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Background Population ageing is a global challenge and understanding the dynamics of living arrangements in later life and their implications for the design of appropriate housing and long-term care is a critical policy issue. Existing research has focused on the study of transitions into residential care in the UK. This paper investigates transitions into sheltered accommodation among older people in England and Wales between 1993 and 2008. Methods The study uses longitudinal data constructed from pooled observations across waves 2-18 of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data, focusing on individuals aged 65 and over who lived in private housing at baseline and who were observed for two consecutive time points. A discrete-time logistic regression model was used to examine the association of transitioning into sheltered accommodation with a range of demographic, health and socioeconomic predictors. Results Demographic (age, region), socioeconomic factors (housing tenure, having a washing machine) and contact with health professionals (number of visits to the general practitioner, start in use of health visitor) were significant determinants of an older person's move into sheltered accommodation. Conclusions Transitions into sheltered accommodation are associated with a range of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as service use but not with health. Such results indicate that this type of housing option may be accessible by individuals with relatively good health, but may be limited to those who are referred by gatekeepers. Policymakers could consider making such housing option available to everyone, as well as providing incentives for building lifecourse-sensitive housing in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ageing in place has been promoted by policy makers as the optimal residential solution for later life, premised on older people's reluctance to contemplate relocation, their declining residential mobility and high levels of residential satisfaction. This paper takes a critical perspective to the notion of ageing in place by examining older people's dislikes about, rather than levels of satisfaction with their home and neighbourhood environments, and establishing whether such dislikes influence a desire to move. Analysis of the 2004 Living in Wales Survey shows that despite high levels of residential satisfaction, a significant proportion of older people do wish to move. Logistic regression results indicate this desire is strongly associated with dislikes about their immediate home environment, more than neighbourhood factors. Contemplating a move in later life may be shaped more by a desire to ‘attach’ to people, than to remain in situ to preserve an attachment to place. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study identifies specific target areas (health, healthcare, home stability, food stability, and caregiving status) for serving middle-aged and older military veterans in Alabama. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) conducted a survey of Alabama military veterans (n = 556) in 2018 related to health issues, healthcare utilization, home stability, food stability, and caregiving status. The most prevalent health issue among Alabama veterans was high blood pressure (55.36%), followed by diabetes (30.88%), heart disease (16.49%), and cancer (14.27%). Results showed that 11.06% of veterans used mental health services in the last 12 months. While less than 5% of veterans reported hunger risk, 20.09% of veterans experienced housing instability in the last 12 months, and 9.94% of veterans reported being a caregiver. Veteran support organizations could help the veteran population by addressing health, healthcare, home and food stability, and caregiving issues. Implications and suggested interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of use of hearing aids by older adults in Chile and the influence of some variables such as education level, income level and geographic area of residence on the prevalence of hearing aids.Design:A national cross-sectional survey which was carried out in 2009.Study sample: A representative sample of 4766 Chilean older adults aged 60 years and above.Results: The percentage of older adults in Chile who self-reported hearing problems and used hearing aids was 8.9%. Such prevalence increased for adults living in urban areas and for those who knew about the new Chilean programme of universal access to health services (AUGE). For older adults who did not know about this programme, significant associations between the use of hearing aids and the variables of age, geographic area of residence, and income level were found.Conclusions: People’s knowledge about AUGE programme may positively influence the use of hearing aids, although a direct effect cannot be attributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Active ageing is a key to healthy ageing; shopping behaviour is an economically relevant activity of the elderly. Methods Analysis was based on the NAHSIT 1999-2000 dataset. A total of 1841 representative free-living elderly Taiwanese people were selected and information included demographics, socioeconomic status, health behaviours, shopping frequencies, physical function and cognitive function. These data were linked to official death records. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate shopping frequency on death from 1999-2008 with possible covariate adjustment. Results Highly frequent shopping compared to never or rarely predicted survival (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.67) with adjustment for physical function and cognitive function and other covariates HR was 0.73 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.93). Elderly who shopped every day have 27% less risk of death than the least frequent shoppers. Men benefited more from everyday shopping than women with decreased HR 28% versus 23% compared to the least. Conclusion Shopping behaviour favourably predicts survival. Highly frequent shopping may favour men more than women. Shopping captures several dimensions of personal well-being, health and security as well as contributing to the community's cohesiveness and economy and may represent or actually confer increased longevity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]