Relations among perceived parental rearing behaviors, attachment style, and worry in anxious children.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Amy M; Whiteside, Stephen P

2008-01-01

The present study extended the findings of Muris et al. [Muris, P., Meesters, C., Merckelbach, H., & Hulsenbeck, P. (2000). Worry in children is related to perceived parental rearing and attachment. Behavior Research and Therapy, 38, 487-497] regarding the relations between perceived parental rearing behaviors, self-reported attachment style, and worry in a community sample to a clinical sample of anxious children. Sixty-four children and adolescents, aged 7-18 years, with a primary anxiety disorder completed (a) the EMBU-C, a questionnaire measuring perceptions of parental rearing behaviors, (b) a single-item measure of attachment style, and (c) an index of worry severity. Findings revealed that child rated parental rearing behaviors, particularly parental rejection, were positively related to child worry. Self-reported attachment style was also related to worry, such that children who classified themselves as ambivalently attached reported higher levels of worry than did children who classified themselves as securely attached. Parenting style and attachment were found to make independent contributions to worry. The results are compared to those from Muris et al.'s community study, and implications for future research are discussed.

?My Worries Are Rational, Climate Change Is Not?: Habitual Ecological Worrying Is an Adaptive Response

OpenAIRE

Verplanken, Bas; Roy, Deborah

2013-01-01

Qualifications such as "global warming hysteria" and "energy policy schizophrenia" put forward by some climate change skeptics, usually outside the academic arena, may suggest that people who seriously worry about the environment suffer from psychological imbalance. The present study aimed to refute this thesis. While habitual worrying in general is strongly associated with psychopathological symptoms, in a survey a near-zero correlation was found between habitual ecological worrying and path...

Children's direct fright and worry reactions to violence in fiction and news television programs.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Molen, Juliette H Walma; Bushman, Brad J

2008-09-01

To examine whether violence in fictional and news television content frightens and worries children. Mixed factorial. Type of reaction (fright, worry) and television programming (violent news, violent fiction) were within-subjects factors, whereas age, sex, and television viewing frequency were between-subjects factors. Participants included 572 children (47% boys), aged 8 to 12 years, from 9 urban and rural primary schools in the Netherlands. The main exposure was to descriptions of 8 threats frequently depicted in fictional and news programs (eg, murder, war, house fires). Children reported whether they were frightened or worried by these threats. Violent threats increased both fright and worry. These 2 reactions could be distinguished from one another in a factor analysis. When violent content was described as news, it produced more fear reactions than when it was described as fiction. Fright and worry were greater in girls than in boys, in younger children than in older children, and in light television viewers than in heavy television viewers. Pediatricians should inform parents, educators, policy makers, and broadcasters about the potentially harmful effect of violent programming on children's emotions, especially in the case of news programming.

A cognitive model of pathological worry

Science.gov (United States)

Hirsch, Colette R.; Mathews, Andrew

2012-01-01

We present an evidence-based model of pathological worry in which worry arises from an interaction between involuntary (bottom-up) processes, such as habitual biases in attention and interpretation favouring threat content, and voluntary (top-down) processes, such as attentional control. At a pre-conscious level, these processes influence the competition between mental representations when some correspond to the intended focus of attention and others to threat distracters. Processing biases influence the probability of threat representations initially intruding into awareness as negative thoughts. Worry in predominantly verbal form then develops, influenced by conscious processes such as attempts to resolve the perceived threat and the redirection of attentional control resources to worry content, as well as the continuing influence of habitual processing biases. After describing this model, we present evidence for each component process and for their causal role in pathological worry, together with implications for new directions in the treatment of pathological worry. PMID:22863541

Worry and risk perception of breast cancer in a prevention trial of low dose tamoxifen in midlife postmenopausal hormone users.

