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Purpose. To investigate the relationship between duration and intensity of physical activity and disability 10 years later, and to investigate the possible effect of selective mortality.Method. Longitudinal data of 560 men aged 70-89 years, without disability at baseline from the Finland, Italy and The Netherlands Elderly (FINE) Study was used. Physical activity in 1990 was based on activities like walking, bicycling and gardening. Disability severity (three categories) in 1990 and 2000 was based on instrumental activities, mobility and basic activities of daily living.Results. Men in the highest tertile of total physical activity had a lower risk of disability than men in the lowest tertile (odds ratio (OR) 0.46; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.26-0.84). This was due to duration of physical activity (OR highest tertile 0.42; 95% CI: 0.23-0.78 compared to the lowest tertile). Intensity of physical activity was not associated with disability. Addition of deceased men as fourth category leaded to weaker associations between physical activity and disability (OR highest tertile 0.67; 95% CI: 0.44-1.02).Conclusions. Even in old age among relatively healthy men, a physically active lifestyle was inversely related to disability. To prevent disability duration of physical activity seems to be more important than intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Differences in respondent characteristics may lead to bias in prevalence estimates and bias in associations. Both forms of non-response bias are investigated in a study on psychosocial factors and cancer risk, which is a sub-study of a large-scale monitoring survey in the Netherlands.Methods: Respondents of a cross-sectional monitoring project (MORGEN; N = 22,769) were also asked to participate in a prospective study on psychosocial factors and cancer risk (HLEQ; N = 12,097). To investigate diverse aspects of non-response in the HLEQ on prevalence estimates and associations are studied, based on information gathered in the MORGEN-project.Results: A response percentage of 45% was obtained in the MORGEN-project. Response rates were found to be lower among men and younger people. The HLEQ showed a response percentage of 56%, and respondents reported higher socioeconomic status, better subjective health and healthier lifestyle behaviors than non-respondents. However, associations between smoking status and either socioeconomic status or subjective health based on respondents only were not statistically different from those based on the entire MORGEN-population.Conclusion: Non-response leads to bias in prevalence estimates of current smoking, current alcohol intake, and low physical activity or poor subjective health. However, non-response did not cause bias in the examined associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Good and changing mental health patterns are more common than poor mental health in a sample of Dutch adults followed over 20 years. • Changing and poor mental health patterns are associated with long-term unhealthy patterns of smoking and sleep. • Understanding the mechanisms and the directions of associations between long-term mental health and lifestyle patterns could help devise better interventions to improve mental health. We explored the prevalence of individual mental health patterns and the role of lifestyle factors over 20 years. We used data from the Doetinchem Cohort Study (1995–2019), a population-based study amongst adults (26–90 years) examined every five years in the Netherlands. Participants were classified in five pre-defined mental health patterns (persistent good, persistent poor, worsening, improving, varying) over 20 years (five rounds) using the MHI-5 questionnaire. BMI, sleep, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity were dichotomised as healthy/unhealthy based on guidelines. The role of lifestyle at baseline (t1), 20 years later (t5), and longitudinally over 20 years (using pre-defined patterns) was explored using logistic regression. Most participants had good mental health at t1 (85 %) and t5 (88 %). Over 20 years, 67 % followed a persistent good mental health pattern, 30 % a changing pattern, and 3 % a persistent poor pattern. Persistent poor and changing patterns were associated with unhealthy sleep and smoking at t1, t5, and with the 20-year unhealthy patterns. Persistent poor mental health was associated with stable unhealthy and changing sleep (OR=5.58(2.48–12.54) and OR=2.07(1.14–3.74), respectively), and with stable unhealthy and changing smoking (OR=3.35(1.58–7.11) and OR=2.53(1.40–4.57), respectively). Changing mental health was associated with changing (OR=1.54(1.26–1.88) and OR=1.64(1.30–2.07), respectively) and stable unhealthy (OR=1.80(1.23–2.64) and OR=2.24(1.60–3.14), respectively) sleep and smoking, respectively. Persistent good and changing mental health patterns were more common than poor mental health in adults and were associated with smoking and sleep. Clarifying the underlying mechanisms and directionality between mental health and lifestyle could improve interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of 11,428 women aged 20-59 years who were included in a postal questionnaire survey in the Dutch general population. OBJECTIVE: To examine how hormonal and reproductive factors are associated with chronic low back pain (LBP) and chronic upper extremity pain (UEP) in women. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Although LBP is suggested to be linked to hormonal and reproductive factors in women, results from previous studies are inconclusive. In addition, the association with chronic UEP is unknown. METHODS: Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine associations between hormonal and reproductive factors (independent variables) and, respectively, chronic LBP, chronic UEP and combined chronic LBP/UEP. Associations were adjusted for age, level of education, working status, smoking, and overweight. RESULTS: Past pregnancy, young maternal age at first birth, duration of oral contraceptive use, and use of estrogens during menopause were associated with chronic LBP, while young age at menarche was associated with chronic UEP. Irregular or prolonged menstruation and hysterectomy were associated both with chronic LBP and chronic UEP. No positive associations were found for current pregnancy and number of children. CONCLUSIONS: In adult women, hormonal and reproductive factors are associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain in general. Factors related to increased estrogen levels may specifically increase the risk of chronic LBP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]