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Romero KRF, Yang Y, Green SH, Gutierrez S, Meza E, Torres JM. Adult child educational attainment and older parents' psychosocial outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Public Health 2024; 24:2056. [PMID: 39085832 PMCID: PMC11289967 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-19425-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 08/02/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Older adults' psychosocial outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic have been inequitable by socio-economic status (SES). However, studies have focused solely on own SES, ignoring emerging evidence of the relationship between adult child SES and late-life health. We evaluated whether adult child educational attainment - a core marker of SES - is associated with older parents' psychosocial outcomes during the pandemic. METHODS We used data from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) 2004-2018 and the SHARE Corona Surveys (SCS) 2020 and 2021. We included 40,392 respondents ≥ 65 years who had pre-pandemic information on adult child educational attainment and self-reported psychosocial outcomes during the pandemic, including self-assessments of worsened psychosocial outcomes compared to the pre-pandemic period. We used generalized estimating equations with a Poisson distribution and a log link, adjusted for respondent and family-level characteristics, including respondents' own educational attainment. RESULTS Older adults whose adult children averaged levels of educational attainment at or above (vs. below) their country-specific mean had a lower prevalence of feeling nervous (Prevalence Ratio [PR]: 0.94, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.90, 0.97), sad or depressed (PR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91, 0.98), and having sleep problems (PR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.90, 0.97) during the pandemic. Additionally, higher adult child educational attainment was associated with a lower risk of perceiving worsened feelings of nervousness (PR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.01) and worsened sleep problems (PR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.82, 1.01) as compared to the pre-pandemic. In stratified models, protective associations were observed only in countries experiencing "high" levels of COVID-19 intensity at the time of the survey. All of these results are derived from adjusted models. CONCLUSIONS Adult child SES may have "upward" spillover effects on the psychosocial wellbeing of older parents during periods of societal duress like the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karla Renata Flores Romero
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UC San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
| | - Yulin Yang
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UC San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
| | - Sharon H Green
- Department of Demography, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Sirena Gutierrez
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UC San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
| | - Erika Meza
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UC San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
| | - Jacqueline M Torres
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UC San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
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Rodrigues PMF, Silva PGS, Voss G, Martinez-Pecino R, Delerue-Matos A. Pandemic policies and sleeping problems in older adults. J Sleep Res 2024:e14268. [PMID: 38924266 DOI: 10.1111/jsr.14268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Revised: 04/29/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Sleep quality is fundamental to physical and mental health. Recent research shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected individuals' sleep quality. This study aims to investigate whether the containment and health policies (Oxford Coronavirus Government Response Tracker indexes) adopted by European countries and Israel during the pandemic are related to sleep problems in people aged 50 and over. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a logistic regression analysis based on data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, collected in 27 European countries and Israel, in 2021. The results show that containment and health policies affect older adults' sleep, once we neutralise the influence of the sociodemographic, economic, and health characteristics of the individuals and close contact with COVID-19. In fact, the more containment and health policies, the fewer chances of sleep problems. A possible explanation for this is that these policies give people over 50 a sense of safety and security in relation to COVID-19, which may reduce sleep problems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Gina Voss
- Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
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Du M, Liu M, Wang Y, Qin C, Liu J. Global burden of sleep disturbances among older adults and the disparities by geographical regions and pandemic periods. SSM Popul Health 2024; 25:101588. [PMID: 38225953 PMCID: PMC10788304 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Revised: 11/23/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among older adults. We aimed to evaluate sleep heath during COVID-19 pandemic and assess the differences among geographical regions and pandemic periods. We searched three databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science) to find articles up to March 12, 2023. We included observational studies that reported the prevalence of sleep disturbances among adults aged 60 years or older in any setting. Two researchers independently reviewed the literature and retrieved the data. We used Der