Background: Few studies have analyzed sensor-derived metrics of mobility abilities and total daily physical activity (TDPA). We tested whether sensor-derived mobility metrics and TDPA indices are independently associated with mobility disabilities.
Methods: This cohort study derived mobility abilities from a belt-worn sensor that recorded annual supervised gait testing.
Introduction: There is limited evidence about factors related to the timeliness of dementia diagnosis in healthcare settings.
Methods: In five prospective cohorts at Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, we identified participants with incident dementia based on annual assessments and examined the timing of healthcare diagnoses in Medicare claims. We assessed sociodemographic, health, and psychosocial correlates of timely diagnosis.
Background: Neighborhood physical environments may influence cardiometabolic health, but prior studies have been inconsistent, and few included long follow-up periods.
Methods: Changes in cardiometabolic risk factors were measured for up to 14 years in 2830 midlife women in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, a multi-ethnic/racial cohort of women from seven U.S.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
May 2024
High engagement in lifestyle health behaviors appears to be protective against cognitive decline in aging. We investigated the association between patterns of modifiable lifestyle health behaviors and common brain neuropathologies of dementia as a possible mechanism. We examined 555 decedents from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, free of dementia at their initial concurrent report of lifestyle health behaviors of interest (physical, social, and cognitive activities, and healthy diet), and who underwent a postmortem neuropathology evaluation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Everyday discrimination-experiences of being treated unfairly based on background characteristics like race-is linked to poor physical and mental health throughout the lifespan. Whether more experiences of discrimination are associated with higher odds of being hospitalized in older African Americans has not been explored.
Methods: Community-dwelling participants from 3 longitudinal cohort studies (N = 446, age 65+ years) with discrimination scores and ≥12 months of linked Medicare claims were included.
Rationale & Objective: The Illinois Transplant Fund, established in 2015, provides private health insurance premium support for noncitizen patients with kidney failure in Illinois and thus allows them to qualify for kidney transplants. Our objective was to describe trends in kidney transplant volumes over time to inform the development of a hypothesis regarding the impact of the Illinois Transplant Fund on kidney transplant volumes for adult Hispanic patients with kidney failure in Illinois, especially noncitizen patients.
Study Design: Retrospective study.
Background: Many studies indicate that smaller life space is related to worse cognitive and motor function. It is plausible that cognitive and motor function also predict life space constriction, thus long-term, prospective studies are needed of cognitive and motor function as predictors of life space.
Methods: A total of 1246 participants of the Rush Memory and Aging Project, who reported initial maximal life space and at least one follow-up assessment were included in this prospective study, with up to 19 years follow-up.
Introduction: We aimed to identify profiles of modifiable, late-life lifestyle health behaviors related to subsequent maintenance of cognition and explore sociodemographics and health characteristics as effect modifiers.
Methods: Analyses used data from 715 older adults without baseline dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project and with lifestyle health behaviors (physical activity, cognitive activity, healthy diet, social activity) at baseline and ≥ 2 annual assessments of cognition. We used latent profile analysis to group participants based on behavior patterns and assessed change in cognition by group.
