Geriatric Lifestyle and Mental Health Research (GLiMHeR)

The research group is led by Associate Professor, MD, Mattias Damberg, and it focuses on the lifestyle and mental health of the elderly. There are several ongoing projects, with four PhD students and two postdocs involved in the research.

Details

  • Funder: Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare,Sjukvårdsregionala forskningsrådet Mellansverige

DepActive

Depression in older adults is associated with reduced quality of life and reduced functional ability and increases the risk for morbidity, especially cardiovascular disease and neurocognitive disorders , and mortality. A study conducted in Swedish primary care involving participants 60 years and older showed a depression prevalence of 15 %. There is a need for effective treatments suitable for primary care that are scalable, cost-effective, easy to implement within existing resources, and preferably also deliverable by remote. One established treatment for depression is Behavioural Activation, a brief psychological intervention focusing on increasing engagement in adaptive activities and decreasing engagement in activities that maintain depression or increase risk for depression. In 2020, we conducted a pilot randomised clinical trial testing the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a telephone-delivered brief behavioural activation intervention for older adults with depression who were living in isolation due to the covid-19 pandemic restrictions (Pellas et al., 2022-1). The intervention condition showed in significant decrease in depressive symptoms compared to the control condition. Also, decreases in depressive symptoms were observed for up to 6 months post-intervention (Pellas et al., 2022-2). We now wish to build upon the pilot trial and conduct a randomized controlled multicenter study in primary care (DepActive) in which primary care centers in Region Uppsala, Region Västmanland and Region Sörmland participates. Furthermore, there is also a need for diagnostic tools to aid in the identification and assessment of depression in older adults. In DepActive we analyse if using depression questionnaires may increase the depression detection rate and thereby increase the number of people with depression receiving treatment. The Geriatric Depression Scale 15 (GDS-15) is a rating scale for depression in older adults, with excellent diagnostic accuracy in international studies. We have previously studied the GDS-15 in a Swedish community sample (Pellas & Damberg, 2021), but there is a need for studies on the diagnostic accuracy in Swedish primary care.

Principal Investigator: Associate Professor Mattias Damberg

WICTORY - Westmannia Cardiovascular Risk Factors Study

WICTORY was a large-scale screening program directed to the middle-aged population in the county of Västmanland, Sweden, launched in 1990. The data base includes data from health examinations conducted in Västmanland between 1990 -1999. During this 10-year period, all inhabitants in Västmanland were invited to a health examination the year they turned 40 or 50 years old. 34,269 people participated in the health screening, which corresponds to a participation rate of approximately 60%. During the health examination, the participants provided blood samples (blood glucose and total cholesterol), undertook a clinical examination (weight, height, blood pressure ,waist and hip circumference) and answered a questionnaire regarding current lifestyle habits, socio-economic factors and previous cardiovascular disease/diabetes mellitus. Several studies have been published with starting point from WICTORY, foremost with a focus on disease development linked to how the presence of metabolic risk factors in middle age affects future morbidity and mortality.

Principal Investigator: Professor Abbas Chabok, Center for Clinical Research, Region Västmanland

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