Frailty is one of the greatest challenges facing our aging population, as it can lead to adverse outcomes such as institutionalization, hospitalization, and mortality. However, the factors that are ...associated with frailty are poorly understood. We performed a systematic review of longitudinal studies in order to identify the sociodemographic, physical, biological, lifestyle-related, and psychological risk or protective factors that are associated with frailty among community-dwelling older adults.
A systematic literature search was conducted in the following databases in order to identify studies that assessed the factors associated with of frailty among community-dwelling older adults: Embase, Medline Ovid, Web of Science, Cochrane, PsychINFO Ovid, CINAHL EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar. Studies were selected if they included a longitudinal design, focused on community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years and older, and used a tool to assess frailty. The methodological quality of each study was assessed using the Quality of Reporting of Observational Longitudinal Research checklist.
Twenty-three studies were included. Significant associations were reported between the following types of factors and frailty: sociodemographic factors (7/7 studies), physical factors (5/6 studies), biological factors (5/7 studies), lifestyle factors (11/13 studies), and psychological factors (7/8 studies). Significant sociodemographic factors included older age, ethnic background, neighborhood, and access to private insurance or Medicare; significant physical factors included obesity and activities of daily living (ADL) functional status; significant biological factors included serum uric acid; significant lifestyle factors included a higher Diet Quality Index International (DQI) score, higher fruit/vegetable consumption and higher tertile of all measures of habitual dietary resveratrol exposure; significant psychological factors included depressive symptoms.
A broad range of sociodemographic, physical, biological, lifestyle, and psychological factors show a longitudinal association with frailty. These factors should be considered when developing interventions aimed at preventing and/or reducing the burden associated with frailty among community-dwelling older adults.
Health behaviours (physical activity, maintenance of a healthy diet and not smoking) are known to be beneficial to the health and well-being of chronically ill people. With China's ageing population ...and increased prevalence of people with chronic diseases, the improvement of unhealthy behaviours in this population has become crucial. Although recent studies have highlighted the importance of social participation for health and quality of life (QoL) among older people, no study to date has included social participation along with more traditional health behaviours. Therefore, this study aimed to identify associations of multiple health behaviours (social participation, physical activity, maintenance of a healthy diet and not smoking) with health and QoL outcomes (including cognitive and physical function) among chronically ill older adults in China.
For this nationally representative cross-sectional study, wave 1 data from the World Health Organization's Study on global AGEing and adult health (China) were examined. In total, 6629 community-dwelling older adults (mean age, 64.9 years) with at least one chronic disease were included. Multivariate linear regression analyses were used to evaluate associations of health behaviours with health and QoL outcomes while controlling for background characteristics.
Greater social participation was associated with better QoL β = 0.127, standard error (SE) = 0.002, p < 0.001, cognitive function (β = 0.154, SE = 0.033, p < 0.001) and physical function (β = - 0.102, SE = 0.008, p < 0.001). Physical activity was associated with better QoL (β = 0.091, SE = 0.015, p < 0.001) and physical function (β = - 0.155, SE = 0.062, p < 0.001). Sufficient fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with better QoL (β = 0.087, SE = 0.015, p < 0.001).
Our findings suggest that social participation is an important health behaviour for quality of life and cognitive function among chronically ill older people in China. Health promotion programmes should expand their focus to include social participation as a health behaviour, in addition to physical activity, maintenance of a healthy diet and not smoking.
Objective
To examine the associations between multiple health behaviours and health outcomes among older Chinese adults.
Methods
Data from the World Health Organization’s Study on global AGEing and ...adult health Wave 1 (2007–2010), collected among the older Chinese population, were included in this study. Smoking, diet, and physical activity were analysed by linear regression for any associations with depressive symptoms, quality of life (QoL), cognitive function, and physical function.
