Australia is an ageing society. The Dubbo Study is a longitudinal community study of senior citizens born before 1930 living in the Dubbo region of central western NSW, investigating patterns and predictors of mortality, hospitalisation and the need for residential care.
Investigators are continuing to explore the biomedical and social dynamics of healthy ageing, service use, and the onset of disability and diseases including cardiovascular diseases and dementia.
Established in 1987, the Dubbo Study is Australia’s first and longest running longitudinal study of healthy ageing, involving 2,805 non-institutionalised Dubbo residents (1,233 men and 1,572 women). Mean age at entry was approximately 70 years.
Main Themes
Study themes include the impact of smoking, diabetes, alcohol intake and cardiovascular disease on survival time; cardiovascular risk; medication; dementia and nursing home placement; post acute care and disability and healthy ageing.
Some Key Findings
- Life expectancy for Australians has increased significantly and evidence is mounting that older people can also increase the quality of later life
- Key threats to quality of life are heart disease, dementia and nursing home admission
- One alcoholic drink per day and/or daily gardening may reduce the risk of dementia by 35 per cent
- Independent predictors of mortality are smoking, diabetes, very high blood pressure, cholesterol imbalances, impaired peak expiratory flow, physical disability, and zero intake of alcohol
- Independent predictors of coronary heart disease or stroke include hypertension, advancing age, LDL cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and impaired peak expiratory flow
- A diagnosis of metabolic syndrome provides additional prediction of coronary heart disease events, stroke and total mortality
- Managing cholesterol and blood pressure in senior citizens has been shown in clinical trials to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke
- People’s general health tends to decline with age. However, their psychological state adjusts to these changes to reach positive levels of well-being even at older ages