scholarly journals Further decoding the mystery of American pain: The importance of work

PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0261891
Author(s):  
David G. Blanchflower ◽  
Alex Bryson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Life Course ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Wear And Tear ◽  
Educational Groups ◽  
Employment Rates ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
What Matters

A recent paper showed that, whereas we expect pain to rise with age due to accumulated injury, physical wear and tear, and disease, the elderly in America report less pain than those in midlife. Further exploration revealed this pattern was confined to the less educated. The authors called this the ‘mystery of American pain’ since pain appears to rise with age in other countries irrespective of education. Revisiting this issue with the same cross-sectional data we show that what matters in explaining pain through to age 65 is whether one is working or not. The incidence of pain across the life-course is nearly identical for workers in America and elsewhere, but it is greater for non-working Americans than it is for non-workers elsewhere. As in other countries, pain is hump-shaped in age among those Americans out of work but rises a little over the life-course for those in work. Furthermore, these patterns are apparent within educational groups. We show that, if one ascribes age-specific employment rates from other OECD countries to Americans, the age profile of pain in the United States is more similar to that found elsewhere in the OECD. This is because employment rates are lower in the United States than elsewhere between ages 30 and 60: the simulation reduces the pain contribution of these non-workers to overall pain in America, so it looks somewhat similar to pain elsewhere. We conclude that what matters in explaining pain over the life-course is whether one is working or not and once that is accounted for, the patterns are consistent across the United States and the rest of the OECD.

Prevalence of Tympanic Membrane Perforations Among Adolescents, Adults, and Older Adults in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 019459982110621
Author(s):  
Alexander S. Kim ◽  
Joshua F. Betz ◽  
Nicholas S. Reed ◽  
Bryan K. Ward ◽  
Carrie L. Nieman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Tympanic Membrane ◽  
Population Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Population Estimates ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Tympanic Membrane Perforations ◽  
The Life Course

Tympanic membrane (TM) perforations can occur at any age, but limited population-level data are available. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we performed a cross-sectional analysis of the prevalence and population estimates for TM perforations among individuals ≥12 years old in the United States. Overall, TM perforations have a prevalence of 2.1% (95% CI, 1.7%-2.6%), corresponding to 5.8 million Americans. Across the life course, older adults have the highest prevalence of TM perforations at 6.1% (95% CI, 4.7%-7.6%), corresponding to nearly 3 million Americans, as opposed to a prevalence of 0.6% (95% CI, 0.3%-0.9%) in adolescents, which equates to 0.2 million Americans. Males and females have a similar prevalence at 2.3% (95% CI, 1.6%-3.0%) among males and 2.0% (95% CI, 1.4%-2.6%) among females. These prevalence and population estimates provide the first US-based population estimates of the burden of TM perforations over the life course.

scholarly journals Midlife as a pivotal period in the life course

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margie E. Lachman ◽  
Salom Teshale ◽  
Stefan Agrigoroaei
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Middle Age ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Cross Sectional Studies ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Health And Well Being

We provide evidence for multidirectionality, variability, and plasticity in the nature and direction of change in physical health, cognitive functioning, and well-being during the middle years of the life course. The picture of well-being in midlife based on longitudinal data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study is a more positive one than portrayed in previous cross-sectional studies. We present middle age as a pivotal period in the life course in terms of balancing growth and decline, linking earlier and later periods of life, and bridging younger and older generations. We highlight the role of protective factors and multisystem resilience in mitigating declines. Those in middle age play a central role in the lives of those who are younger and older at home, in the workplace, and in society at large. Thus, a focus on promoting health and well-being in middle age can have a far-reaching impact.

scholarly journals A Confluence of Policy Inequality: Health Disparities in Old Age Among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 37-37
Author(s):  
Sadie Giles
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Life Course ◽  
American Indian ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Political History ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Racial health disparities in old age are well established, and new conceptualizations and methodologies continue to advance our understanding of health inequality across the life course. One group that is overlooked in many of these analyses, however, is the aging American Indian/Native Alaskan (AI/NA) population. While scholars have attended to the unique health inequities faced by the AI/NA population as a whole due to its discordant political history with the US government, little attention has been paid to unique patterns of disparity that might exist in old age. I propose to draw critical gerontology into the conversation in order to establish a framework through which we can uncover barriers to health, both from the political context of the AI/NA people as well as the political history of old age policy in the United States. Health disparities in old age are often described through a cumulative (dis)advantage framework that offers the benefit of appreciating that different groups enter old age with different resources and health statuses as a result of cumulative inequalities across the life course. Adding a framework of age relations, appreciating age as a system of inequality where people also gain or lose access to resources and status upon entering old age offers a path for understanding the intersection of race and old age. This paper will show how policy history for this group in particular as well as old age policy in the United States all create a unique and unequal circumstance for the aging AI/NA population.

