Functional limitation in later-life: the impact of sips, socialization, and sadness.

Objectives: Findings on the health impact of moderate alcohol use in later-life have been discrepant. Unaddressed mechanisms of action and validity concerns may contribute to contrasting results. Several studies have demonstrated a beneficial relationship between moderate alcohol use and functional ability.

The Benefit of Moderate Alcohol Use on Mood and Functional Ability in Later Life: Due to Beers or Frequent Cheers?

Background And Objectives: Evidence relates moderate alcohol consumption in later life to fewer depressive symptoms and greater functional ability. This study evaluated social interaction as a mediator of these outcomes.

Research Design And Methods: Data included older adults in the Health and Retirement Study.

Independent Effects of Apolipoprotein E and Cerebrovascular Burden on Later-Life Depression: The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Objective: Studies evaluating the effect of apolipoprotein E (APOE) on vascular depression are sparse, employ heterogeneous methods, and yield inconsistent results. One possibility is that APOE is a moderator of another predictor such as cerebrovascular burden. This longitudinal study examines the relationships between APOE, cerebrovascular burden, and depressive symptomatology in a large cohort sample from midlife to later life.

The relationship between moderate alcohol consumption, depressive symptomatology, and C-reactive protein: the Health and Retirement Study.

Objective: Moderate alcohol use has been broadly associated with health benefits among older adults, including improved mood. Aims of this study were to evaluate the relationship of moderate alcohol use and depressive symptomatology over a period of eight years, and to examine inflammation, indicated by C-reactive protein (CRP), as one mechanism by which this relationship functions.

Methods: The study included 3177 community-dwelling participants over the age of 65 in 2008 drawn from the Health and Retirement Study.

Cerebrovascular burden and depressive symptomatology interrelate over 18 years: support for the vascular depression hypothesis.

Objective: Potentially incongruent research literatures suggest three divergent hypotheses about depressive symptomatology: (1) symptoms are recurrent; (2) later-life depression results from high cerebrovascular burden (CVB); and (3) depressive symptoms contribute to comorbidities causing vascular burden. Past vascular depression research assumes that later-life depressive symptoms relate uniquely to high CVB and not to prior, recurrent depression. This study examines these divergent hypotheses.