scholarly journals Loneliness Among Older Adults in Latin America, China, and India: Prevalence, Correlates and Association With Mortality

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Gao ◽  
A. Matthew Prina ◽  
Martin Prince ◽  
Daisy Acosta ◽  
Ana Luisa Sosa ◽  
...  

Objectives: This study was designed to explore prevalence and correlates of self-reported loneliness and to investigate whether loneliness predicts mortality among older adults (aged 65 or above) in Latin America, China and India.Methods: The study investigated population-based cross-sectional (2003–2007) and longitudinal surveys (follow-up 2007–2010) from the 10/66 Dementia Research Group project. Poisson regression and Cox regression analyses were conducted to analyse correlates of loneliness and its association with mortality.Results: The standardised prevalence of loneliness varied between 25.3 and 32.4% in Latin America and was 18.3% in India. China showed a low prevalence of loneliness (3.8%). In pooled meta-analyses, there was robust evidence to support an association between loneliness and mortality across Latin American countries (HR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.01–1.26, I2 = 10.1%) and China (HR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.03–2.41), but there were no associations in India.Conclusion: Our findings suggest potential cultural variances may exist in the concept of loneliness in older age. The effect of loneliness upon mortality is consistent across different cultural settings excluding India. Loneliness should therefore be considered as a potential dimension of public health among older populations.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Gao ◽  
A. Matthew Prina ◽  
Martin Prince ◽  
Daisy Acosta ◽  
Ana Luisa Sosa ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundResearch carried out in high income countries suggests that loneliness may be a common experience among older adults living in these settings. Loneliness is correlated with poor socioeconomic status, living alone, being widowed and is associated with adverse health outcomes, including mortality. There is still a lack of evidence about the epidemiology of loneliness among older adults living in low- and middle-income countries. This study was designed to explore prevalence and correlates of self-reported loneliness and to investigate whether loneliness predicts mortality in Latin America, China and India. MethodsThe study investigated population-based cross-sectional (2003-2007) and longitudinal surveys (follow-up 2007-2010) from the 10/66 Dementia Research Group project carried out among 16685 older adults in urban and rural catchment areas in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, China and India. Poisson regression and Cox regression analyses were conducted to analyse correlates of loneliness and its association with mortality. ResultsThe standardised prevalence of loneliness varied between 25.3% and 32.4% in Latin America and was 18.3% in India. China showed a low prevalence of loneliness (3.8%). In pooled meta-analyses, there was robust evidence to support an association between loneliness and mortality across Latin America (HR=1.13, 95% CI 1.01-1.26, I2=10.1%) and China (HR=1.58, 95% CI 1.03-2.41), but there were no associations in India. ConclusionsOur findings suggest potential cultural variances may exist in the concept of loneliness in older age. The effect of loneliness upon mortality is consistent across different cultural settings excluding India. Loneliness should therefore be considered as a potential dimension of public health among older populations.


2009 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emiliano Albanese ◽  
Alan D Dangour ◽  
Ricardo Uauy ◽  
Daisy Acosta ◽  
Mariella Guerra ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cleusa P. Ferri ◽  
Martin Prince

We read with great interest the review by Nitrini et al. on the prevalence of dementia in Latin America recently published in International Psychogeriatrics (Nitrini et al., 2009). Accurate up-to-date figures are essential for policy-making and planning, therefore the review is very welcome. With unfortunate timing, the 10/66 Dementia Research Group's population-based surveys on the prevalence of dementia were published in the Lancet (Llibre Rodriguez et al., 2008a; 2008b) shortly after this review was submitted to International Psychogeriatrics. The 10/66 surveys included seven sites in five Latin American countries: Peru, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela. The studies were all one-phase catchment area surveys, with samples of 2944 in Cuba and between 1904 and 2011 in other countries, giving a total sample size of 10,794. We present in Table 1 the prevalence of dementia according to our cross-culturally validated 10/66 diagnosis and according to DSM-IV criteria, in each of the Latin American sites, using the same age group stratification as per Nitrini's review. We also present the pooled estimates for each age group. The 10/66 estimates are in general more homogenous than those presented in the review, but similar to the overall pooled estimate. DSM-IV prevalence is lower. We have attributed this discrepancy to an under-reporting of cognitive decline and social/occupational impairment by relatives, particularly in rural and least developed regions (Llibre Rodriguez et al., 2008b). We have shown that, at least for Cuba, the 10/66 Dementia Diagnosis agreed better than the DSM-IV with a clinician gold standard diagnosis, as a high proportion of Clinical Dementia Rating mild and moderate cases were missed by DSM-IV (Prince et al., 2008).


Author(s):  
Marcio Soto-Añari ◽  
Loida Camargo ◽  
Miguel Ramos-Henderson ◽  
Claudia Rivera-Fernández ◽  
Lucia Denegri-Solís ◽  
...  

