DNAm scores for serum GDF15 and NT-proBNP levels associate with a range of traits affecting the body and brain.

Background: Plasma growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) and N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are cardiovascular biomarkers that associate with a range of diseases. Epigenetic scores (EpiScores) for GDF15 and NT-proBNP may provide new routes for risk stratification.

Results: In the Generation Scotland cohort (N ≥ 16,963), GDF15 levels were associated with incident dementia, ischaemic stroke and type 2 diabetes, whereas NT-proBNP levels were associated with incident ischaemic heart disease, ischaemic stroke and type 2 diabetes (all P < 0.

Generation Scotland: an update on Scotland's longitudinal family health study.

Purpose: Generation Scotland (GS) is a large family-based cohort study established as a longitudinal resource for research into the genetic, lifestyle and environmental determinants of physical and mental health. It comprises extensive genetic, sociodemographic and clinical data from volunteers in Scotland.

Participants: A total of 24 084 adult participants, including 5501 families, were recruited between 2006 and 2011.

Development and validation of DNA methylation scores in two European cohorts augment 10-year risk prediction of type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) presents a major health and economic burden that could be alleviated with improved early prediction and intervention. While standard risk factors have shown good predictive performance, we show that the use of blood-based DNA methylation information leads to a significant improvement in the prediction of 10-year T2D incidence risk. Previous studies have been largely constrained by linear assumptions, the use of cytosine-guanine pairs one-at-a-time and binary outcomes.

Association of functional health literacy and cognitive ability with self-reported diabetes in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing: a prospective cohort study.

Objectives: We investigated whether functional health literacy and cognitive ability were associated with self-reported diabetes.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Data were from waves 2 (2004-2005) to 7 (2014-2015) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a cohort study designed to be representative of adults aged 50 years and older living in England.

The Effect of School Bullying on Pupils' Perceived Stress and Wellbeing During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study.

Purpose: Establishing how the Covid-19 pandemic and related lockdowns have affected adolescent mental health is a key societal priority. Though numerous studies have examined this topic, few have focused on the wellbeing of pupils who experience school bullying. This is particularly important as pupils who experience bullying represent a vulnerable group at increased risk of mental illness.

TeenCovidLife: a resource to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents in Scotland.

TeenCovidLife is part of Generation Scotland's CovidLife projects, a set of longitudinal observational studies designed to assess the psychosocial and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. TeenCovidLife focused on how adolescents in Scotland were coping during the pandemic. As of September 2021, Generation Scotland had conducted three TeenCovidLife surveys.

RuralCovidLife: A new resource for the impact of the pandemic on rural Scotland.

RuralCovidLife is part of Generation Scotland's CovidLife project, investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation measures on people in Scotland. The RuralCovidLife project focuses on Scotland's rural communities, and how they have been impacted by the pandemic. During survey development, Generation Scotland consulted with people living or working in rural communities, and collaborated with a patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) group composed of rural community leaders.

Psychological correlates of free colorectal cancer screening uptake in a Scottish sample: a cross-sectional observational study.

Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening uptake in Scotland is 56%. This study examined whether psychological factors were associated with CRC screening uptake.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Epigenetic scores for the circulating proteome as tools for disease prediction.

Protein biomarkers have been identified across many age-related morbidities. However, characterising epigenetic influences could further inform disease predictions. Here, we leverage epigenome-wide data to study links between the DNA methylation (DNAm) signatures of the circulating proteome and incident diseases.

Using symptom-based case predictions to identify host genetic factors that contribute to COVID-19 susceptibility.

Epidemiological and genetic studies on COVID-19 are currently hindered by inconsistent and limited testing policies to confirm SARS-CoV-2 infection. Recently, it was shown that it is possible to predict COVID-19 cases using cross-sectional self-reported disease-related symptoms. Here, we demonstrate that this COVID-19 prediction model has reasonable and consistent performance across multiple independent cohorts and that our attempt to improve upon this model did not result in improved predictions.

Difference in distribution functions: A new diffusion weighted imaging metric for estimating white matter integrity.

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is a widely recognized neuroimaging technique to evaluate the microstructure of brain white matter. The objective of this study is to establish an improved automated DWI marker for estimating white matter integrity and investigating ageing related cognitive decline. The concept of Wasserstein distance was introduced to help establish a new measure: difference in distribution functions (DDF), which captures the difference of reshaping one's mean diffusivity (MD) distribution to a reference MD distribution.

CovidLife: a resource to understand mental health, well-being and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.

CovidLife is a longitudinal observational study designed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, well-being and behaviour in adults living in the UK. In total, 18,518 participants (mean age = 56.43, SD = 14.

Pre-pandemic cognitive function and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: cohort study.

Background: Whereas several predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy have been reported, the role of cognitive function is largely unknown. Accordingly, our objective was to evaluate the association between scores from an array of cognitive function tests and self-reported vaccine hesitancy after the announcement of the successful testing of the first COVID-19 vaccine (Oxford University/AstraZeneca).

Methods: We used individual-level data from a pandemic-focused study ('COVID Survey'), a prospective cohort study nested within United Kingdom Understanding Society ('Main Survey').

Pre-pandemic Cognitive Function and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Cohort Study.

Background: Whereas several predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy have been examined, the role of cognitive function following the widely publicised development of an inoculation is unknown.

Objective: To test the association between scores from an array of cognitive function tests and self-reported vaccine hesitancy after the announcement of the successful testing of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine.

Design Setting And Participants: We used individual-level data from a pandemic-focused study (COVID Survey), a prospective cohort study nested within Understanding Society (Main Survey).

Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in two longitudinal UK population cohorts.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation measures are likely to have a marked effect on mental health. It is important to use longitudinal data to improve inferences.

Aims: To quantify the prevalence of depression, anxiety and mental well-being before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reliability and validity of the UK Biobank cognitive tests.

UK Biobank is a health resource with data from over 500,000 adults. The cognitive assessment in UK Biobank is brief and bespoke, and is administered without supervision on a touchscreen computer. Psychometric information on the UK Biobank cognitive tests are limited.

Structural brain imaging correlates of general intelligence in UK Biobank.

The associations between indices of brain structure and measured intelligence are unclear. This is partly because the evidence to-date comes from mostly small and heterogeneous studies. Here, we report brain structure-intelligence associations on a large sample from the UK Biobank study.

Predicting incident dementia 3-8 years after brief cognitive tests in the UK Biobank prospective study of 500,000 people.

Introduction: Prospective studies reporting associations between cognitive performance and subsequent incident dementia have been subject to attrition bias. Furthermore, the extent to which established risk factors account for such associations requires further elucidation.

Methods: We used UK Biobank baseline cognitive data (n ≤ 488,130) and electronically linked hospital inpatient and death records during three- to eight-year follow-up, to estimate risk of total dementia (n = 1051), Alzheimer's disease (n = 352), and vascular dementia (n = 169) according to four brief cognitive tasks, with/without adjustment for constitutional and modifiable risk factors.

Genetic Contributions to Health Literacy.

Higher health literacy is associated with higher cognitive function and better health. Despite its wide use in medical research, no study has investigated the genetic contributions to health literacy. Using 5783 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) participants (mean age = 65.