Science.gov (United States)

Rondanina, Gabriella; Puntoni, Matteo; Guerrieri-Gonzaga, Aliana; Marra, Domenico; Bonanni, Bernardo; DeCensi, Andrea

2017-08-01

There is increasing interest in combining postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) and SERMs in midlife women. We previously showed that refusal to participate in a prevention trial of low dose tamoxifen in HT users was associated with higher worry about breast cancer. Given this counterintuitive finding, we studied which factors influenced worry and risk perception of breast cancer. We assessed the relationships of breast cancer worry and risk perception with age, age at menopause, Gail risk, education, adherence to mammographic screening, BMI, smoking, physical activity, alcohol use, anxiety and depression in 457 midlife HT users who were eligible to participate in the trial. Women with menopause 52 years (OR = 5.0, 95% CI, 1.2-21.1). Worry was also associated with high absolute risk perception and former smoking. Factors associated with higher risk perception were age>60 years, at-risk life style, worry about breast cancer and depression. The inverse association between early menopause and worry about breast cancer is in contrast with the known protective effect of early menopause on breast cancer risk and seems to reflect a feeling of aging and disease vulnerability. Our findings indicate that worry about cancer has an affective construct which is independent of breast cancer biology but is engaged in health decision making. Increasing breast cancer risk awareness in subjects high in worry without a plan of emotional coping may therefore be counterproductive because of avoidant attitudes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Pain-related worry in patients with chronic orofacial pain.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, C Ervin; Stockstill, John W; Stanley, William D; Wu, Qiang

2014-07-01

Pain-related worry is distinct from, but related to, pain catastrophizing (PC) and anxiety. Worry and its relationship with other variables have been studied in people with chronic pain but not in people with chronic orofacial pain. The authors explored the prevalence of trait, general and pain-related worry and the association of worry with higher pain levels and other variables. The authors assessed people who had a diagnosis of chronic orofacial pain by using nonpain-related trait worry, state anxiety, trait anxiety, PC and pain measures. The participants' answers to an open-ended question about what they were most worried about led to the identification of worry domains, including worry about pain. The authors found that worrying about pain was related significantly to worst and least pain levels, pain interference and pain duration, as well as moderated trait worry in predicting pain interference. Although trait worry was not correlated directly with pain, when moderated by PC, it made substantial contributions in predicting pain interference. Participants with chronic orofacial pain reported experiencing substantial levels of trait worry, anxiety, PC and worry about pain that related to pain ratings directly and indirectly. Clinicians should assess pain-related worry in patients with chronic orofacial pain to understand the effects of worry on pain and functioning. Clinicians could treat these patients more effectively by helping them reduce their levels of pain-related worry and focusing on improved coping.

Understanding Cancer Worry Among Patients in a Community Clinic-Based Colorectal Cancer Screening Intervention Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Christy, Shannon M; Schmidt, Alyssa; Wang, Hsiao-Lan; Sutton, Steven K; Davis, Stacy N; Chavarria, Enmanuel; Abdulla, Rania; Quinn, Gwendolyn P; Vadaparampil, Susan T; Schultz, Ida; Roetzheim, Richard; Shibata, David; Meade, Cathy D; Gwede, Clement K

2018-06-04

To reduce colorectal cancer (CRC) screening disparities, it is important to understand correlates of different types of cancer worry among ethnically diverse individuals. The current study examined the prevalence of three types of cancer worry (i.e., general cancer worry, CRC-specific worry, and worry about CRC test results) as well as sociodemographic and health-related predictors for each type of cancer worry. Participants were aged 50-75, at average CRC risk, nonadherent to CRC screening guidelines, and enrolled in a randomized controlled trial to increase CRC screening. Participants completed a baseline questionnaire assessing sociodemographics, health beliefs, healthcare experiences, and three cancer worry measures. Associations between study variables were examined with separate univariate and multivariable logistic regression models. Responses from a total of 416 participants were used. Of these, 47% reported experiencing moderate-to-high levels of general cancer worry. Predictors of general cancer worry were salience and coherence (aOR = 1.1, 95% CI [1.0, 1.3]), perceived susceptibility (aOR = 1.2, 95% CI [1.1, 1.3), and social influence (aOR = 1.1, 95% CI [1.0, 0.1]). Fewer (23%) reported moderate-to-high levels of CRC-specific worry or CRC test worry (35%). Predictors of CRC worry were perceived susceptibility (aOR = 1.4, 95% CI [1.3, 1.6]) and social influence (aOR = 1.1, 95% CI [1.0, 1.2]); predictors of CRC test result worry were perceived susceptibility (aOR = 1.2, 95% CI [1.1, 1.3) and marital status (aOR = 2.0, 95% CI [1.1, 3.7] for married/partnered vs. single and aOR = 2.3, 95% CI [1.3, 4.1] for divorced/widowed vs. single). Perceived susceptibility consistently predicted the three types of cancer worry, whereas other predictors varied between cancer worry types and in magnitude of association. The three types of cancer worry were generally predicted by health beliefs, suggesting potential malleability. Future research should include multiple

