Publications by authors named "Esther Garcia-Esquinas"
Importance: Alcohol consumption is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality that may be more important in older adults with socioeconomic or health-related risk factors.
Objective: To examine the association of alcohol consumption patterns with 12-year mortality and its modification by health-related or socioeconomic risk factors.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This prospective cohort study used data from the UK Biobank, a population-based cohort.
Importance: Avoiding high protein intake in older adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may reduce the risk of kidney function decline, but whether it can be suboptimal for survival is not well known.
Objective: To estimate the associations of total, animal, and plant protein intake with all-cause mortality in older adults with mild or moderate CKD and compare the results to those of older persons without CKD.
Design, Setting, And Participants: Data from 3 cohorts (Study on Cardiovascular Health, Nutrition and Frailty in Older Adults in Spain 1 and 2 and the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen [in Sweden]) composed of community-dwelling adults 60 years or older were used.
Introduction: The impact of alcohol consumption on health, particularly in low quantities, remains controversial. Our objective was to assess the association between alcohol volume and heavy episodic drinking (HED) with all-cause mortality, while minimizing many of the known methodological issues.
Methodology: This longitudinal study used data from the 2011-2012 National Health Survey and the 2014 European Health Survey in Spain.
Background: It is unknown whether growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) and whether or not its association with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) changes according to CMP status.
Methods: In total, 1 957 randomly selected adults aged ≥65 years without prior CVD were followed up between 2015 and 2023. CMP was classified according to its intensity, frequency, and interference with daily activities.
Article Synopsis
- Study examined how two types of plant-based diets affect the risk of physical frailty in adults aged 40 to 70 in the UK over approximately 6.7 years.
- Healthy Plant-based Diet Index (hPDI) showed a significantly lower risk of frailty, while the Unhealthful Plant-based Diet Index (uPDI) was linked to a higher risk.
- Results suggest that eating more healthy plant foods is beneficial for maintaining physical strength, whereas consuming unhealthy plant foods can lead to increased frailty.
Article Synopsis
- A study examined the link between dietary vitamin C intake and changes in chronic pain among adults aged 60 and older, finding that higher vitamin C intake is connected to improved pain outcomes.
- Data from two cohorts involving over 1,700 participants were analyzed, showing that 40.3% experienced worsening pain while 42.5% reported improvement over an average of 2.6 years.
- Results indicated that those in the highest vitamin C intake group were more likely to experience pain improvement, lower frequency, and fewer pain locations, suggesting potential benefits of increasing dietary vitamin C for pain management.
Introduction: The impact of residential green spaces on cardiovascular health in older adults remains uncertain.
Methods: Cohort study involving 2114 adults aged ≥ 65 years without cardiovascular disease (CVD), residing in five dense municipalities (Prince et al., 2015) of the Madrid region and with detailed characterization of their socioeconomic background, health behaviors, CVD biological risk factors, and mental, physical, and cognitive health.
Background: Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide worldwide, both in domestic and industrial settings. Experimental research in animal models has demonstrated changes in muscle physiology and reduced contractile strength associated with glyphosate exposure, while epidemiological studies have shown associations between glyphosate exposure and adverse health outcomes in critical biological systems affecting muscle function.
Methods: This study used data from a nationally representative survey of the non-institutionalized U.
Background: Traffic exposure has been associated with biomarkers of increased biological ageing, age-related chronic morbidities, and increased respiratory, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality. Whether it is associated with functional impairments and unhealthy ageing trajectories is unknown.
Methods: Nationally representative population-based cohort with 3,126 community-dwelling individuals aged ≥60 years who contributed 8,291 biannual visits over a 10 year period.
Objectives: Malnutrition is a global concern in older adults, as it negatively affects morbidity and mortality. While higher animal protein intake may help prevent and treat malnutrition, it might also increase the risk of chronic diseases and death. Conversely, vegetable protein intake might have a lower anabolic effect and not be as effective to improve nutritional status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The objective is to evaluate the association between various indicators of alcohol consumption and the degree of adherence to the Mediterranean diet among the Spanish adult population.
Methods: A cross-sectional study including 44,834 participants ≥ 15 years of age from the 2017 National Health Survey and the 2020 European Health Survey in Spain. Alcohol patterns were defined based on (1) average intake: individuals were classified as low risk (1-20 g/day in men and 1-10 g/day in women) and high risk (> 20 g/day in men or > 10 g/day in women), (2) binge drinking, and (3) alcoholic beverage preference.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the impact of cigarette smoking on breast cancer risk, highlighting the conflicting effects it may have due to its carcinogenic and antiestrogenic properties.
- Analysis from a large population-based study involving 1733 breast cancer cases and 1903 controls revealed that smoking increases the risk of premenopausal breast cancer, especially in long-term smokers (≥30 years).
- Conversely, for postmenopausal women, smoking may lower the risk of breast cancer, particularly in those who have stopped smoking for at least 10 years, indicating that menopausal status significantly influences the relationship between smoking and breast cancer risk.
