Happy life expectancy among older adults: differences by sex and functional limitations

Factors associated with happiness among community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

To identify factors associated with self-reported happiness among community-dwelling older adults.

METHODS

A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Searches were conducted in the PsycInfo, Web of Science, Scopus and Pubmed databases for relevant articles published in English, Spanish or Portuguese using the following search strategy and Boolean operators: (happiness*) AND (elder* OR (old adult*)). No restriction was imposed with regards to year of publication. This review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42018107302).

RESULTS

Forty-six articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Economic, social and health-related factors were associated with happiness among community-dwelling older adults. The sociodemographic characteristics of older adults, such as the female sex, being married, an older age, a higher level of schooling and having a religion, were also associated with happiness.

CONCLUSIONS

The articles included in the present systematic review demonstrate that social, economic and health-related aspects have an association with happiness in community-dwelling older adults.

Psychometric performance of the Kannada version of sarcopenia quality of life questionnaire (SarQoL®)

BACKGROUND

The Sarcopenia Quality of Life (SarQoL®) is a patient reported quality-of-life questionnaire specific to sarcopenia. In the Indian context, its availability is limited to Hindi, Marathi and Bengali vernacular languages.

AIMS

This study aimed to translate, cross-culturally adapt the SarQoL® questionnaire into Kannada and investigate its psychometric properties.

METHODS

The SarQoL®-English version was translated into Kannada with the developer's permission and in accordance with their requirements. To validate the discriminative power, internal consistency and floor and ceiling effect of the SarQoL®-Kannada questionnaire were assessed in the first step. In the second step, the construct validity and the test-retest reliability of the SarQoL®-Kannada was determined.

RESULT

There was no difficulty in the translation process. A total of n = 114 participants (sarcopenic participants n = 45 and n = 69 non-sarcopenic participants) were included. The good discriminative power of the SarQoL®-Kannada questionnaire {quality of life for sarcopenic subjects [56.43 ± 11.32] vs. non-sarcopenic ones [79.38 ± 8.16], p < 0.001}. High internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.904) and no ceiling/ floor effect were reflected. Excellent test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.97, 95% CI 0.92-0.98) were found. A good convergent and divergent validity with similar and different domains of WHOQOL-BREF was observed, while EQ-5D-3L had good convergent and weak divergent validity.

CONCLUSION

The SarQoL®-Kannada questionnaire is valid, consistent and reliable for the measurement of quality of life of sarcopenic participants. SarQoL®-Kannada questionnaire is now available to be used in clinical practice and as a treatment outcome indicator in research.

Formation Mechanisms of Rural Summer Health Destination Loyalty: Exploration and Comparison of Low- and High-Aged Elderly Leisure Vacation Tourists

Destination loyalty is a key indicator of the competitiveness of tourist destinations. Rural summer health leisure vacations for urban elderly (RSHLVUE) tourists span a wide range of ages. Destination operators need to understand the loyalty formation mechanisms of different aged tourists. RSHLVUE tourists were divided into a low-aged group (LA) and a high-aged group (HA) to examine and modify the hypothesis of the relationship between perceived value, tourist well-being, place attachment, and destination loyalty based on affect, behavior, and cognition (ABC) theory. The test results of the measurement model indicate that the HA showed stronger responses in terms of cost value, sense of meaning, and place dependency. The formation mechanism of destination loyalty for the LA is tourist well-being → perceived value → place attachment → destination loyalty, and for the HA is perceived value → tourist well-being → place attachment → destination loyalty. The findings deepen the understanding of destination loyalty among elderly leisure vacation tourists and can guide RSHLVUE destination managers to enhance destination competitiveness.

