What Makes for Healthy Ageing in the Torres Strait?
Chenoa Wapau, Malcolm McDonald, Fintan Thompson and 6 others
PMID 40052642WHAT IT FOUND
In 249 Torres Strait adults aged 40 years and over, absence of stroke was the most consistent factor linked to higher healthy ageing scores.
Fewer vascular risk factors were also linked to higher scores, while polypharmacy was linked to lower scores.
Key findings
01In 249 participants with complete index data, absence of stroke was the most consistent factor associated with healthy ageing in adjusted analyses.
02Polypharmacy was more common in the lowest healthy ageing category than the highest category (72.5% vs 38.8%; p=0.001).
03Among 80 people aged 70 years and over, 35 (43.8%) scored 7 to 8 and 22 (27.5%) scored 9 to 10 on the index.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis used survey data collected for a different purpose, so bias and confounding are possible. The healthy ageing index was not formally validated, and face validity had not yet been checked with the Knowledge Circle. Important information was missing, including cardiac disease, atrial fibrillation, hypertension control, cancer and diet. The sample was small and overrepresented by female participants, and the variables did not cover broader social, economic or cultural factors. Alcohol data were hard to interpret because few participants reported drinking.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the associations with absence of stroke, fewer vascular risk factors and polypharmacy as proof that changing these factors causes healthy ageing. This was a retrospective analysis of survey data, and the index was not formally validated.