This systematic review aimed to synthesise qualitative evidence on the views and experiences of older adults in using digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) for the prevention or self-management of mental disorders. We searched PubMed, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and the first 100results of Google Scholar for eligible studies and we included 37papers reporting 35studies in this Review. Most DMHIs were delivered using mobile apps (n=11), websites (n=6), and video-conferencing tools (n=6). The use ofDMHIs in older adults was affected by negative perceptions about ageing and mental health, the digital divide(eg,insufficient digital literacy), personal factors (eg,motivation) and health status, interpersonal influences (eg,guidance and encouragement), intervention features (eg, pace and content), technology-related factors (eg,accessibility), and the perceived benefits and risks of using DMHIs. Future DMHIs for older adults should involve other stakeholders such as health-care professionals, provide content relevant to the needs of older people, be more accessible, and address concerns about privacy and confidentiality.

Deprescribing of antihypertensive medications is recommended for some older patients with low blood pressure and frailty. The OPTiMISE trial showed that this deprescribing can be achieved with no differences in blood pressure control at 3months compared with usual care. We aimed to examine effects of deprescribing on longer-term hospitalisation and mortality. This randomised controlled trial enrolled participants from 69general practices across central and southern England. Participants aged 80years or older, with systolic blood pressure less than 150mm Hg and who were receiving two or more antihypertensive medications, were randomly assigned (1:1) to antihypertensive medication reduction (removal of one antihypertensive) or usual care. General practitioners and participants were aware of the treatment allocation following randomisation but individuals responsible for analysing the data were masked to the treatment allocation throughout the study. Participants were followed up via their primary and secondary care electronic health records at least 3years after randomisation. The primary outcome was time to all-cause hospitalisation or mortality. Intention-to-treat analyses were done using Cox regression modelling. A per-protocol analysis of the primary outcome was also done, excluding participants from the intervention group who did not reduce treatment or who had medication reinstated during the initial trial 12-week follow-up period. This study is registered with the European Union Drug Regulating Authorities Clinical Trials Database (EudraCT2016-004236-38) and the ISRCTN Registry (ISRCTN97503221). Between March 20, 2017, and Sept 30, 2018, a total of 569participants were randomly assigned. Of these, 564(99%; intervention=280; control=284) were followed up for a median of 4·0years (IQR 3·7-4·3). Participants had a mean age of 84·8years (SD 3·4) at baseline and 273 (48%) were women. Medication reduction was sustained in 109participants at follow-up (51% of the 213participants alive in the intervention group). Participants in the intervention group had a larger reduction in antihypertensives than the control group (adjusted mean difference -0·35drugs [95% CI -0·52 to -0·18]). Overall, 202 (72%) participants in the intervention group and 218 (77%) participants in the control group experienced hospitalisation or mortality during follow-up (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0·93 [95% CI 0·76to 1·12]). There was some evidence that the proportion of participants experiencing the primary outcome in the per-protocol population was lower in the intervention group (aHR 0·80 [0·64to 1·00]). Half of participants sustained medication reduction with no evidence of an increase in all-cause hospitalisation or mortality. These findings suggest that an antihypertensive deprescribing intervention might be safe for people aged 80years or older with controlled blood pressure taking two or more antihypertensives. British Heart Foundation and National Institute for Health and Care Research.

The ε4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE4) plays a role in neurodegeneration and in cardiovascular disease, but findings on its association with mortality are inconsistent. We aimed to examine the association between APOE4 and mortality, and the role of dementia in this association. In this pooled analysis, data on White participants aged 45-90 years who underwent APOE genotyping were drawn from two population-based cohorts: the Whitehall II study (UK), which began in 1985 and is ongoing, and the Three-City study (France), initiated in 1999 and ended in 2012. In the Three-City study, vital status was ascertained through linkage to the national registry of death Institut National de la Statistique des Études économiques, and dementia was ascertained via a neuropsychological evaluation and validation of diagnoses by an independent committee of neurologists and geriatricians. In the Whitehall II study, vital status was ascertained through linkage to the UK national mortality register, and dementia cases were ascertained by linkage to three national registers. Participants with prevalent dementia at baseline and participants missing an APOE genotype were excluded from analyses. Cox regression proportional hazard models were used to examine the association of APOE4 with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. The role of dementia in the association between APOE4 status and mortality was examined by excluding participants who developed dementia during follow-up from the analyses. An illness-death model was then used to examine the role of incident dementia in these associations. 14 091 participants (8492 from the Three-City study and 5599 from the Whitehall II study; 6668 [47%] of participants were women and 7423 [53%] were men), with a median follow-up of 15·4 years (IQR 10·6-21·2), were included in the analyses. Of these participants, APOE4 carriers (3264 [23%] of the cohort carried at least one ε4 allele) had a higher risk of all-cause mortality compared with non-carriers, with hazard ratios (HR) of 1·16 (95% CI 1·07-1·26) for heterozygotes and 1·59 (1·24-2·06) for homozygotes. Compared with APOE3 homozygotes, higher cardiovascular mortality was observed in APOE4 carriers, with a HR of 1·23 (1·01-1·50) for heterozygotes, and no association was found between APOE4 and cancer mortality. Excluding cases of incident dementia over the follow-up resulted in attenuated associations with mortality in homozygotes but not in heterozygotes. The illness-death model indicated that the higher mortality risk in APOE4 carriers was not solely attributable to dementia. We found a robust association between APOE4 and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality but not cancer mortality. Dementia explained a significant proportion of the association with all-cause mortality for APOE4 homozygotes, while non-dementia factors, such as cardiovascular disease mortality, are likely to play a role in shaping mortality outcomes in APOE4 heterozygotes. National Institutes of Health. For the French translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.