Is Happiness Linked to Subjective Life Expectancy? A Study of Chilean Senior Citizens

The main goal of this research is to determine the link between happiness and individual subjective life expectancy (SLE) among Chilean senior citizens. We use data from the 2015 edition of the Chilean Social Protection Survey. Our sample consists of 1298 seniors: 700 aged 65–74, 421 aged 75–84, and 177 aged 85 and older. We provide a novel methodological approach that allows us to measure the relative contribution of happiness to SLE, by combining the Shapley–Owen–Shorrocks decomposition with contrasts of marginal linear predictions of the equality of the means by groups. Results reveal that happiness is the most important determinant of seniors’ SLE, and the effect is stronger the older the people are. Addressing varying levels of happiness is important because both happiness and unhappiness have a significant impact. In an ageing population, social agents should consider that these variables (happiness and SLE) are related to engagement in healthy lifestyles. If prevention programs integrated this interaction, welfare systems could save scarce resources. Therefore, governments should foster happiness to support active ageing.

Associations between the quality of life in sarcopenia measured with the SarQoL® and nutritional status

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between nutritional status and health-related quality of life after adjusting for essential factors of muscle mass, calf circumference, grip strength, and the timed up and go (TUG) test for diagnosis of sarcopenia.

METHODS

The subjects of this study were those who visited a health care center or a senior welfare center among the aged 65 years or older living in a community in two counties (Jinju, Sacheon), and the survey was conducted from April to August 2019. Among them, those with cardiovascular disease, cognitive disorder, or malignancy were excluded. To determine the nutritional status of the elderly subjects, a questionnaire-based screening tool called DETERMINE was used. Developed as a health-related quality of life tool for sarcopenia, the Sarcopenia-specific Quality of Life (SarQoL) questionnaire was used. For screening of sarcopenia, a rapid questionnaire based on self-reported information about falls, mobility, and strength known as the SARC-F questionnaire was used. Assessment of sarcopenia included skeletal muscle mass, calf circumference, grip strength, and the TUG test.

RESULTS

A total of 324 elderly people living in rural villages who were able to move to senior and welfare centers was surveyed. As a result of evaluating the association between SarQoL and nutritional risk in elderly subjects, the association was statistically significant in the moderate-risk group (B = - 5.542, p = 0.001) and in the high-risk group (B = - 8.136, p < 0.001) in comparison to the low-risk group. Significant correlations were found in all seven domains of SarQoL, except the fear domain.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms an association between quality of life dimensions surveyed by the SarQoL questionnaire and nutritional status in elderly subjects. Therefore, appropriate interventions are needed following brief evaluation of sarcopenia and nutritional deficiency among elderly people in communities.

Moderating effect of depression on the association between pain and activities of daily living in older adults

BACKGROUND

Maintaining older adults' ability to function independently in the community is a critically important public health concern. One of the most common symptoms threatening that ability is pain. Depression is a common co-occurring symptom in older adults with pain. In the present study, we determined the moderating effect of depression on the association between pain and functional limitations.

METHODS

Data were from the Healthy Aging Longitudinal Study in Taiwan, a population-based study of community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan (N = 2680). All data were collected by face-to-face interviews. Sociodemographic and health-related factors along with the location and severity of pain were collected. Functional limitation was assessed using the Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living, whereas depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.

RESULTS

Pain presence was not significantly associated with functional limitation, but overall pain severity and number of pain sites were. Depressive older adults exhibited a stronger association of pain and functional limitation.

CONCLUSION

Depression moderates the relation between pain and functional limitation. This knowledge may be valuable in developing effective public health and clinical management strategies to reduce functional limitation in older adults.

Factors associated with happiness in the elderly persons living in the community

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to evaluate factors associated with happiness in a sample of Brazilian older adults.

METHODS

A study was conducted with 263 elderly people in the area of coverage of a family health unit located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The Subjective Happiness Scale was used to measure happiness, the final score of which determined one of three outcomes: not happy, intermediate, and happy. Disability, sociodemographic characteristics, and psychological, cognitive, and physical factors were considered for the multinomial logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Statistically significant differences were found among the three groups regarding satisfaction with life, disability, social phobia, anxiety, depression, and frailty (p≤0.05). In the multinomial regression analysis, being "not happy" was significantly associated with satisfaction with life (RRR: 0.53), depression (RRR: 1.46), social phobia (RRR: 1.24), and age (RRR: 1.06).

CONCLUSION

The present findings indicate that psychological factors and age influence the levels of happiness in older adults living in the community. Furthermore, better screening, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health disorders could increase the feeling of happiness among older adults.