Worry about Terror in Israel: Differences between Jewish and Arab Adolescents and Young Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Peleg, Ora

2010-01-01

The current study examines group differences in (1) levels of worry about terror and (2) trait anxiety among a sample of high-school and university students, where groups are defined by cultural affiliation, religious commitment, place of residence, gender and age. The revealed group differences in levels of worry about terror point to the ability…

The perseverative worry bout: A review of cognitive, affective and motivational factors that contribute to worry perseveration.

Science.gov (United States)

Davey, Graham C L; Meeten, F

2016-12-01

This paper reviews the cognitive, affective and attentional factors that contribute to individual perseverative worry bouts. We describe how automatic biases in attentional and interpretational processes contribute to threat detection and to the inclusion of negative intrusive thoughts into the worry stream typical of the "what if …?" thinking style of pathological worriers. The review also describes processes occurring downstream from these perceptual biases that also facilitate perseveration, including cognitive biases in beliefs about the nature of the worry process, the automatic deployment of strict goal-directed responses for dealing with the threat, the role of negative mood in facilitating effortful forms of information processing (i.e. systematic information processing styles), and in providing negative information for evaluating the success of the worry bout. We also consider the clinical implications of this model for an integrated intervention programme for pathological worrying. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Worry, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Statistics Anxiety

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Amanda S.

2013-01-01

Statistics anxiety is a problem for most graduate students. This study investigates the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty, worry, and statistics anxiety. Intolerance of uncertainty was significantly related to worry, and worry was significantly related to three types of statistics anxiety. Six types of statistics anxiety were…

The Dual Effects of Critical Thinking Disposition on Worry

Science.gov (United States)

Sugiura, Yoshinori

2013-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between disposition (people’s consistent motivation) toward critical thinking (CT) and worrying. In spite of its connection to psychopathology, worry is thought to represent an effort at problem-solving. Moreover, worry has been found to be underpinned by cognitive development, leading us to predict a positive relationship between worry and CT disposition. On the other hand, cognitive behavioral therapy, which involves techniques similar to CT, has been shown to be effective in reducing worrying, suggesting that increasing CT disposition decreases worrying. This study attempted to reconcile these seemingly contrasting predictions about the relationship between CT disposition and worrying by using multiple mediator analysis. A model was proposed wherein the mediators, responsibility to continue thinking and detached awareness of negative thinking, were related to two opposing predictions. The former is thought to lead to enhanced worrying and the latter to reduced worrying, with both positively related to CT disposition. A questionnaire study with university students (N = 760) revealed that CT disposition enhanced worrying by obliging people to continue thinking about a problem, but that it also reduced worrying by enhancing the detached and objective awareness of their negative thoughts. This study thus demonstrated the dual effects of CT disposition on worrying through different mediators. Thus, when enhancing CT disposition, it is important for educators to be aware of possible disadvantages apart from its worry-reducing effect. Future studies should therefore examine the underlying mechanisms of these two effects of CT disposition. PMID:24278160

Posttraumatic stress and worry as mediators and moderators between political stressors and emotional and behavioral disorders in Palestinian children.