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on cognitive health in Latin American older adults, increasing the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Our objective was to analyze the prevalence of dementia and the associated factors in Latin American older adults during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A multicentric first phase cross-sectional observational study was conducted during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Five thousand two hundred and forty-five Latin American adults over 60 years of age were studied in 10 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. We used the telephone version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the “Alzheimer Disease 8” scale for functional and cognitive changes, and the abbreviated version of the Yesavage depression scale. We also asked for sociodemographic and lockdown data. All the evaluation was made by telephone. Cross-tabulations and χ<sup>2</sup> tests were used to determine the variability of the prevalence of impairment by sociodemographic characteristics and binary logistic regression to assess the association between dementia and sociodemographic factors. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We observed that the prevalence of dementia in Latin America is 15.6%, varying depending on the country (Argentine = 7.83 and Bolivia = 28.5%). The variables most associated with dementia were race and age. It does not seem to be associated with the pandemic but with social and socio-health factors. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The prevalence of dementia shows a significant increase in Latin America, attributable to a constellation of ethnic, demographic, and socioeconomic factors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Carlos A. Reyes-Ortiz ◽  
Soraira Pacheco ◽  
Cedar A Slovacek ◽  
Meng Jiang ◽  
Ivania C Salinas Fernandez ◽  
...  

Objective To estimate the prevalence and risk factors for falls requiring medical attention, referred as medical falls, in community-dwelling persons aged ≥60 years.Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using information from the Health, Well-Being, and Aging (“SABE”) Study in Latin America and the Caribbean (7 cities), as well as from the SABE Bogota study (pooled sample of 8 cities n=12,487). Falls that occurred during a past 12-month period were considered and then noted if required medical treatment because of the fall.Results The weighted prevalence of medical falls across the eight surveys ranged from 6.0% to 11.3%. In weighted multivariate logistic regression analyses, potentially modifiable risk factors for medical falls include urinary incontinence (OR=1.51 95% CI 1.18-1.92), high depressive symptomatology (OR=1.53 95% CI 1.24-1.91), poor self-rated health (OR=1.35 95% CI 1.10-1.66) and activities of daily living limitations (OR=1.48 95% CI 1.16-1.87).Conclusions Based on our results, preventive measures targeting these risk factors may help to decrease the risk for medical falls among older adults in Latin America.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 291
Author(s):  
Tatsuro Inoue ◽  
Keisuke Maeda ◽  
Ayano Nagano ◽  
Akio Shimizu ◽  
Junko Ueshima ◽  
...  

Osteopenia/osteoporosis and sarcopenia are common geriatric diseases among older adults and harm activities of daily living (ADL) and quality of life (QOL). Osteosarcopenia is a unique syndrome that is a concomitant of both osteopenia/osteoporosis and sarcopenia. This review aimed to summarize the related factors and clinical outcomes of osteosarcopenia to facilitate understanding, evaluation, prevention, treatment, and further research on osteosarcopenia. We searched the literature to include meta-analyses, reviews, and clinical trials. The prevalence of osteosarcopenia among community-dwelling older adults is significantly higher in female (up to 64.3%) compared to male (8–11%). Osteosarcopenia is a risk factor for death, fractures, and falls based on longitudinal studies. However, the associations between osteosarcopenia and many other factors have been derived based on cross-sectional studies, so the causal relationship is not clear. Few studies of osteosarcopenia in hospitals have been conducted. Osteosarcopenia is a new concept and has not yet been fully researched its relationship to clinical outcomes. Longitudinal studies and high-quality interventional studies are warranted in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiki Watanabe ◽  
Tsukasa Yoshida ◽  
Takashi Nakagata ◽  
Naomi Sawada ◽  
Yosuke Yamada ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundPrevious epidemiological studies have demonstrated the prevalence and relationship of various factors associated with sarcopenia in older adults; however, few have examined the status of sarcopenia in middle-aged adults. In this study, we aimed to, 1) evaluate the validity of the finger-circle test, which is potentially a useful screening tool for sarcopenia, and 2) determine the prevalence and factors associated with sarcopenia in middle-aged and older adults.MethodsWe conducted face-to-face surveys of 525 adults, who were aged 40–91 years and resided in Settsu City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan to evaluate the validity of finger-circle test. The finger-circle test evaluated calf circumference by referring to an illustration printed on the survey form. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) was plotted to evaluate the validity of the finger-circle test for screening sarcopenia and compared to that evaluated by skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) measured using bioimpedance. We also conducted multisite population-based cross-sectional anonymous mail surveys of 9337 adults, who were aged 40–97 years and resided in Settsu and Hannan Cities, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Participants were selected through stratified random sampling by sex and age in the elementary school zones of their respective cities. We performed multiple logistic regression analysis to explore associations between characteristics and prevalence of sarcopenia.ResultsSarcopenia, defined by SMI, was moderately predicted by a finger-circle test response showing that the subject’s calf was smaller than their finger-circle (AUROC: 0.729, < 65 years; 0.653, ≥65 years); such subjects were considered to have sarcopenia. In mail surveys, prevalence of sarcopenia screened by finger-circle test was higher in older subjects (approximately 16%) than in middle-aged subjects (approximately 8–9%). In a multiple regression model, the factors associated with sarcopenia were age, body mass index, smoking status, self-reported health, and number of meals in all the participants.ConclusionsSarcopenia, screened by the finger-circle test, was present not only among older adults but also among middle-aged adults. These results may provide useful indications for developing public health programs, not only for the prevention, but especially for the management of sarcopenia.Trial registrationUMIN000036880, registered prospectively May 29, 2019, https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000042027


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