Dental Care Use, Edentulism, and Systemic Health among Older Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 002203452110190
Author(s):  
C.D. Meyerhoefer ◽  
J.V. Pepper ◽  
R.J. Manski ◽  
J.F. Moeller
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Dental Care ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Systemic Health ◽  
Time Invariant ◽  
Retirement Study

Past research suggests there are systematic associations between oral health and chronic illness among older adults. Although causality has not yet been credibly established, periodontitis has been found to be associated with higher risk of both heart disease and stroke. We advance this literature by estimating the direct association between dental care use and systemic health using multiple waves of the 1992 to 2016 Health and Retirement Study. Through the inclusion of individual fixed effects in our regression models, we account for unobservable time-invariant characteristics of individuals that might otherwise bias estimates of the association between dental care use and health. We find statistically significant negative associations between dental care use and the number of health conditions, self-reported overall health, the incidence of heart disease, and the incidence of stroke. In particular, the use of dental care within the past 2 y is associated with a 2.7% reduction in the likelihood of being diagnosed with a heart condition and a reduction in the likelihood of a stroke diagnosis of between 5.3% and 11.6%. We also find large positive correlations between edentulism and the measures of chronic illness. Associations from models estimated separately for men and women are qualitatively similar to one another. These findings provide additional motivation for the consideration of a Medicare dental benefit.

scholarly journals A Friend in Need? Exploring the Influence of Disease and Disability Onset on the Number of Close Friends Among Older Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (8) ◽  
pp. e119-e124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenzie Latham-Mintus
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Daily Living ◽  
Change Score ◽  
Network Activation ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Lagged Dependent Variable ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Retirement Study

Abstract Objectives This research examines whether onset of life-threatening disease (i.e., cancer, lung disease, heart disease, or stroke) or activities of daily living disability influences the reported number of close friends. Method Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 2006–2012), this research capitalizes on panel data to assess changes in number of close friends over a 4-year period. Lagged dependent variable (LDV) and change score (CS) approaches were used. Results Both the LDV and CS models provide evidence that onset of life-threatening disease was associated with reporting more friends 4 years later. In particular, onset of cancer was associated with reporting more close friends. Discussion This research provides evidence of the network activation hypothesis following onset of life-threatening disease among older adults.

Smoking Cessation and Changes in Body Mass Index Among Middle Aged and Older Adults

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 1012-1036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Small Change ◽  
Retirement Study

Objective: This study contributes to the body of literature examining smoking cessation and body mass index (BMI) for adults aged 50 and older. Method: Utilizing the 2004 and 2010 waves of the RAND Health and Retirement Study, this analysis utilized Fixed Effects (FE) regression on a sample of 1,316 adults aged 50 and older. Results: Older adults undergo a small change in BMI after a transition from smoking to nonsmoking during a 6-year period, and this occurs after accounting for individual-level unobserved heterogeneity. More specifically, men experience a BMI gain of 1.24 ( p< .01) and women experience a BMI gain of 1.58 ( p< .01). Discussion: Gerontologists/health professionals can use these results to inform older adults about the potential for a small increase in BMI and, in the process, assuage any apprehensions about excessive weight gain. This insight may encourage a greater number of older adults to cease smoking.

Social Relationships and Dental Care Service Utilization Among Older Adults

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Burr ◽  
Hyo Jung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Service Utilization ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Dental Care ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Older Persons ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Retirement Study

Objectives: This study described the association between dental care service utilization and two domains of social relationships (social integration and social support) among older adults. Methods: The study employed data from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study, examining regression models for whether a person visited a dentist in the past 2 years, including adjustments for demographic, socioeconomic, and health characteristics. Results: Social interaction, social participation, neighborhood cohesion, and marital status were related to an increased likelihood of having visited a dentist. Older persons exhibiting loneliness and having received financial aid from network members demonstrated a decreased likelihood of visiting a dentist. The increased likelihood of visiting a dentist when a child lives nearby only occurred after introducing health covariates. Discussion: The article discusses the implications of the study findings as they relate to social relationships and oral health and recommends some additional research directions to explore the etiology of dental care use.

Loneliness as a Mediator of Perceived Discrimination and Depression: Examining Education Contingencies

2018 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeonjung Lee ◽  
Alex Bierman
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Perceived Discrimination ◽  
Indirect Pathway ◽  
Random Effects Models ◽  
Fixed Effects Models ◽  
Low Education ◽  
Everyday Discrimination ◽  
Retirement Study

This study examines whether loneliness explains the association between perceived everyday discrimination and depressive symptoms among older adults as well as whether this indirect pathway differs by education. Three waves (2006, 2010, and 2014) of the Health and Retirement Study ( N = 7,130) are analyzed with random-effects models that adjust for repeated observations and fixed-effects models that control for all time-stable influences. Everyday discrimination is associated with loneliness and depressive symptoms but more weakly in fixed-effects models. The association between discrimination and loneliness is stronger at low educational attainment, leading discrimination to be indirectly associated with depressive symptoms through loneliness only at low education. The consequences of everyday discrimination for depression in late life are limited to older adults with low education due to education-contingent associations with loneliness. Perceived discrimination may have broad health consequences through loneliness, especially for older adults at low education.

scholarly journals Major life-changing events and preferred retirement time among older adults : evidence from the 1992 to 2014 health and retirement study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Guopeng Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Health And Retirement Study ◽  
Discussion Section ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Retirement Timing ◽  
Income Shock ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Retirement Study ◽  
The Way