Science.gov (United States)

Khamis, Vivian

2012-01-01

This study was designed to assess whether the symptoms of posttraumatic stress mediate or moderate the relationship between political stressors and emotional and behavioral disorders in Palestinian children. It was hypothesized that (a) posttraumatic stress and worry mediate the effect of political stressors on behavioral and emotional disorders and (b) the relationship between political stressors and behavioral and emotional disorders should be attenuated for children with low levels of worry and posttraumatic stress and strengthened for children with high levels of worry and posttraumatic stress. The total sample was 1267 school age children of both sexes with a mean age of 11.97 years. Interviews were conducted with children at school. As hypothesized, the results indicated that posttraumatic stress and worry mediated and moderated the relationship between political stressors and emotional and behavioral disorders in children. Cognitive-behavioral therapy may be used to reduce the incidence of posttraumatic stress and decrease self-reported worry, somatic symptoms, general anxiety, and depression among children exposed to political trauma. Cognitive-behavioral treatment that exclusively targets excessive worry can lead to clinical change in the other interacting subsystems at the cognitive, physiological, affective and behavioral levels.

Predictors of HIV, HIV Risk Perception, and HIV Worry Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Joan T; Rosenberg, Nora E; Vansia, Dhrutika; Phanga, Twambilile; Bhushan, Nivedita L; Maseko, Bertha; Brar, Savvy K; Hosseinipour, Mina C; Tang, Jennifer H; Bekker, Linda-Gail; Pettifor, Audrey

2018-01-01

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa have high HIV prevalence and incidence. We sought to understand which HIV risk factors individually and in combination contribute to risk, and whether these factors are associated with HIV worry and risk perception. This study is ongoing at 4 public health centers in Lilongwe, Malawi (2016-2017). AGYW of 15-24 years old were recruited to participate in a study assessing 4 models of service delivery. At each health center, participants completed a baseline survey assessing socioeconomic, behavioral, biomedical, and partnership characteristics; self-reported HIV status; and, if HIV-uninfected, HIV risk perception (high versus low or none) and HIV worry (any versus none). We analyzed associations between baseline characteristics and HIV prevalence, risk perception, and worry. Among 1000 AGYW, median age was 19 years (IQR: 17-21). Thirty-three participants reported being HIV-infected. Fifteen characteristics were associated with HIV infection. Having more risk factors was associated with higher HIV prevalence (≤4 factors, 0.5%; 5-8 factors, 6%; >8 factors, 21%). Having more risk factors was also associated with higher risk perception (P risk factors, 52% did not consider themselves to be at high risk and 21% did not report any HIV worry. Most AGYW perceive little risk of HIV acquisition, even those at highest risk. As a critical gap in the HIV prevention cascade, accurate risk perception is needed to tailor effective and sustained combination prevention strategies for this vulnerable population.

Worry and anger rumination in fibromyalgia syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Ricci

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study was twofold: 1 to investigate the psychological profile of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FS as compared to patients with other chronic pain syndromes (CP and healthy subjects (HS; 2 to examine the associations between anxiety, depression, worry and angry rumination in FS patients. FS patients (N=30, CP patients (N=30 and HS (N=30 completed measurements of anxiety, depression, worry and angry rumination. FS patients showed higher levels of state and trait anxiety, worry and angry rumination than CP patients and HS, and higher levels of depression than HS. Worry and angry rumination were strongly associated in the FS group. FS patients may use worry and rumination as coping strategies to deal with their negative emotional experience, which might impair their emotional wellbeing. Findings from the present study add to our understanding of the psychological profile of FS patients, and have important implications for developing a tailored CBT protocol for pain management in FS patients.

The Relationship of Behavioral Activation and Inhibition Systems (BAS/BIS, Difficulty of Emotional Regulation, Metacognition with Worry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Soltan Mohammadlou

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Worry is a popular phenomenon and a common feature of many disorders, especially anxiety disorders. The objective of the study was to predict worry by using three predictive factors related to biological, emotional and cognition areas. In this study, behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation system, difficulties in emotion regulation and metacognition were examined as predictive variables. In a correlation cross-sectional design, 234 Medical Group students [BA and MA] of Tehran University of Medical Sciences participated in this study by using cluster sampling. The students completed these scales: Behavioral Inhibition and Behavioral Activation Systems (BAS/BIS, Difficulty of Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS, Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30 and Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ. Behavioral inhibition system, difficulty of emotion rgulation and metacognition variables were significantly positively correlated with worry (P<0/0 1(. Behavioral activation system variable was not significantly associated with worry. Stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated a predictive model for worry in which behavioral inhibition system, difficulty of emotional regulation and metacognition were its components respectively. Behavioral activation system was not included in the model. The findings of this study that worry should be studied in different biological, emotional, and metacognitive aspects. The results also emphasize the role of behavioral inhibition system as a temperamental and biological factor in psychopathology of worry in adult population.

