Psychotropic medication use and Parkinson's disease risk amongst older women.

Objective: To examine associations of antidepressant, anxiolytic and hypnotic use amongst older women (≥65 years) with incident Parkinson's Disease (PD), using data from Women's Health Initiative linked to Medicare claims.

Methods: PD was defined using self-report, first diagnosis, medications and/or death certificates and psychotropic medications were ascertained at baseline and 3-year follow-up. Cox regression models were constructed to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), controlling for socio-demographic, lifestyle and health characteristics, overall and amongst women diagnosed with depression, anxiety and/or sleep disorders (DASD).

Association of sleep disturbance with Parkinson disease: evidence from the Women's Health Initiative.

Objective: To examine the association of sleep disturbance with Parkinson disease (PD) during 10+ years of follow-up among postmenopausal women, 50 to 79 years of age at baseline.

Methods: Longitudinal data on 130,502 study-eligible women (mean ± standard deviation baseline age = 63.16 ± 7.

Associations of parental ages at childbirth with healthy aging among women.

Objective: To examine associations of parental ages at childbirth with healthy survival to age 90 years among older women.

Study Design: This study included a racially and ethnically diverse sub-cohort of 8,983 postmenopausal women from the larger Women's Health Initiative population, recruited during 1993-1998 and followed for up to 25 years through 2018.

Main Outcome Measures: The outcome was categorized as: 1) healthy survival, defined as survival to age 90 without major morbidities (coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, or hip fracture) or mobility disability; 2) usual survival, defined as survival to age 90 without healthy aging (reference category); or 3) death before age 90.

Psychological Traits, Heart Rate Variability, and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Healthy Aging Women-The Women's Health Initiative.

Objective: Psychological traits such as optimism and hostility affect coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, but mechanisms for this association are unclear. We hypothesized that optimism and hostility may affect CHD risk via changes in heart rate variability (HRV).

Methods: We conducted a longitudinal analysis using data from the Women's Health Initiative Myocardial Ischemia and Migraine Study.

Parental longevity predicts healthy ageing among women.

Objective: to examine the association of parental longevity with healthy survival to age 90 years.

Methods: this was a prospective study among a racially and ethnically diverse cohort of 22,735 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative recruited from 1993 to 1998 and followed through 2017. Women reported maternal and paternal ages at death and current age of alive parents.

The association of sleep duration and quality with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background/objective: Many studies have shown a U-shaped association of sleep duration with mortality; however, this association is difficult to interpret owing to possible reverse causation, residual confounding, and measurement issues. We used data from the Women's Health Initiative to examine the associations of sleep duration, insomnia, and use of sleep aids with death from cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, "other" causes, and all causes combined.

Methods: Cox proportional hazards models were used in the analysis of baseline data and in time-dependent analyses of repeated measures to estimate associations of sleep-related factors with mortality.

Comparison of the Simplified sWHI and the Standard CHS Frailty Phenotypes for Prediction of Mortality, Incident Falls, and Hip Fractures in Older Women.

Background: We compared the simplified Women's Health Initiative (sWHI) and the standard Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) frailty phenotypes in predicting falls, hip fracture, and death in older women.

Methods: Participants are from the WHI Clinical Trial. CHS frailty criteria included weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slowness, and low physical activity.

Comparison of Frailty Phenotypes for Prediction of Mortality, Incident Falls, and Hip Fracture in Older Women.

Objectives: To compare the ability of the commonly used Women's Health Initiative (WHI) and Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) frailty phenotypes to predict falls, hip fracture, and death in WHI Clinical Trial participants aged 65 and older.

Design: Longitudinal cohort study.

Setting: WHI Clinical Trial.

Global Quality of Life Among WHI Women Aged 80 Years and Older.

Background: The number of older adults living to age 80 and older is increasing rapidly, particularly among women. Correlates of quality of life (QOL) in very advanced ages are not known. We examined the association of demographic, social-psychological, lifestyle, and physical health variables with global QOL in a Women's Health Initiative (WHI) cohort of women aged 80 and older.

The Relationship of Cardiovascular Disease to Physical Functioning in Women Surviving to Age 80 and Above in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is highly prevalent at ages 80 and above. The association of physical functioning (PF), a key to an optimal aging trajectory, with CVD and specific CVD diagnosis in women who survive to age 80 and above has not been described previously and has important public health significance given our aging population.

Methods: Women's Health Initiative participants aged 80 years or older at the time of self-reporting PF (RAND SF-36) were studied in relationship to CVD diagnosis, whether present at study baseline (1993-1998) or diagnosed during follow-up through 2012.

Low-Fat Dietary Pattern Intervention and Health-Related Quality of Life: The Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial.

Background: Intensive dietary intervention programs may lead to benefits in vitality and other components of health quality. The Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification (DM) intervention includes a large randomized controlled trial of an intensive intervention.

Objective: To evaluate whether the intervention is associated with improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) subscales, overall self-reported health, depression symptoms, cognitive functioning, and sleep quality.

Sleep duration, cognitive decline, and dementia risk in older women.

Introduction: Consistent evidence linking habitual sleep duration with risks of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia is lacking.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study on 7444 community-dwelling women (aged 65-80 y) with self-reported sleep duration, within the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study in 1995-2008. Incident MCI/dementia cases were ascertained by validated protocols.

