Integrating accelerometry, GPS, GIS and molecular data to investigate mechanistic pathways of the urban environmental exposome and cognitive outcomes in older adults: a longitudinal study protocol.

Introduction: Maintaining cognitive health in later life is a global priority. Encouraging individuals to make health behaviour changes, such as regular physical activity, and providing supportive urban environments can help maintain cognitive health, thereby preventing or delaying the progress of dementia and cognitive decline. However, the mechanistic pathways by which the urban environmental exposome influences cognitive health outcomes are poorly understood.

Procrastination and preventive health-care in the older U.S. population.

Objective: Maintaining health preventive behaviours in later life reduces the risk of non-communicable diseases. However, these behaviours often require effort and discipline to adopt and may be prone to procrastination. This study examined whether procrastination affected engagement in health preventive behaviours among older adults.

Do discrepancies between subjective and objective health shift over time in later life? A markov transition model.

Subjective health (SH) deteriorates less rapidly than objective health (OH) in older adults. However, scant evidence exists regarding if discrepancies between SH and OH shift in the same individuals over time. We explore whether such discrepancies change over time in a sample of older adults living in England, through a prospective, observational cohort study design.

How Do Discrepancies between Subjective and Objective Health Predict the Risk of Injurious Falls? A Study of Community-Dwelling Swedish Older Adults.

Objectives: Previous studies demonstrated that discrepancies between subjective and objective health measures are associated with physical and mental health-related outcomes in older adults. We investigate whether such discrepancies are also associated with risk of injurious falls in community-dwelling Swedish older adults.

Design: A prospective, observational cohort study.

Procrastination, depressive symptomatology, and loneliness in later life.

Objectives: Procrastination is an almost universal behaviour and yet little research to date has focused on procrastination among older adults. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential association between age and procrastination, and the potential mediating roles of depressive symptomatology and loneliness.

Method: Structural equation modelling was applied to data from 1309 participants (aged 29-92) from two waves United States Health and Retirement Study (2016-2020).

Guidelines for evaluating and reporting social isolation and loneliness interventions.

Given the unpleasant nature of social isolation and loneliness (SIL) and their negative effects on health and wellbeing, interventions are needed. However, persistent issues in the design, evaluation, and reporting of SIL interventions preclude conclusive evidence and commentary on the effectiveness of SIL interventions. Here, we propose guidelines for evaluating SIL interventions, firstly by operationalising them into two categories: (1) interventions aiming to reduce SIL as a primary outcome and (2) interventions aiming to improve non-SIL outcomes in the lives of individuals experiencing SIL.

Mechanisms through which befriending services may impact the health of older adults: A dyadic qualitative investigation.

Befriending services are often delivered to older adults with a view to improving social connectedness, but they may also lead to improved health. The objective of the current study was to explore potential mechanisms through which befriending services might impact the health of older adults. Data were collected from 13 befriendee-befriender dyads ( = 26), using a constructivist grounded theory and dyadic analytic approach.

The effect of mindfulness-based intervention on cognitively unimpaired older adults' cognitive function and sleep quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effect of mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on cognitively unimpaired older adults' cognitive function and sleep quality. Studies published in English since 2010 were considered for inclusion. Databases searched were PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and PsycInfo.

Freedom and loneliness: dementia caregiver experiences of the nursing home transition.

Background: the transition to nursing home care has previously been linked to negative outcomes for spousal caregivers of persons with dementia (PwD). However, little is known about the experience or trajectory of loneliness in spousal caregivers during this time.

Objectives: to explore experiences of loneliness in caregivers during the nursing home admission of their spouse or partner with dementia.

Health asymmetry as a predictor of depressive symptomatology over time among older European adults: A growth curve analysis.

Objective: Subjective (SH) and objective health (OH) measures are associated with depressive symptomatology in older adults. We explored whether the discrepancy between SH and OH (operationalised as 'health asymmetry' with four categories: 'health optimistic', 'health pessimistic' and 'good health realistic' and 'poor health realistic') may also relate to depressive symptomatology 1) cross-sectionally, and 2) longitudinally, among older European adults.

