Gender differences in the association between modifiable risk factors and financial hardship among middle-aged and older adults

Racial differences in Financial Hardship and depressive symptoms among older adults

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between three specific indicators of financial hardship (difficulty paying bills, food insecurity, reduced medication use due to cost) and depressive symptoms by race.

METHODS

This was a cross sectional study using the Health and Retirement Study to analyze the data by conducting a logistic regression (N = 3014).

RESULTS

When stratified by race, White participants who were food insecure had nearly a 3.0 higher odds of high depressive symptoms (95% CI: 1.59-5.51) and African Americans who took less medication due to cost had a 5.1 higher odds of reporting higher depressive symptoms (95% CI: 2.30-11.2) compared to those who did not report these hardships.

CONCLUSIONS

This research highlights the important role expanded socioeconomic measures such as hardship play in the lives of older adult populations. It further elucidates the differences in the specific measures of hardship that impact older adults by race.

Estrogen Suppresses Cytokines Release in cc4821 Neisseria meningitidis Infection via TLR4 and ERβ-p38-MAPK Pathway

Estrogen has long been known to possess immune-modulatory effects in diseases, and multiple pathological conditions show great sex disparities. However, the impact of estrogen in Neisseria meningitidis infection has not been determined. The present study aimed to investigate the role of estrogen in N. meningitidis infection and the molecular mechanism. We selected 35 N. meningitidis isolates representing different clonal complexes (cc), serogroups, and isolation sources to infect the HBMEC cell line. Results showed that the expression of estrogen receptor (ER) β in N. meningitidis-infected cells was downregulated compared with that in normal cells. The expression of ERβ induced by invasive isolates was lower than that in carriers. Serogroup C isolates induced the lowest expression of ERβ compared with serogroup A and B isolates. We used four cc4821 N. meningitidis isolates to infect two kinds of host cells (human brain microvascular endothelial cells and meningeal epithelial cells). The results showed that 17 β-estradiol (E2) could inhibit the release of inflammatory factors interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-α after N. meningitidis infection via TLR4. E2 could inhibit the activation of the p38-MAPK signal pathway induced by N. meningitidis infection through binding to ERβ, and significantly inhibit the release of inflammatory factors in N. meningitidis-infected host cells. This study demonstrated that estrogen plays a protective role in N. meningitidis infection. ERβ is potentially associated with the release of inflammatory cytokines in N. meningitidis infection, which sheds light on a possible therapeutic strategy for the treatment of invasive diseases caused by N. meningitidis.

The Money Smart for Older Adults Program: A Qualitative Study of the Participants' Financial Well-Being

The Money Smart for Older Adults is a program that is tailored to older adults to raise awareness for the risk of financial exploitation and teach them how to plan and make informed financial decisions. The purpose of this study was to examine financial circumstances of older adults in the program and to explore how the program could better support their financial well-being. Individual, in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 older adults who attended the program provided by a local agency in northern Texas. Three themes emerged when exploring financial circumstances of the participants: (1) victims of financial fraud scams, (2) struggles with money management, and (3) inability to make ends meet. The program has been serving older adults, particularly ethnically diverse older adults and low-income older adults who may not have access to financial education workshops or seminars provided by private financial institutions. The Money Smart for Older Adults Program was perceived as helpful among the participants because it raised awareness of the importance of their financial well-being and it also supported their financial decision making.

Interactive Effects of Chronic Health Conditions and Financial Hardship on Episodic Memory among Older Blacks: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study

Previous research links chronic health conditions and financial hardship to cognitive outcomes among older Blacks. However, few studies have explored the moderating effect of financial hardship on chronic disease burden and specific cognitive domains. This study examined whether financial hardship (as measured by difficulty paying monthly bills) modifies the impact of self-reported chronic health conditions (e.g., diabetes, stroke) on episodic memory among 871 older Blacks (50+ years) in the Health and Retirement Study (2006). Financial hardship modified the association between chronic disease burden and episodic memory performance such that individuals who reported very little difficulty paying their monthly bills had significantly lower memory scores at high levels of disease burden compared to those reporting high financial difficulty after controlling for age, gender and education (F 2, 49 = 5.03, p= 0.010). This cross-sectional study suggests that both financial and physical wellbeing may have joint effects on cognitive health in older Blacks.