Background: Frailty is a geriatric syndrome closely linked to a variety of adverse health outcomes. Thus, it is important to identify factors associated with the development of frailty. It was the aim of this study to examine, if, and to what extent partner loss, a highly stressful life event, affects frailty trajectories of community dwelling adults aged 50 or older.
Methods: Using six waves of panel data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we investigated the effect of partner loss on frailty trajectories estimating growth curve models. Our sample included 183 502 observations of 83 494 community-dwelling individuals aged 50 or older from 21 European countries collected between 2004 and 2017. Frailty was measured using the validated sex-specific SHARE-Frailty-Instrument including muscular weakness, unintended weight loss, decrease in walking capacity, low physical activity and exhaustion.
Results: Our sample contained 79 874 participants who lived in a partnership during their entire observational period and 3620 participants who lost their partner during their observational period. Both men (β=0.184 (95% CI: -0.017 to 0.386), p=0.073) and women (β=0.237 (95% CI: 0.106 to 0.369), p<0.001) showed initial effects of partner loss on frailty, but while only women gradually recovered over time (β=-0.023 (95% CI: -0.039 to -0.008), p=0.002), among men, the effect of partner loss persisted (β<0.001 (95% CI: -0.029 to 0.029), p=0.998).
Conclusion: This study revealed that partner loss is followed by elevated frailty. However, while women's frailty tended to recover from partner loss over time, men's frailty remained elevated. Notable individual differences in the response of frailty trajectories to partner loss suggest the existence of effect modifiers.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2021-216637 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Changes in marital and health status as risk factors for a subsequent negative wealth shock: A population-based longitudinal study in the United States, 1995-2020.
Soc Sci Med
March 2025
Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address:
Objectives: A negative wealth shock, defined as a loss of ≥75% in equivalized household total wealth over a short period, may cause adverse health outcomes for older adults. The individual-level risk factors for experiencing a negative wealth shock in later adulthood are unclear.
Methods: Data were from 25,072 adults aged ≥55 in the longitudinal, population-based US Health and Retirement Study from 1995 to 2020 (n = 123,651 observations across all study respondents).
It's My Fingers' Fault: Investigating the Effect of Shared Avatar Control on Agency and Responsibility Attribution.
IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph
March 2025
Previous studies introduced an avatar body control sharing system known as "virtual co-embodiment," where control over bodily movements and external events, or agency, of a single avatar is shared among multiple individuals. However, how this virtual co-embodiment experience influences users' perception of agency, both explicitly and implicitly, and the extent to which they are willing to take responsibility for successful or failed outcomes, remains an imminent problem. In this research, we addressed this issue using: (1) explicit agency questionnaires, (2) implicit intentional binding (IB) effect, (3) responsibility attribution measured through financial gain/loss distribution, and (4) interview to evaluate this experience where agency over the right hand's fingers was fully transferred to a human partner.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe DNase TREX1 is a substrate of the intramembrane protease SPP with implications for disease pathogenesis.
Cell Mol Life Sci
March 2025
Institute for Physiological Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Medizinisch-Theoretisches Zentrum MTZ, Technische Universität Dresden, Fiedlerstraße 42, 01307, Dresden, Germany.
Signal peptide peptidase (SPP) is an ER-resident aspartyl intramembrane protease cleaving proteins within type II-oriented transmembrane segments. Here, we identified the tail-anchored protein Three prime repair exonuclease 1 (TREX1) as a novel substrate of SPP. Based on its DNase activity, TREX1 removes cytosolic DNA acting as a negative regulator of the DNA-sensing cGAS/STING pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeeds of the network: a qualitative study of the needs of family members, partners and close friends of people with a severe mental illness (SMI).
BMC Psychiatry
March 2025
Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Background: Mental healthcare for people with a severe mental illness (SMI) is increasingly being delivered in a deinstitutionalized setting. Community-dwelling, ambulatory care and support, and the associated treatment goals have implications for the roles and experiences of family members and close friends of people with an SMI. This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of what social network members of people with an SMI need to cope with the effects of the illness and possible caregiving responsibilities and remain involved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurological Diseases Caused by Loss of Transfer RNA Modifications: Commonalities in Their Molecular Pathogenesis.
J Mol Biol
March 2025
Department of Molecular Physiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan.
Human transfer RNA (tRNA) contains 46 post-transcriptional modifications at specific tRNA positions, which are incorporated by specific modifying enzymes. These tRNA modifications support the structural and biochemical stability of tRNAs and codon-anticodon interactions. Pathogenic genetic variants and disease-associated expressional aberrations have been identified in more than 50 human tRNA modification enzymes and their partner proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!