Results
A total of 13 367 participants aged >49 years were included in the analyses. After controlling for key socioeconomic factors, healthy diet was significantly associated with higher QoL (β = 0.099) and better cognitive function (β = 0.023). Physical activity was significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms (β = –0.020), higher QoL (β = 0.086), better cognitive function (β = 0.072), and better physical function (β = –0.155 higher scores = poorer physical function). No relationship was found between smoking and any health-related outcome included in this study.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates the importance of healthy diet and physical activity for health outcomes in the older Chinese population.
The vital role of active social participation in older people’s lives is widely acknowledged. The maintenance of adequate levels of social participation is an essential element of successful aging. ...Low income may inhibit older people from engaging in social activities. Given its recent rapid economic growth, China provides a unique setting for the study of changes in income and social participation among older people over time. In this study, the longitudinal relationship between income and social participation among Chinese older people was investigated using a nationally representative dataset from three waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). At baseline, a total of 3863 participants with a mean age of 60.4 years (range: 50-89) were included in our study; 49.9% of the participants were female, and 64.4% lived in rural areas. Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze the longitudinal relationship between income and social participation, with and without adjustment for background variables (age, gender, marital status, educational level, empty-nest status, area of residence, and multimorbidity). The results of unadjusted and adjusted analyses clearly showed a longitudinal association between income and social participation. People from the highest income group were almost two times more likely to participate in social activities than were those from the lowest income group. People with a higher educational level are also more likely to participate in social activities compared to people with a lower educational level. Being married and living with children decreased the odds of social participation. Social participation is also less likely among older aged and those living in rural areas. Our findings indicate that higher income levels are associated positively with social participation over time among older people in China.
•Higher income is associated with social participation over time.•Social participation is less likely among older aged and those living in rural areas.•Social participation is less likely among those living with a spouse and/or child.•Social participation is more likely among higher educated people.
Dementia has been increasingly paid attention by policymakers in China. However, the majority of the public has an indistinct concept of dementia and its diagnostic criteria. Therefore, many abnormal ...characteristics and actions of older people are labeled as having dementia while diagnosed without dementia. We examined a multi-stage cluster sample of 11,223 participants aged 60 years and above who have been clinically confirmed by general practitioners as not having dementia in 2013, and 7,861 participants were willing to participate the following study and were followed-up in 2014. To assess the differences of status of older people who were mistakenly labeled as having dementia or not, we asked main caregivers ‘Do you think this older person suffers from dementia?’, and found out that 244 participants had been mistakenly labeled as having dementia since 2013. Related effects were measured using international generic scales as well, and the results showed that participants with better physical status deteriorated more rapidly if they were mistakenly labeled as having dementia. Additionally, the mental health of these 244 participants also deteriorated more quickly. Older adults that were not labeled as having dementia were more willing to participate in social activities relative to their labeled counterparts. In conclusion, being mistakenly labeled as having dementia without a medical diagnosis impaired older adults’ physical functioning and mental health. Moreover, the reduction of social activities of labeled older people leads to separation and social exclusion.
In the community of automotive millimeter wave radar, the recently developed concept of four-dimensional (4D) radar can provide high-resolution point clouds image with enhanced imaging performance. ...Currently, the density of point clouds for single-frame image is usually too sparse to satisfy the demands of target classification and recognition due to the limitation of Doppler and angle resolutions. To address the aforementioned issues, a novel algorithm is proposed for 4D high-resolution imagery generation of point clouds with extremely high Doppler and angle resolutions in this paper. For high Doppler resolution with high-dynamic, a novel velocity ambiguity resolution algorithm is proposed using a dual pulse repetition frequency (dual-PRF) waveform design embedded in an innovative time-division multiplexing & Doppler-division multiplexing MIMO (TDM-DDM-MIMO) framework. Meanwhile, an attractive complex-valued deep convolutional network (CV-DCN) of super-resolution direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation is proposed only using single-frame data. To be specific, a spatial smoothing operator on array data is applied as input of the network, and a CV-DCN is designed to learn the transformation of the spatial spectrum from the end-to-end to effectively protect the spectrum extraction. Furthermore, experimental analysis is performed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed super-resolution DOA estimation algorithm. Finally, the 4D high-resolution imagery of point clouds is obtained by experiments in the parking lot.