Perseverative cognition : the impact of worry on health

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verkuil, Bart

2010-01-01

For a majority of people worries about upcoming stressful events are a common experience in daily life. The aim of this thesis was to examine the effects of common worries on somatic health. In particular, the effects of worry on somatic health complaints, like headache and back pain, and on cardiac

Hospitalized elders and family caregivers: a typology of family worry.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hong

2005-01-01

This qualitative study explored the kinds of worry that family caregivers experience when their older relatives are hospitalized. Little is known about what kinds of worries family caregivers may have in association with the hospitalizations of older relatives. An understanding of the different patterns of family worry may help health care teams intervene more effectively to meet family caregiver's needs by reducing their anxiety. A qualitative descriptive design with Loftland and Loftland (1984) approach for the study of a phenomenon occurring in a social setting was used. A purposeful sample of 10 participants was obtained that included six family caregivers and four nurses. Participants were recruited from two hospitals in the northwest US. Intensive interviews and participant observations were used for data collection, and Loftland and Loftland's (1984) qualitative approach was used for data analysis. Family worry was defined as family caregivers' felt difficulty in fulfilling their roles because of worry. Four categories of family worry were identified as a result of this study: (i) worry about the patient's condition; (ii) worry about the patient's care received from the health care team; (iii) worry about future care for the patient provided by the family caregiver; and (iv) worry about finances. The findings of this pilot study provide nurses with the initial knowledge of the typology of family worry associated with elderly relatives' hospitalizations. The findings of this study may sensitize the nurses to more precisely evaluate family caregivers' worry about their hospitalized elders and provide more effective nursing interventions to improve outcomes of both patients and their family caregivers.

Sharing Concerns: Interpersonal Worry Regulation in Romantic Couples

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

Two dyadic studies investigated interpersonal worry regulation in heterosexual relationships. In Study 1, we video-recorded 40 romantic couples discussing shared concerns. Male partners’ worry positively predicted female partners’ interpersonal calming attempts, and negatively predicted female partners’ interpersonal alerting attempts (i.e., attempts to make their partners appreciate the seriousness of concerns). Video-cued recall data also indicated that changes in partner A’s worry over time positively predicted partner B’s motivation to reduce partner A’s worry, and that this effect was stronger when B was the female partner. Study 2 was a dyadic survey of 100 couples. Individual differences in partner A’s negative affect were positive predictors of partner B’s interpersonal calming, and individual differences in partner A’s expressive suppression were negative predictors of partner B’s interpersonal calming. Further, individual differences in male partners’ expressivity were significant positive predictors of female partners’ interpersonal calming, and individual differences in male partners’ reappraisal were significant positive predictors of female partners’ interpersonal alerting. These findings suggest that interpersonal worry regulation relates to partners’ expression and intrapersonal regulation of worry, but not equally for men and women. PMID:26882336

Sharing concerns: Interpersonal worry regulation in romantic couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkinson, Brian; Simons, Gwenda; Niven, Karen

2016-06-01

Two dyadic studies investigated interpersonal worry regulation in heterosexual relationships. In Study 1, we video-recorded 40 romantic couples discussing shared concerns. Male partners' worry positively predicted female partners' interpersonal calming attempts, and negatively predicted female partners' interpersonal alerting attempts (i.e., attempts to make their partners appreciate the seriousness of concerns). Video-cued recall data also indicated that changes in partner A's worry over time positively predicted partner B's motivation to reduce partner A's worry, and that this effect was stronger when B was the female partner. Study 2 was a dyadic survey of 100 couples. Individual differences in partner A's negative affect were positive predictors of partner B's interpersonal calming, and individual differences in partner A's expressive suppression were negative predictors of partner B's interpersonal calming. Further, individual differences in male partners' expressivity were significant positive predictors of female partners' interpersonal calming, and individual differences in male partners' reappraisal were significant positive predictors of female partners' interpersonal alerting. These findings suggest that interpersonal worry regulation relates to partners' expression and intrapersonal regulation of worry, but not equally for men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Response to “Worrying Trends in Econophysics”

Science.gov (United States)

McCauley, Joseph L.