Methods: Adults (n = 26,520), aged 50+, from 11 European countries, were assessed over six waves of data collection (2006-2020) in the SHARE study.

Exposure to the troubles in Northern Ireland, memory functioning, and social activity engagement: results from NICOLA.

Unlabelled: We investigated the potential impact of a cohort traumatic exposure, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, on memory functioning in later life, and the potential moderating effect of social activity engagement. Using data from 6571 participants aged 60 + in the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA) cohort, we used a structural equation modelling framework to explore associations between traumatic exposure during the Troubles and memory functioning. As expected, social activity engagement was positively associated with memory functioning,  = .

HALO: Study protocol for a single-case experimental design study evaluating the moderating impact of a befriending intervention on the association between loneliness and health in older adults.

: Loneliness in later life is often addressed with befriending interventions, yet evidence for their effectiveness is limited. Meanwhile it is known that loneliness has a deleterious impact on health. The aim of the study is to evaluate whether a befriending service for older adults mitigates the impact of loneliness on health outcomes, and to identify mechanisms through which befriending interventions might impact upon health.

Expecting the best or fearing the worst: Discrepancies between self-rated health and frailty in an ageing Irish population.

Objectives: Ageing populations have the propensity to rate their health status more inaccurately than their younger counterparts. As a result, we (1) devised a metric which categorized older adults into groups based on the discrepancy between their self-rated health (SRH) and Frailty Index (FI) scores, and (2) investigated which factors predict group membership.

Design: A cross-sectional design was employed using data from The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (TILDA).

Social isolation, social support, and loneliness and their relationship with cognitive health and dementia.

Background: Poor social health is prevalent in older adults and may be associated with worse cognition, and increased dementia risk. The aim of this study was to determine whether social isolation, social support and loneliness are independently associated with cognitive function and incident dementia over 5 years in older adults, and to investigate potential gender differences.

Methods: Participants were 11,498 community-dwelling relatively healthy Australians aged 70-94, in the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP).

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Loneliness and Social Isolation: A Multi-Country Study.

The COVID-19 global pandemic and subsequent public health social measures have challenged our social and economic life, with increasing concerns around potentially rising levels of social isolation and loneliness. This paper is based on cross-sectional online survey data (available in 10 languages, from 2 June to 16 November 2020) with 20,398 respondents from 101 different countries. It aims to help increase our understanding of the global risk factors that are associated with social isolation and loneliness, irrespective of culture or country, to support evidence-based policy, services and public health interventions.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, complex PTSD and subtypes of loneliness among older adults.

Objectives: Research examining the relationship between loneliness and Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) is scarce, particularly among older adults. CPTSD includes the core symptoms of PTSD along with additional symptoms reflecting "disturbances in self-organisation" (DSO). This study examined the cross-sectional relationships between loneliness (emotional and social loneliness) and CPTSD symptoms (i.

Social isolation, social support and loneliness as independent concepts, and their relationship with health-related quality of life among older women.

To assess whether social isolation, social support, and loneliness are independently associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Retrospective analysis including 10,517 women aged 70-75 years from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). Social isolation, social support (Duke Social Support Index), and loneliness (single item) were investigated for their association with standardised HRQoL (physical [PCS] and mental [MCS] components of the SF-36® questionnaire).

Older Users of a Befriending Service in Ireland and the Maintenance of Personal Autonomy during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In the Republic of Ireland (RoI), COVID-19 public health guidelines have been most restrictive for people aged 70 and over. Such individuals are most likely to avail of befriending services offered by a network of Irish organisations. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of COVID-19 guidelines on befriending service users, and to develop recommended adaptations to befriending services compatible with such guidelines.

Posttraumatic stress disorder and loneliness are associated over time: A longitudinal study on PTSD symptoms and loneliness, among older adults.

Loneliness has a pernicious effect on mental health in later life and is likely to have a bidirectional relationship with psychopathology. However, longitudinal research examining loneliness and posttraumatic stress symptoms among older adults is scarce. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relationship between different types of loneliness (social and emotional) and posttraumatic stress symptoms.