The research group at the Dept of Geriatrics has been evolving since the early 1990s and consists of around 30 PhD students and staff involved in projects on geriatric epidemiology, risk factors for chronic diseases in aging and interactions with health and medical care needs. Several projects are conducted in collaboration with various research groups within Lund University. Sölve Elmståhl is the leader of the research group and PI for the population study Gott Åldrande i Skåne with ongoing follow-ups and inclusion of new cohorts and for the EpiHealth cohort (n= 25,000). Method development is ongoing around the handling of big data. Methodological work is included as a development part, especially in the areas of cognition, lung and kidney function and various life satisfaction instruments. A special instrument has been developed and validated to assess the perceived burden of relatives, the Relatives' Scale (CBS), and a geriatric quality register covering the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) SveGer.

The research area of clinical and epidemiological research in cognition aims to study risk factors of reduced cognitive ability particularly vascular mechanisms. Several clinical and longitudinal studies involving mechanisms of autoregulation of cerebral blood flow and blood pressure regulation with imaging methods and neuropsycometric tests. Care taking is studied in family caregivers. The research area function, participation and rehabilitation aims to study interactions and consequences between the three areas, as well as the correlation in physical and cognitive function. The effects of disability and chronic illness on life satisfaction and participation are studied. Analysis’s are being conducted from longitudinal cohort studies such as 1) WHO study ”Men born 1014” (n=703); 2) ”Good Aging in Skåne” (GÅS, n=2 931); 3) ”Malmö Diet and Cancer Study” (MDCS, n=28 098); 4) ”Malmö Intervention study for Dementia ill” (MIND, n=308); 5) ”Lund 80+” (n=333); and also 6) EpiHealth (n=25 104).