This study evaluated the way life-changing events affect older adults' preferred and actual retirement age using the 1992/1993, 1994/1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014 surveys of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). In this dissertation, retirement timing was measured by the gap between a person's actual retirement year and planned retirement year. The study focused on three categories of major life-changing events--marital, health, and financial status changes--and how they were associated with individuals' retirement timing. The study compared characteristics of individuals who retired earlier than their preferred retirement time to those who delayed retirement and retired on time. The findings provide insights into the way life-changing events and other factors influence the time people exit the workforce. The discussion section offers recommendations for researchers as well as financial educators and practitioners working with older adults to increase awareness of life-changing events' effects on retirement time. After controlling for other factors, the findings lend empirical support to the belief that some major life-changing events are significantly associated with individuals' retirement time. The results showed consistent positive correlations between retirement timing and whether a person was widowed, experienced a positive income shock, or had diabetes, cancer, or heart disease. Other life-changing events were found to have statistically significant negative correlations. Negative associations existed with mental health status changes; people who reported they were depressed or received a diagnosis of a psychiatric problem retired earlier than planned.

scholarly journals Relationship of Cannabis Use With Immediate, Delayed, and Working Memory: The Health and Retirement Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 708-708
Author(s):  
Madison Maynard ◽  
Daniel Paulson ◽  
Michael Dunn ◽  
Robert Dvorak
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Word List ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
Health And Retirement Study ◽  
Immediate Memory ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Predominantly Female ◽  
Retirement Study

Abstract Past research has examined relationship between cannabis use and cognition among adolescents and young adults, but less is known about older adults despite rapidly increasing recreational and therapeutic cannabis use by this demographic. These relationships were explored cross-sectionally using data from the 2018 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Dependent variables included immediate and delayed memory (10-item word list) and working memory (serial sevens; range 0-5). Cannabis use was categorized as non-user (n=886), past-user (n=334), current moderate (&lt;52 uses/year; n=36), and current heavy (52+ uses/year; n=92). Mean age was 67.59 years (range: 50-98, SD=10.76). The sample was predominantly female (59%), and Caucasian (67%). Uncontrolled analyses found that cannabis use group was associated with immediate memory (F=6.14, p&lt;.001), delayed memory (F=3.75, p=.01), and working memory (F=6.91, p&lt;.001). Analyses controlled for gender, education, age, and race found that cannabis use group was no longer associated with delayed memory (F=1.74, p=.16) or working memory (F=1.66, p=.17); however, cannabis use was associated with immediate memory (F=3.75, p=.01) in controlled analyses. Current heavy users’ (M=4.94, SE=.16) immediate memory worse than that of both non-users (M=5.48, SE=.06) and past users (M=5.49, SE=.09; p&lt;.05 for both). Gender, education, age, and race significantly associated with immediate, delayed, and working memory, respectively (p&lt;.05 for all). In conclusion, relative deficits in immediate memory, but not delayed memory or working memory, were associated with current heavy cannabis use among older adults. In combination with other findings, these results may inform development of safe-use guidelines for older adults.

scholarly journals INTERNET USE AND LONELINESS OF OLDER ADULTS OVER TIME: THE MEDIATION EFFECT OF SOCIAL CONTACT

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S194-S194
Author(s):  
Kexin Yu ◽  
Kexin Yu ◽  
Shinyi Wu ◽  
Iris Chi
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Older People ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Total Effect ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Health And Retirement Study ◽  
Longitudinal Association ◽  
Retirement Study ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Internet is increasingly popular among older adults and have changed interpersonal interactions. However, it remains controversial whether older people are more or less lonely with internet use. This paper tests the longitudinal association of internet use and loneliness among older people. One pathway that explains the association, the mediation effect of social contact, was examined. Data from the 2006, 2010 and 2014 waves of Health and Retirement Study was used. Hierarchical liner modeling results showed internet use was related to decreased loneliness over 12-year period of time (b=-0.044, p&lt;.001). Internet use was associated with more social contact with family and friends overtime (b=0.261, p&lt;.001), social contact was related to less perceived loneliness longitudinally (b=0.097, p&lt;.001). The total effect of internet use on loneliness is -0.054 and the mediated effect is -0.025. The findings imply that online activities can be effective for reducing loneliness for older people through increased social contact.

scholarly journals Impact of Long Working Hours and Shift Work on Perceived Unmet Dental Need: A Panel Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 2939
Author(s):  
Hye-Eun Lee ◽  
Nam-Hee Kim ◽  
Tae-Won Jang ◽  
Ichiro Kawachi
Keyword(s):  
Shift Work ◽  
Dental Care ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Long Working Hours ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Dental Care Needs ◽  
Dental Needs

This study investigates whether workers with long working hours as well as shift workers perceive higher unmet dental care needs, and whether there is a gender difference in the associations. We used the Korea Health Panel (2009, 2011–2014) involving 20,451 person-wave observations from 5567 individuals. Perceived unmet dental care needs was defined when the participants reported that they perceived a need for dental treatment or check-up but had failed to receive dental care services during the past year. Fixed effects logit models were applied to examine how changes in weekly working hours or shift work status were linked to changes in perceived unmet dental needs within each individual. Among participants, 15.9–24.7% reported perceived unmet dental needs and the most common reason was time scarcity. We found that long working hours (>52 h/week) was significantly associated with perceived unmet dental needs due to time scarcity in both men (OR = 1.42, 95% CI 1.13–1.78) and women (OR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.03–1.79) compared workers working 40–52 h per week. Shift work was also a significant risk factor, but only in women (OR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.06–2.32). These findings provide evidence for labor policies to reduce working hours in order to improve access to dental care services.

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