2006-11-01

This article is a response to the recent “Worrying Trends in Econophysics” critique written by four respected theoretical economists [M. Gallegatti, S. Keen, T. Lux, P. Ormerod, Worrying trends in econophysics, Physica A (2006), submitted for publication [1

Parental overprotection and metacognitions as predictors of worry and anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Spada, Marcantonio M; Caselli, Gabriele; Manfredi, Chiara; Rebecchi, Daniela; Rovetto, Francesco; Ruggiero, Giovanni M; Nikčević, Ana V; Sassaroli, Sandra

2012-05-01

Parental overprotection may have a direct effect on worry through hindering children's exploration experiences and preventing the learning of action-oriented coping strategies (Cheron, Ehrenreich and Pincus, 2009; Nolen-Hoeksema, Wolfson, Mumme and Guskin, 1995) and an indirect effect through fostering the development of maladaptive metacognitions that are associated with the activation of worry and the escalation of anxiety (Wells, 2000). The aim was to investigate the relative contribution of recalled parental overprotection in childhood and metacognitions in predicting current levels of worry. A community sample (n = 301) was administered four self-report instruments to assess parental overprotection, metacognitions, anxiety and worry. Metacognitions were found to predict levels of worry independently of gender, anxiety and parental overprotection. They were also found to predict anxiety independently of gender, worry and parental overprotection. The combination of a family environment perceived to be characterized by overprotection and high levels of maladaptive metacognitions are a risk factor for the development of worry.

"Perhaps I will die young." Fears and worries regarding disease and death among Danish adolescents and young adults with cancer. A mixed method study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hølge-Hazelton, Bibi; Timm, Helle U; Graugaard, Christian

2016-01-01

worries about death; hereof, more than half of them expressed quite a bit or very much. The analysis showed significant gender differences, whereas age and duration of disease did not have any significant impact on such thoughts. Q2: One third had not talked to anybody about his or her worries. Q3...... about dying; (Q2) with whom, if anyone, they had shared those worries; and finally, (Q3) how fears and worries influenced their daily life. The emphasis will be on Q3. METHODS: A 151-item questionnaire (including two closed- and one open-ended questions about fears of death and dying) was distributed...... dying, but one third of them had not talked to anybody about those thoughts. It is an important clinical point that young age does not preclude fears and worries about dying in AYAs with cancer....

Competitive anxiety in young athletes: differentiating somatic anxiety, worry, and concentration disruption.

Science.gov (United States)

Grossbard, Joel R; Smith, Ronald E; Smoll, Frank L; Cumming, Sean P

2009-03-01

The age-appropriate Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2; Smith, Smoll, Cumming, & Grossbard, 2006) was used to assess levels of cognitive and somatic anxiety among male and female youth sport participants. Confirmatory factor analyses with a sample of 9-14 year old athletes (N=1038) supported the viability of a three-factor model of anxiety involving somatic anxiety, worry, and concentration disruption previously demonstrated in high school and college samples. Tests for factorial invariance revealed that the three-factor model was an equally good fit for 9-11 year olds and 12-14 year olds, and for both males and females. Gender and age were modestly related to anxiety scores. Worry about performing poorly was highest in girls and in older athletes, whereas boys reported higher levels of concentration disruption in competitive sport situations. Implications for emotional perception and for the study of competitive anxiety in young athletes are discussed.

Worry, problem elaboration and suppression of imagery: the role of concreteness.

