scholarly journals EVERYDAY DISCRIMINATION AND KIDNEY FUNCTION AMONG OLDER ADULTS: EVIDENCE FROM THE HEALTH AND RETIREMENT STUDY

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S192-S192
Author(s):  
Ryon J Cobb ◽  
Roland J Thorpe ◽  
Keith C Norris

Abstract Background: The current study examines the cross-sectional association between everyday discrimination and kidney function among older adults. Methods: We use cross-sectional data from a nationally representative sample of older adults to examine this relationship. Our measure of kidney function derives from the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) obtained by the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation, while our indicator of everyday discrimination is drawn from self-reports. Results: Results from our ordinary least squared regression models reveals that, after adjusting for demographic characteristics, everyday discrimination was associated with lower mean eGFR (β=-.79; S.E.: .34). The relationship between everyday discrimination and kidney function was not explained by cardiovascular, metabolic, or economic factors. Conclusions: Findings suggest this study suggest that everyday discrimination may be a unique risk factor for poorer kidney function among older adults. Because these findings are cross-sectional, additional research is needed to determine whether the observed associations persist over time.

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-521
Author(s):  
Ryon J Cobb ◽  
Roland J Thorpe ◽  
Keith C Norris

Abstract Background With advancing age, there is an increase in the time of and number of experiences with psychosocial stressors that may lead to the initiation and/or progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Our study tests whether one type of experience, everyday discrimination, predicts kidney function among middle and older adults. Methods The data were from 10 973 respondents (ages 52–100) in the 2006/2008 Health and Retirement Study, an ongoing biennial nationally representative survey of older adults in the United States. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) derives from the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation. Our indicator of everyday discrimination is drawn from self-reports from respondents. Ordinary Least Squared regression (OLS) models with robust standard errors are applied to test hypotheses regarding the link between everyday discrimination and kidney function. Results Everyday discrimination was associated with poorer kidney function among respondents in our study. Respondents with higher everyday discrimination scores had lower eGFR after adjusting for demographic characteristics (B = −1.35, p < .05), and while attenuated, remained significant (B = −0.79, p < .05) after further adjustments for clinical, health behavior, and socioeconomic covariates. Conclusions Our study suggests everyday discrimination is independently associated with lower eGFR. These findings highlight the importance of psychosocial factors in predicting insufficiency in kidney function among middle-aged and older adults.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystle E Zuniga ◽  
Nicholas J Bishop ◽  
Alexandria S Turner

Abstract Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine the association between dietary lutein and zeaxanthin (L + Z) intake and immediate word recall (IWR) and delayed word recall (DWR), and to identify the major contributors to dietary L + Z intake in a recent and representative sample of the older US population. Design: In this cross-sectional analysis, multivariate path analytic models estimated the association between L + Z consumption and cognitive performance while adjusting for covariates. Setting: Observations were drawn from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel study of older US adults, and the 2013 Health Care and Nutrition Study, which assessed dietary intake via FFQ in a subsample of respondents. Participants: The analytic sample included 6390 respondents aged ≥50 years. Results: L + Z intake was 2·44 ± 2·32 mg/d on average, and L + Z intake differed significantly across quartiles (P < 0·001). For example, average L + Z intake in Q1 was 0·74 ± 0·23 mg/d and in Q4 was 5·46 ± 2·88 mg/d. In covariate adjusted models, older adults in the highest quartiles of L + Z intake had significantly greater IWR and DWR scores than those in the lowest quartile. Leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, dark yellow vegetables, fish and seafood, legumes, eggs and fruit were significant and meaningful predictors of dietary L + Z intake. Conclusion: A high consumption of vegetables, fish and seafood, legumes, eggs and fruit is associated with a higher intake of L + Z and greater word recall among older adults.