Introduction: Despite known health disparities in cognitive aging, a comprehensive rationale for the increased burden in older minoritized populations including non-Latino Black and Latino adults has yet to be elucidated. While most work has focused on person-specific risk, studies are increasingly assessing neighborhood-level risk. We evaluated multiple aspects of the environmental milieu that may be critical when considering vulnerability to adverse health outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale & Objective: Noncitizen, undocumented patients with kidney failure have few treatment options in many states, although Illinois allows for patients to receive a transplant regardless of citizenship status. Little information exists about the experiences of noncitizen patients pursuing kidney transplantation. We sought to understand how access to kidney transplantation affects patients, their family, health care providers, and the health care system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhysical function (PF) limitations are common in aging. However, there is a dearth of interventions focused on addressing PF limitations in community-based settings, particularly in minoritized communities. To guide intervention development, we conducted focus groups to understand perceptions of PF limitations, gauge intervention interest, and identify potential intervention strategies as part of a large health partnership of African American churches in Chicago, IL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Racial Ethn Health Disparities
April 2024
Background: In Chicago in 2018, the average life expectancy (ALE) for NH Blacks was 71.5 years, 9.1 fewer years than for NH Whites (80.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground We previously outlined the importance of considering acculturation within the context of older Latino adults' lived experience (ie, acculturation in context) to better capture contributors to cognitive aging. We now examine this conceptual framework as related to level of and change in cardiovascular health, and whether cardiovascular health modifies previously documented associations of acculturation in context with cognition. Methods and Results Acculturation in context data from 192 Latino participants without dementia at baseline (age ~70 years) were compiled into 3 separate composite scores: acculturation-related (nativity, language-, and social-based preferences), contextually related socioenvironmental (experiences of discrimination, social isolation, social networks), and familism-related (Latino-centric family ethos).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Previous work has focused on the role of diabetes in peripheral neuropathy (PN), but PN often occurs before, and independently from, diabetes. This study measures the association of cardiometabolic and inflammatory factor with PN, independent of diabetes.
Methods: Study of Women's Health Across the Nation participants (n = 1910), ages 60 to 73 (mean 65.
Objectives: To determine whether physical function (PF) before menopause is related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Methods: Participants were = 2950 pre-/early peri-menopausal women (median age 46, (25th-75th percentile: 43-48 years). Physical function was assessed at baseline using the Physical Function subscale of the SF-36 and scores were trichotomized (no, some, or substantial limitations).
Purpose: This study examined whether employment status during mid-life and older adulthood is associated with physical function impairment.
Methods: Participants were 2700 women in the multiracial/multiethnic Study of Women's Health Across the Nation. Time-varying, lagged, and cumulative exposure analyses modeled associations between self-reported employment status and the likelihood of severe physical function impairment across 19 years of follow-up.
Importance: Women in midlife often develop chronic conditions and experience declines in physical health and function. Identifying factors associated with declines in physical health and function among these women may allow for targeted interventions.
Objective: To examine the factors associated with clinically important 10-year declines in the physical component summary score (PCS) of the Short Form 36 (SF-36), a widely used patient-reported outcome measure, in women in midlife.
End-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is common in the U.S. There is no cure, and survival requires either dialysis or kidney transplant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Studying interhospital transfer of critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia in the spring 2020 surge may help inform future pandemic management.
Objectives: To compare outcomes for mechanically ventilated patients with coronavirus disease 2019 transferred to a tertiary referral center with increased surge capacity with patients admitted from the emergency department.
Design Setting Participants: Observational cohort study of single center urban academic medical center ICUs.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities
October 2022
Background: Older Black adults face a disproportionate burden of HIV prevalence, but less is known about racial disparities in age-related outcomes in HIV. We assessed the effect of HIV status and race on motor and pulmonary function, as well as how they contribute to mobility disability.
Setting: Community-based study; Chicago, IL METHODS: Participants were 363 community-dwelling adults age ≥ 50 years, 48% living with HIV, and 68% Black.
Background: Little is known about how adverse, midlife metabolic profiles affect future physical functioning. We hypothesized that a higher number of midlife metabolic syndrome (MetS) components are associated with poorer physical performance in early old age for multiethnic women.
Methods: MetS status from 1996 to 2011 (8 visits) and objective physical performance in 2015/2016 (Short Physical Performance Battery [SPPB; 0-12], 40-foot walk [meter/second], 4-meter gait speed [meter/second], chair stands [seconds], stair climb [seconds]) were assessed in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN; n = 1722; age 65.
To determine the cross-sectional associations of accelerometer-measured time spent in physical activity intensity categories (sedentary, low and high light intensity, or moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) with physical performance outcomes [stair climb ascent, 40 foot walk test, and short physical performance battery (SPPB)] in older women and examine differences by race/ethnicity. Data were from 1,256 Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) participants [aged 64.9 (2.
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