Intraindividual variability in domain-specific cognition and risk of mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Intraindividual variability among cognitive domains may predict dementia independently of interindividual differences in cognition. A multidomain cognitive battery was administered to 2305 older adult women (mean age 74 years) enrolled in an ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative. Women were evaluated annually for probable dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) for an average of 5.

Vitamin D supplementation and depression in the women's health initiative calcium and vitamin D trial.

While observational studies have suggested that vitamin D deficiency increases risk of depression, few clinical trials have tested whether vitamin D supplementation affects the occurrence of depression symptoms. The authors evaluated the impact of daily supplementation with 400 IU of vitamin D(3) combined with 1,000 mg of elemental calcium on measures of depression in a randomized, double-blinded US trial comprising 36,282 postmenopausal women. The Burnam scale and current use of antidepressant medication were used to assess depressive symptoms at randomization (1995-2000).

Toward a positive aging phenotype for older women: observations from the women's health initiative.

Background: To develop a positive aging phenotype, we undertook analyses to describe multiple dimensions of positive aging and their relationships to one another in women 65 years of age and older and evaluate the performance of individual indicators and composite factors of this phenotype as predictors of time to death, years of healthy living, and years of independent living.

Methods: Data from Women's Health Initiative clinical trial and observational study participants ages 65 years and older at baseline, including follow-up observations up to 8 years later, were analyzed using descriptive statistics and principal components analysis to identify the factor structure of a positive aging phenotype. The factors were used to predict time to death, years of healthy living (without hospitalization or diagnosis of a serious health condition), and years of independent living (without nursing home admission or use of special services).

Vitamin D intake from foods and supplements and depressive symptoms in a diverse population of older women.

Background: Vitamin D may plausibly reduce the occurrence of depression in postmenopausal women; however, epidemiologic evidence is limited, and few prospective studies have been conducted.

Objective: We conducted a cross-sectional and prospective analysis of vitamin D intake from foods and supplements and risk of depressive symptoms.

Design: Study participants were 81,189 members of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study who were aged 50-79 y at baseline.

The effect of calcium plus vitamin D on risk for invasive cancer: results of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) calcium plus vitamin D randomized clinical trial.

In the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial of calcium plus vitamin D (CaD), we examined the treatment effect on incidence and mortality for all invasive cancers. Postmenopausal women (N = 36,282) were randomized to 1,000 mg of elemental calcium with 400 IU vitamin D3 or placebo. Cox models estimated risk of cancer incidence and mortality.

Application of machine learning methods to describe the effects of conjugated equine estrogens therapy on region-specific brain volumes.

Use of conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) has been linked to smaller regional brain volumes in women aged ≥65 years; however, it is unknown whether this results in a broad-based characteristic pattern of effects. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess regional volumes of normal tissue and ischemic lesions among 513 women who had been enrolled in a randomized clinical trial of CEE therapy for an average of 6.6 years, beginning at ages 65-80 years.

Long-term effects of conjugated equine estrogen therapies on domain-specific cognitive function: results from the Women's Health Initiative study of cognitive aging extension.

Objectives: To determine whether small decrements in global cognitive function that conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) therapies have been shown to produce in older women persist after cessation and extend to specific cognitive domains.

Design: Randomized controlled clinical trial.

Setting: Fourteen clinical centers of the Women's Health Initiative.

Menopausal symptom experience before and after stopping estrogen therapy in the Women's Health Initiative randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess vasomotor and other menopausal symptoms before starting estrogens or placebo, 1 year later, again at trial closure, and after stopping estrogens or placebo. The role of baseline symptoms and age was examined, as was the frequency and determinants of hormone use and symptom management strategies after discontinuing conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) or placebo.

Methods: Intent-to-treat analyses of 10,739 postmenopausal women before and 1 year after randomization to CEE or placebo at 40 clinical centers and a cohort analysis of participants (n = 3,496) who continued taking assigned study pills up to trial closure and completed symptom surveys shortly before (mean, 7.

Subtypes of mild cognitive impairment in older postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional state between normal cognitive functioning and dementia. A proposed MCI typology classifies individuals by the type and extent of cognitive impairment, yet few studies have characterized or compared these subtypes. Four hundred forty-seven women 65 years of age and older from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study were classified into the 4 MCI subgroups and a "no impairment" group and compared on clinical, sociodemographic, and health variables.

Calcium, vitamin D supplementation, and physical function in the Women's Health Initiative.

Objectives: The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) randomized trial of calcium/vitamin D supplementation found reduced bone loss with active treatment compared to placebo. Now we examine whether the treatment affected self-reported physical functioning and objective measures of physical functioning.

Design: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 1,000 mg calcium carbonate plus 400 IU vitamin D(3) per day or matching placebo pills.

Sleep duration and risk of ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women.

Background And Purpose: Many studies have shown a U-shape association between sleep duration and mortality, but epidemiological evidence linking cardiovascular diseases with habitual sleep patterns is limited and mixed.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study on 93 175 older women (aged 50 to 79 years) in the Women's Health Initiative Observational study cohort to examine the risk of ischemic stroke in relation to self-reported sleep duration. Cox models were used to investigate the putative associations, adjusting for multiple sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, depression, snoring, sleepiness symptoms, and other cardiovascular disease-related clinical characteristics.

Depressive symptoms, bone loss, and fractures in postmenopausal women.

Background: Osteoporosis and depression may be associated through common physiologic systems or risk factors.

Objective: To assess the associations between depressive symptoms (Burnam's scale) or antidepressant use and bone outcomes.

Design: Prospective cohort study.