-Mental State Examination. Methods: A pragmatic, multicenter RCT is being conducted in Spain, Sweden, and Belgium. The targets for recruitment are 1200 dyads-split into an intervention group and a control group that are in usual care. Intervention group participants will be provided with a data-enabled computer tablet with the SMART4MD app. Its core functionalities, intended to be used daily at home, are based on reminders, cognitive supporting activities, and sharing health information. Results: Inclusion of participants started in December 2017, and recruitment is expected to end in February 2019. Furthermore, there will be 3 follow-up visits at 6, 12, and 18 months after the baseline visit. Conclusions: This RCT is expected to offer benefits at several levels including in-depth knowledge of the possibilities of introducing a holistic multilayered information and communication technology solution for this group. SMART4MD has been developed in a process involving the structured participation of PwMCI, their informal carers, and clinicians. The adoption of SMART4MD faces the challenge of this age group's relative unfamiliarity with digital devices and services. However, this challenge can also be an opportunity for developing a digital device tailored to a group at risk of digital exclusion. This research responds to the wider call for the development of digital devices which are accessible and affordable to older people and this full scale RCT can hopefully serve as a model for further studies in this field.

There are associations between pain, comorbidity and risk of falling, and falling increases the risk of mortality in older persons, but few studies have investigated the development of pain as a result of impaired physical function. The aim of this study was to examine possible associations between weak physical performance and the development of musculoskeletal pain that interferes with normal life in a sample of older adults. The sample derived from a national, longitudinal multicenter study; the Swedish National Study on Ageing and Care; SNAC-B. The participants (n = 490) were between 60 and 78 years at the baseline examinations. Three variables were chosen for the exposure physical function, from the baseline examinations; One Leg Stand, Grip strength and Sit-to-Stand. The outcome musculoskeletal pain that interferes with normal life was measured using EQ5D and SF-12 6 years later, and logistic regression was used to investigate possible associations between the exposures and the outcome. Maximum grip strength (Grippit) was inversely associated with musculoskeletal pain that interferes with normal life (OR 2.31; 95% CI 1.15-4.61), and One-Leg Stand and Sit-to-Stand were not associated with the development of pain (OR 1.30; 95% CI 0.64-2.64) and (OR 0.91; 95% CI 0.45-1.86), respectively. Weak grip strength was inversely associated with the development of musculoskeletal pain that interferes with normal life in older adults. Impaired proprioceptive function, strength and mobility in elderly with pain have been found in earlier research. Since pain increases the risk of falling, it is important to investigate if it may develop as a function of an impaired physical function. The results of the present study could be of importance for future prevention programs aiming to protect elderly from falling. © 2019 Scandinavian Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. All rights reserved.