Author(s):  
Ryon J Cobb ◽  
Lauren J Parker ◽  
Roland J Thorpe

Abstract Background This study examines the relationship between self-reported instances of major discrimination and inflammation among older adults, and explores whether this relationship varies in accordance with race/ethnicity. We hypothesized that self-reported instances of major discrimination would be associated with higher levels of high-risk inflammation and that this relationship would be stronger for racial/ethnic minorities than whites. Methods Data from the 2006/2008 Health and Retirement Study, an ongoing biennial nationally representative sample of older adults in the United States, were used to collect measures of self-reported instances of major discrimination and high-risk C-reactive protein (CRP), which was assayed from blood samples. Modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors was applied to estimate the prevalence ratios of self-reported instances of major discrimination, as it relates to high-risk CRP (CRP ≥ 22 kg/m2), and test whether this relationship varies by race/ethnicity. Results Respondents who experienced any instances of major discrimination had a higher likelihood of high-risk CRP (prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07–1.22) than those who did not report experiencing any instances of major discrimination. This association was independent of differences in newly diagnosed health conditions and socioeconomic status. The relationship between any self-reported instance of major discrimination and high-risk CRP was weaker for blacks than whites (PR: 0.81, 95% CI = 0.69–0.95). Conclusions Our study confirms that self-reported instances of major lifetime discrimination is a psychosocial factor that is adversely associated with high-risk CRP among older adults; this association is especially pronounced among older whites. Future studies among this population are required to examine whether the relationship between self-reported instances of major discrimination and high-risk CRP changes over time.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S354-S354
Author(s):  
Ryon J Cobb

Abstract The present study considers how race combines with chronological age to shape kidney function among older adults. We analyzed cross-sectional data from a nationally representative study of older adults. Our measure of kidney function derived from the cystatin C-based estimated glomerular filtration rate. We use a pattern variable to divide White and Black respondents into four groups based on their age group membership: early midlife (age 52–59), late midlife (age 60–69), young old (age 70–79), and oldest old (80s+ years). Results from our ordinary least squares models reveal that Blacks and Whites in late midlife, young old, and oldest old exhibited poorer kidney function than Whites in early midlife. Our study uncovers evidence of race by age disparities in kidney function among older adults. Future longitudinal studies will provide further insight into how and why race combines with age to pattern kidney function over time.


2021 ◽  
pp. 106591292110072
Author(s):  
Michael Tesler

This article argues that the unusually large and persistent association between Islamophobia and opposition to President Obama helped make attitudes about Muslims a significant, independent predictor of Americans’ broader partisan preferences. After detailing the theoretical basis for this argument, the article marshals repeated cross-sectional data, two panel surveys, and a nationally representative survey experiment, to test its hypotheses. The results from those analyses show the following: (1) attitudes about Muslims were a significantly stronger independent predictor of voter preferences for congress in 2010–2014 elections than they were in 2004–2008; (2) attitudes about Muslims were a significantly stronger independent predictor of mass partisanship during Obama’s presidency than they were beforehand; and (3) experimentally connecting Obama to Democratic congressional candidates significantly increased the relationship between anti-Muslim sentiments and Americans’ preferences for Republican congressional candidates. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for American politics in the Trump era.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3415
Author(s):  
Hursuong Vongsachang ◽  
Aleksandra Mihailovic ◽  
Jian-Yu E ◽  
David S. Friedman ◽  
Sheila K. West ◽  
...  

Understanding periods of the year associated with higher risk for falling and less physical activity may guide fall prevention and activity promotion for older adults. We examined the relationship between weather and seasons on falls and physical activity in a three-year cohort of older adults with glaucoma. Participants recorded falls information via monthly calendars and participated in four one-week accelerometer trials (baseline and per study year). Across 240 participants, there were 406 falls recorded over 7569 person-months, of which 163 were injurious (40%). In separate multivariable regression models incorporating generalized estimating equations, temperature, precipitation, and seasons were not significantly associated with the odds of falling, average daily steps, or average daily active minutes. However, every 10 °C increase in average daily temperature was associated with 24% higher odds of a fall being injurious, as opposed to non-injurious (p = 0.04). The odds of an injurious fall occurring outdoors, as opposed to indoors, were greater with higher average temperatures (OR per 10 °C = 1.46, p = 0.03) and with the summer season (OR = 2.69 vs. winter, p = 0.03). Falls and physical activity should be understood as year-round issues for older adults, although the likelihood of injury and the location of fall-related injuries may change with warmer season and temperatures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 450-450
Author(s):  
Shu Xu