scholarly journals Aetiological Factors of Osteoarthritis: A Review Update

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-23
Author(s):  
M. Jahidul Islam ◽  
M. Shahadat Hossain ◽  
M. Ruhul Amin ◽  
Monzur Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Joint Damage ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Common Type ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Lumbosacral Spine ◽  
First Metatarsal ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Wear And Tear

Osteoarthritis (OA) is no longer considered ‘degenerative’ or ‘wear and tear’ arthritis; rather involves dynamic biomechanical, biochemical and cellular process. Indeed, the joint damage that occurs in OA is the result of active remodeling involving all the joint structures. Although articular cartilage is at the center of change, OA is viewed as a disease of the entire joint. Traditionally, OA has been viewed as an inevitable degenerative condition of the cartilage. It is currently viewed as a biomechanical and biochemical inflammatory disease of the entire joints. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis. Its high prevalence, especially in the elderly, and the high rate of disability related to disease make it a leading cause of disability in the elderly. Because of the aging of Western populations and because obesity, a major risk factor, are increasing in prevalence, the occurrence of osteoarthritis is on the rise. In the United States, osteoarthritis prevalence will increase from 66–100% by the year 2020. OA affects certain joints, yet spares others. Commonly affected joints include the cervical and lumbosacral spine, hip, knee, and first metatarsal phalangeal joint (MTP). In the hands, the distal and proximal inter-phalangeal joints and the base of the thumb are often affected. Usually spared are the wrist, elbow, and ankle.Journal of Current and Advance Medical Research 2015;2(1):18-23DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jcamr.v2i1.22584

scholarly journals Endogenous Selection Bias and Cumulative Inequality over the Life Course: Evidence from Educational Inequality in Subjective Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-350
Author(s):  
Fabian Kratz ◽  
Alexander Patzina
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Interviewer Effects ◽  
Endogenous Selection ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract According to theories of cumulative (dis-)advantage, inequality increases over the life course. Labour market research has seized this argument to explain the increasing economic inequality as people age. However, evidence for cumulative (dis-)advantage in subjective well-being remains ambiguous, and a prominent study from the United States has reported contradictory results. Here, we reconcile research on inequality in subjective well-being with theories of cumulative (dis-)advantage. We argue that the age-specific endogenous selection of the (survey) population results in decreasing inequalities in subjective well-being means whereas individual-level changes show a pattern of cumulative (dis-)advantage. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey (N = 15,252) and employing hierarchical age-period-cohort models, we replicate the finding of decreasing inequality from the United States with the same research design for Germany. Using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (persons = 47,683, person-years = 360,306) and employing growth curve models, we show that this pattern of decreasing inequality in subjective well-being means is accompanied by increasing inequality in intra-individual subjective well-being changes. This pattern arises because disadvantaged groups, such as the low educated and individuals with low subjective well-being show lower probabilities of continuing to participate in a survey and because both determinants reinforce each other. In addition to allowing individual changes and attrition processes to be examined, the employed multi-cohort panel data have further key advantages for examining inequality in subjective well-being over the life course: They require weaker assumptions to control for period and cohort effects and make it possible to control for interviewer effects that may influence the results.

The Linkage of Life Course, Migration, Health, and Aging

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1116-1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Montes de Oca ◽  
Telésforo Ramírez García ◽  
Rogelio Sáenz ◽  
Jennifer Guillén
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Mexican Migrants ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Elderly Migrants

Migration is a phenomenon that impacts individuals throughout the life course. Particularly, Mexican elderly migrants show evidence of lifetime accumulations of the effects of migration on health conditions. Objectives: Examine how the relationship between historical time and individual time explains different factors impacting the health of Mexican adult and elderly migrants in Mexico and the United States. Method: Data from in-depth interviews with Mexican migrants living in selected locations in Mexico and the United States were used to illustrate the links between life course conditions, aging, migration, and health outcomes. Results and Discussion: According to this theoretical perspective and the data, historical time, age at migration, and the conditions under which the migration trajectory developed, show different impacts on the health and quality of life of the elderly, as revealed through analysis of labor experience, disease and accidents, medical service, health treatment, transnational networks, and family formation.

Second-Generation Contextual Mobility: Neighborhood Attainment from Birth to Young Adulthood in the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 356-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Van C. Tran
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Young Adulthood ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Neighborhood Context ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Over Time

This article examines trajectories of neighborhood mobility for the post-1965 second generation in the United States. It advances the concept of second-generation contextual mobility, defined as the change in neighborhood context over the life course among the second generation. This analysis uses unique geocoded longitudinal data over three decades to documents patterns of second-generation neighborhood attainment. Compared to US blacks, the second generation has achieved significant contextual mobility both over time and across generations. Specifically, the second generation in this New York sample lived in better neighborhoods in young adulthood compared to birth neighborhood where their parents once lived. Most groups moved away from the most disadvantaged areas, with the exception of Dominicans. While the second generation has yet to achieve neighborhood parity with US whites, they have already surpassed US blacks in neighborhood attainment. Second-generation contextual mobility is thus an important, but missing, piece in established accounts of neighborhood mobility in the United States.

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