Simonian-Laird random effects meta-analyses to pool the data, followed by subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and meta-regression. A total of 64 studies with 181,224 older adults during the pandemic were included. The prevalence of poor sleep quality, short sleep duration, long sleep duration, and insomnia symptoms were 47.12% (95% CI: 25.97%, 68.27%), 40.81% (95% CI: 18.49%, 63.12%), 31.61% (95% CI: 24.83%, 38.38%), and 21.15% (95% CI: 15.30%, 27.00%), respectively. The prevalence of sleep problems reported by self-constructed items was 26.97% (95% CI: 20.73%, 33.22%). When compared to America (64.13%), Europe (20.23%) and the Western Pacific (21.31%) showed a lower prevalence of sleep problems (all P < 0.0001). The prevalence of worsened sleep problems was 27.88% (95% CI: 11.94%, 43.82%). Compared to 2020 (15.14%), it increased to 47.42% in 2021 (P < 0.05). Eight studies on sleep disturbances among 672 older COVID-19 patients were included. The prevalence of sleep problems and insomnia symptoms among older COVID-19 patients were 41.58% (95% CI: 21.97%, 61.20%) and 41.56% (95% CI: 28.11%, 58.02%), respectively. A significant burden related to poor sleep has been observed among older adults worldwide over the past three years, with variations across different regions and time periods. It is important to make more efforts in prevention and intervention to identify the risk factors, treatment, and rehabilitation of sleep disturbances for healthy aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Du
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, No.38, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
| | - Min Liu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, No.38, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
| | - Yaping Wang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, No.38, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
| | - Chenyuan Qin
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, No.38, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
| | - Jue Liu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, No.38, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
- Institute for Global Health and Development, Peking University, No.5, Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100871, China
- Global Center for Infectious Disease and Policy Research & Global Health and Infectious Diseases Group, Peking University, No.38, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China
- Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health, National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China, No.38, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China
- Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, USA
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Maier JA, Andrés V, Castiglioni S, Giudici A, Lau ES, Nemcsik J, Seta F, Zaninotto P, Catalano M, Hamburg NM. Aging and Vascular Disease: A Multidisciplinary Overview. J Clin Med 2023; 12:5512. [PMID: 37685580 PMCID: PMC10488447 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12175512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 08/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Vascular aging, i.e., the deterioration of the structure and function of the arteries over the life course, predicts cardiovascular events and mortality. Vascular degeneration can be recognized before becoming clinically symptomatic; therefore, its assessment allows the early identification of individuals at risk. This opens the possibility of minimizing disease progression. To review these issues, a search was completed using PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar from 2000 to date. As a network of clinicians and scientists involved in vascular medicine, we here describe the structural and functional age-dependent alterations of the arteries, the clinical tools for an early diagnosis of vascular aging, and the cellular and molecular events implicated. It emerges that more studies are necessary to identify the best strategy to quantify vascular aging, and to design proper physical activity programs, nutritional and pharmacological strategies, as well as social interventions to prevent, delay, and eventually revert the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeanette A. Maier
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy;
- VAS-European Independent foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine, 20157 Milano, Italy; (M.C.); (N.M.H.)
| | - Vicente Andrés
- Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), 28029 Madrid, Spain;
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV), 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Sara Castiglioni
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy;
| | - Alessandro Giudici
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, CARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands;
- GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Emily S. Lau
- Division of Cardiology Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA;
| | - János Nemcsik
- Health Service of Zugló (ZESZ), Department of Family Medicine, Semmelweis University, Stáhly u. 7-9, 1085 Budapest, Hungary;
| | - Francesca Seta
- Vascular Biology Section, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA;
| | - Paola Zaninotto
- UCL Research Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK;
| | - Mariella Catalano
- VAS-European Independent foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine, 20157 Milano, Italy; (M.C.); (N.M.H.)
- Inter-University Research Center on Vascular Disease, Università di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
| | - Naomi M. Hamburg
- VAS-European Independent foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine, 20157 Milano, Italy; (M.C.); (N.M.H.)
- Vascular Biology Section, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA;
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