ArticlePloS one2015
Population Aging at Cross-Roads: Diverging Secular Trends in Average Cognitive Functioning and Physical Health in the Older Population of Germany.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Consequences of Population Ageing on Health Systems: A Conceptual Framework for Policy and Practice.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Twenty-year trends in cognitive performance and modifiable dementia risk factors: a Swiss population-based study.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Temporal Trends in Handgrip Strength and Associated Factors among Korean Adults from 2014 to 2019: Analysis of Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data.Clinics in orthopedic surgery · 2025Article
- Trajectories of physical, mental health and health satisfaction before and after arthritis diagnosis: a UK population-based study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Exploring Health Trends Prior to State Pension Age for The Netherlands up to 2040.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Live longer, retire later? Developments of healthy life expectancies and working life expectancies between age 50-59 and age 60-69 in Europe.European journal of ageing · 2022Article
- Differences in Cognitive Functioning in Two Birth Cohorts Born 20 Years Apart: Data from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Ageing.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Trends in Cognitive Function Among Chinese Elderly From 1998 to 2018: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- Trends in working conditions and health across three cohorts of older workers in 1993, 2003 and 2013: a cross-sequential study.BMC public health · 2019Article
- The recent secular trend in grip strength among older adults: findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.European geriatric medicine · 2019Article
- Temporal trends in impairments of physical function among older adults during 2001-16 in Sweden: towards a healthier ageing.Age and ageing · 2018Article
- Secular Trends in Cognitive Performance in Older Black and White U.S. Adults, 1993-2012: Findings From the Chicago Health and Aging Project.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2018Article
- Do Effort and Reward at Work Predict Changes in Cognitive Function? First Longitudinal Results from the Representative German Socio-Economic Panel.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2017Article
- Patterns of uptake of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targetedAnnals of nuclear medicine · 2017Article
- EQ-5D-5L in the General German Population: Comparison and Evaluation of Three Yearly Cross-Section Surveys.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2016Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This paper uses individual-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to model trends in population health in terms of cognition, physical fitness, and mental health between 2006 and 2012. The focus is on the population aged 50-90. We use a repeated population-based cross-sectional design. As outcome measures, we use SF-12 measures of physical and mental health and the Symbol-Digit Test (SDT) that captures cognitive processing speed. In line with previous research we find a highly significant Flynn effect on cognition; i.e., SDT scores are higher among those who were tested more recently (at the same age). This result holds for men and women, all age groups, and across all levels of education. While we observe a secular improvement in terms of cognitive functioning, at the same time, average physical and mental health has declined. The decline in average physical health is shown to be stronger for men than for women and found to be strongest for low-educated, young-old men aged 50-64: the decline over the 6-year interval in average physical health is estimated to amount to about 0.37 SD, whereas average fluid cognition improved by about 0.29 SD. This pattern of results at the population-level (trends in average population health) stands in interesting contrast to the positive association of physical health and cognitive functioning at the individual-level. The findings underscore the multi-dimensionality of health and the aging process.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.