Trends over two decades in life expectancy with complex health problems among older Swedes: implications for the provision of integrated health care and social care

Table 1 Sample characteristics and prevalence of severe problems in three health domains 1992, 2002 and 2011

	1992 n = 537	2002 n = 621	2011^a n = 831	p-value^b 1992–2002	p-value^b 1992–2011
Proxy interview	11.7	13.2	17.8	0.414	0.003
Females	60.8	59.3	62.6	0.581	0.528
Institutional care	18.6	22.5	11.7	0.088	0.003
Age range	77–98	77–99	77–101
Mean/median age	82.4/82.0	83.3/83.0	83.4/83.0	0.001^c	< 0.001^c
Multiple severe symptoms/diseases	20.5	32.3	34.2	< 0.001	< 0.001
Severe mobility limitations	19.5	26.0	24.4	0.008	0.048
Poor cognition/ Communication	25.7	33.3	29.8	0.003	0.116
No serious problems in any domain	56.4	41.7	45.1	< 0.001	< 0.001
Serious problems in one domain	25.5	32.1	29.3	0.011	0.146
Serious problems in 2–3 domains	18.1	26.1	25.6	0.001	0.002

Between 2002 and 2011, the prevalence of severe problems did not change significantly in any of the health domains
^a Percentages were weighted for an oversampling (n = 257) of persons aged 85 years or older in the 2011 survey
^b based on chi2 test
^c p-value refers to t-test of mean differences. Data: The Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old 1992, 2002, 2011. Own calculations

ISSN: 1471-2458