Abstract The loss of a family member may have a significant influence on one’s aging experience in life. Self-perceptions of aging, which are an individual’s beliefs or evaluation of their experiences of aging, have been described as an important factor for one’s health and daily life. However, there is little research on the association between family death and self-perceptions of aging. This study examines the relationships between recent family death, self-perceptions of aging, and gender of the bereaved among middle-aged and older adults. Using nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we conducted cross-sectional analysis on adults age 50 years and older (n=1,839). Self-perceptions of aging were accessed by 8 items derived from the Attitudes Toward Own Aging subscale of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale and the Berlin Aging Study, and we considered recent family death (i.e., parental death, spousal death, sibling death and child death), as well as gender of the bereaved. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that respondents who experienced recent family death report less positive self-perceptions of aging compared to those who did not experience recent family death (t = 12.40, p &lt; .01). Recent parental death was more negatively related with self-perceptions of aging for bereaved women than for bereaved men (χ2 = 4.28, p &lt; .05). Findings suggest that middle-aged and older adults experiencing recent family loss have less positive self-perceptions of aging, and gender of the bereaved plays an important role in the relationship between parental death and self-perceptions of aging.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 594
Author(s):  
Teshome Sirak Bedaso ◽  
Buxin Han

This study aimed to examine attitude toward aging as a potential mediator of the relationship between personality factors and mental health in terms of depression and life satisfaction among older adults. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 438 Ethiopian elderly individuals aged 60 to 69. The results of the regression-based path analysis showed that after adjusting for demographic data, the relationship between agreeableness and depression in older adults was partially mediated by attitude toward aging. Likewise, attitude toward physical change due to aging and psychological growth subscales jointly mediated the correlation between neuroticism and depression. However, a significant direct path between neuroticism and depression persisted. On the contrary, openness had no significant direct association with depression apart from an indirect through psychosocial loss. The link between life satisfaction and agreeableness as well as openness to experience were partially mediated by psychosocial loss. Therefore, a person’s attitude toward aging and personality characteristics should be taken into consideration while designing interventions for managing mental health issues among older adults.


Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Kugimiya ◽  
Masanori Iwasaki ◽  
Yuki Ohara ◽  
Keiko Motokawa ◽  
Ayako Edahiro ◽  
...  

Oral hypofunction, resulting from a combined decrease in multiple oral functions, may affect systemic-condition deterioration; however, few studies have examined the association between oral hypofunction and general health among older adults. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the relationship between oral hypofunction and sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults. We included 878 adults (268 men and 610 women, mean age 76.5 ± 8.3 years). Tongue coating index, oral moisture, occlusal force, oral diadochokinesis (/pa/,/ta/,/ka/), tongue pressure, mas-ticatory function, and swallowing function were evaluated as indicators of oral hypofunction. Grip strength, gait speed, and skeletal muscle mass index were measured as diagnostic sarcopenia parameters. The association between oral hypofunction and sarcopenia was examined via logistic regression using sarcopenia as the dependent variable. Oral hypofunction prevalence was 50.5% overall, 40.3% in men, and 54.9% in women. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 18.6% overall, 9.7% in men, and 22.5% in women. A logistic regression showed oral hypofunction, age, body mass index, higher-level functional capacity, and serum albumin level were significantly associated with sarcopenia. Sarcopenia occurred at an increased frequency in patients diagnosed with oral hypofunction (odds ratio: 1.59, 95% confidence interval: 1.02–2.47); accordingly, oral hypofunction appears to be significantly associated with sarcopenia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630512098445
Author(s):  
Nora Kirkizh ◽  
Olessia Koltsova

Availability of alternative information through social media, in particular, and digital media, in general, is often said to induce social discontent, especially in states where traditional media are under government control. But does this relation really exist, and is it generalizable? This article explores the relationship between self-reported online news consumption and protest participation across 48 nations in 2010–2014. Based on multilevel regression models and simulations, the analysis provides evidence that those respondents who reported that they had attended a protest at least once read news online daily or weekly. The study also shows that the magnitude of the effect varies depending on the political context: surprisingly, despite supposedly unlimited control of offline and online media, autocratic countries demonstrated higher effects of online news than transitional regimes, where the Internet media are relatively uninhibited.


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