When designing a valuation study, a criterion that has been used for selecting health states for direct valuation is whether the health states are plausible for respondents, because it is assumed ...that inclusion of implausible states would compromise data quality.
To understand which health states are implausible, and how their values differ from the values of the plausible counterparts.
One thousand six hundred Chinese students valued all 3125 health states of the 5-level EuroQol 5-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) using the EuroQol visual analogue scale. Of these, 890 students also indicated whether each valued state was implausible or not using a binary scale. Additional qualitative interviews were conducted concerning the thought processes involved in the valuation of implausible states. We calculated an implausible score for each state. Then we examined the effect of implausibility on visual analogue scale values by fitting 2 regression models. Two independent researchers analyzed the qualitative transcripts using thematic analysis.
Approximately 30% of the EQ-5D-5L health states were rated as implausible by at least 50% of the respondents, but there was substantial heterogeneity in views about the plausibility of EQ-5D-5L states. Health states with dimensions that conflicted were more likely to be judged as implausible states. Health states that respondents deemed as implausible were more difficult to value and had lower values.
When respondents found the EQ-5D states to be implausible, they tended to give them lower values. Nevertheless, completely excluding implausible states from a valuation study is not possible because there is a lack of agreement among respondents on which states are implausible.
•This is the first study to examine the existence and the effect of so-called implausible health states in a valuation study.•Using a large student sample, we quantified the likeliness of a health state being implausible for all 3125 health states of the 5-level EuroQol 5-dimensional questionnaire.•Characteristics of the implausible states and the effect of such states on elicited values were examined using quantitative and qualitative methods.
Background: An understanding of factors associated with health behaviours is critical for the design of appropriate health promotion programmes. Important influences of social cohesion, education, ...and income on people’s health behaviours have been recognised in Western countries. However, little is known about these influences in the older Chinese population. Objective: To investigate associations of social cohesion and socioeconomic status (SES) with health behaviours among middle-aged and older adults in China. Methods: We used data from the World Health Organization’s Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health. Logistic regression and multivariate linear regression were performed. Results: Participants who reported greater social cohesion were more likely to have adequate vegetable and fruit (VF) consumption, be socially active, and less likely to smoke daily, but were not physically more active; participants with lower education levels were less likely to have adequate VF consumption and be socially active, and more likely to smoke daily; higher incomes were associated with decreased odds of daily smoking, increased odds of adequate VF consumption, increased likelihood to be socially active, but also less likelihood to have sufficient physical activity (PA). Associations of social cohesion and SES with health behaviours (smoking, PA, and VF consumption) differed between men and women. Discussion: Our findings are an essential step toward a fuller understanding of the roles of social cohesion and SES in protecting healthy behaviours among older adults.
Against the background of the growing recognition of the need for a holistic perspective on health behaviour, we aim to identify longitudinal patterns of multiple health behaviours, and to assess ...associations of such patterns with depressive symptoms among older people in China.
Using three waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study data (n = 8439), we performed latent class growth analyses (LCGAs) to identify longitudinal patterns of multiple health behaviours. Random-effects models were estimated to assess associations between health behaviour patterns and depressive symptoms.
The best fitting LCGA model had seven classes: (1) connected active non-smokers (average posterior probability: 21.8%), (2) isolated active non-smokers (24.7%), (3) isolated inactive non-smokers (17.0%), (4) isolated active smokers (14.5%), (5) connected active smokers (12.2%), (6) increasingly connected and active non-smokers (5.4%), and (7) moderately connected inactive smokers (4.4%). Depressive symptoms were highest in the four classes with lower probabilities of social participation across waves. No evidence was found of change over time in depressive symptomatology gaps between people with different health behaviour trajectories.
Health behaviour patterns characterized by consistently low social participation were associated with raised depressive symptomatology, suggesting that focusing on social participation may benefit later-life mental health promotion strategies.
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