Article Synopsis
- Liver cancer rates have increased among American Indians/Alaska Natives, and blood DNA methylation could serve as a potential biomarker for cancer risk.
- The study analyzed DNA from 2,324 participants aged 45-75 from various states, tracking liver cancer deaths over a follow-up period averaging 25 years.
- Nine specific DNA methylation sites were linked to liver cancer, indicating how changes in methylation patterns could help predict liver cancer risk and mortality.
Article Synopsis
- Selenium plays a crucial role in maintaining a healthy balance in older adults, being linked to appetite control and gut health.
- A study involving 1398 older individuals in Spain found that higher selenium levels were associated with a lower risk of developing moderate to severe undernutrition over an average follow-up of 2.3 years.
- The findings indicate that ensuring sufficient selenium intake could be important for preventing undernutrition, potentially leading to future research on safe selenium supplementation.
Background: Previous epidemiological studies have suggested that phthalate exposure may contribute to neurocognitive and neurobehavioral disorders and decreased muscle strength and bone mass, all of which may be associated with reduced physical performance. Walking speed is a reliable assessment tool for measuring physical performance in adults age 60 y and older.
Objective: We investigated associations between urinary phthalate metabolites and slowness of walking speed in community-dwelling adults ages 60-98 y.
Background: High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are biomarkers of myocardial infarction and heart failure, respectively, and indicate cardiovascular risk. Since low physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) are also associated with higher cardiovascular risk, and this association could be a consequence of higher levels of cardiac biomarkers, we examined the association of device-measured movement behaviors with hs-cTnT and NT-proBNP in older men and women without major cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Methods: We used data from 1939 older adults from the Seniors-ENRICA-2 study.
Article Synopsis
- Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF-15) is linked to inflammation and age-related diseases, and this study looked at how a Mediterranean lifestyle affects GDF-15 levels in older Spanish adults.
- The research analyzed data from 2,502 participants using the MEDLIFE index, which evaluates adherence to Mediterranean dietary and lifestyle habits.
- Results revealed that higher adherence to a Mediterranean lifestyle correlated with lower GDF-15 levels, particularly related to physical activity and social habits, suggesting lifestyle changes could help reduce chronic inflammation in older adults.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the relationship between light smoking (consuming a few cigarettes daily) and overall mortality in Spain, using data from over 42,000 individuals.
- Findings indicate that light smokers (1-2 or 3-5 cigarettes a day) have a significantly higher risk of mortality compared to never smokers, with hazard ratios reflecting increased risk as cigarette consumption rises.
- The researchers emphasize the need for public awareness initiatives to inform people about the serious health risks associated with even minimal tobacco use, challenging the perception that light smoking is safe.
Introduction And Objectives: The Healthy Heart Score (HHS) is a lifestyle-based equation for predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and may serve as a tool in primordial prevention. However, its performance outside North American populations is unknown. This study assessed the performance of the HHS for estimating CVD mortality in the adult population of Spain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Aims: Omega-3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory and analgesic (anti-nociceptive) actions. However, the relation of habitual omega-3 fatty acid intake and fish consumption - its main food source - with pain remains largely unknown. We examined the association of fish consumption and marine omega-3 fatty acid intake with pain incidence and worsening over 5 years among older adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vitamin D plays a role in bone health, pain signaling, and inflammation. We examined the largely unknown relation of dietary vitamin D intake with pain incidence and pain changes over time in older adults. Methods: Data were taken from the Seniors-ENRICA-1 cohort, which included 950 individuals aged ≥60 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) represents the traditional food consumption patterns of people living in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and is associated with a reduced incidence of obesity and type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The objective of this study was to examine differences in the composition of the oral microbiome in older adults with T2DM and/or high body mass index (BMI) and whether the microbiome was influenced by elements of a MedDiet. Using a nested case-control design individuals affected by T2DM were selected from the Seniors-ENRICA-2 cohort concurrently with non-diabetic controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Frailty is a serious issue in older adults, linked to hospitalization and increased mortality, prompting the study of plant-based diets in relation to frailty.
- Researchers analyzed data from 1,880 seniors in Spain, using two diet indices: the healthful Plant-based Diet Index (hPDI), which scores healthy plant foods positively, and the unhealthful Plant-based Diet Index (uPDI), which scores unhealthy plant foods positively.
- Results indicated that higher adherence to the hPDI was associated with a lower risk of frailty, while higher adherence to the uPDI correlated with an increased risk of frailty among older adults.
Background/aim: There has been no comprehensive examination of the potential association of SHS with broad functional limitation assessment in older adults, where functional limitations are burdensome and challenging.
Methods: We examined 2258 community-dwelling non-smoking older adults from the Seniors-Enrica-2-cohort. At baseline (2017) and follow-up (2019) grip strength was measured with a Jamar dynamometer, lower-extremity performance with the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), overall physical function using the physical component summary (PCS) of the Spanish version of the SF-12, frailty with a Deficits Accumulation Index (DAI), and mobility limitations with the Rosow-Breslau scale.