Science.gov (United States)

Stöber, J

1998-01-01

Both lay concept and scientific theory claim that worry may be helpful for defining and analyzing problems. Recent studies, however, indicate that worrisome problem elaborations are less concrete than worry-free problem elaborations. This challenges the problem solving view of worry because abstract problem analyses are unlikely to lead to concrete problem solutions. Instead the findings support the avoidance theory of worry which claims that worry suppresses aversive imagery. Following research findings in the dual-coding framework [Paivio, A. (1971). Imagery and verbal processes. New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston; Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: a dual coding approach. New York: Oxford University Press.], the present article proposes that reduced concreteness may play a central role in the understanding of worry. First, reduced concreteness can explain how worry reduces imagery. Second, it offers an explanation why worrisome problem analyses are unlikely to arrive at solutions. Third, it provides a key for the understanding of worry maintenance.

Probabilistic population aging

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

We merge two methodologies, prospective measures of population aging and probabilistic population forecasts. We compare the speed of change and variability in forecasts of the old age dependency ratio and the prospective old age dependency ratio as well as the same comparison for the median age and the prospective median age. While conventional measures of population aging are computed on the basis of the number of years people have already lived, prospective measures are computed also taking account of the expected number of years they have left to live. Those remaining life expectancies change over time and differ from place to place. We compare the probabilistic distributions of the conventional and prospective measures using examples from China, Germany, Iran, and the United States. The changes over time and the variability of the prospective indicators are smaller than those that are observed in the conventional ones. A wide variety of new results emerge from the combination of methodologies. For example, for Germany, Iran, and the United States the likelihood that the prospective median age of the population in 2098 will be lower than it is today is close to 100 percent. PMID:28636675

Worry in children is related to perceived parental rearing and attachment.

Science.gov (United States)

Muris, P; Meesters, C; Merckelbach, H; Hülsenbeck, P

2000-05-01

In a sample of 159 primary school children, the relationship between perceived parental rearing behaviours and self-reported attachment style, on the one hand, and worry, on the other hand, was investigated. Children completed (a) the EMBU, a questionnaire measuring perceptions of parental rearing behaviours, (b) a single-item measure of attachment style, and (c) the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C), an index of severity of worrying. Results showed that parental rearing behaviours, in particular rejection and anxious rearing, were positively associated with worry. Thus, children who perceived their parents as more rejective and anxious reported higher levels of worry. Furthermore, self-reported attachment style appeared to be related to worry. More specifically, children who classified themselves as avoidantly or ambivalently attached displayed higher levels of worry than did children who classified themselves as securely attached. These findings are consistent with the notion that family environment factors such as parental rearing and attachment style contribute to the severity of anxiety symptoms in children.

Interrelationships of adult attachment orientations, health status and worrying among fibromyalgia patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Paula; Costa, Maria Emilía

2009-11-01

This study examined associations between adult attachment dimensions, perceived health status and worrying (coping strategy with chronic pain), and explored whether worrying mediated observed relationships between attachment dimensions and health outcomes within a sample of 128 Portuguese female fibromyalgia patients. Physical health status was inversely correlated with dependence and worrying; mental health status was positively correlated with trust, and inversely related to attachment-related ambivalence, dependence and worrying. Finally, worrying mediated relationships between dependence and both physical and mental health status; moreover, worrying partially mediated the relationship between ambivalence and mental health status. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Feeling Anxious or Worried

Science.gov (United States)

... can have. Some of them are listed below. Social phobia is a strong fear of being judged by ... bit about certain social situations, but people with social phobia might worry about an event for weeks. They ...

Distinguishing obsessive features and worries: the role of thought-action fusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Coles, M E; Mennin, D S; Heimberg, R G

2001-08-01

Obsessions are a key feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and chronic worry is the cardinal feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, these two cognitive processes are conceptually very similar, and there is a need to determine how they differ. Recent studies have attempted to identify cognitive processes that may be differentially related to obsessive features and worry. In the current study we proposed that (1) obsessive features and worry could be differentiated and that (2) a measure of the cognitive process thought-action fusion would distinguish between obsessive features and worry, being strongly related to obsessive features after controlling for the effects of worry. These hypotheses were supported in a sample of 173 undergraduate students. Thought-action fusion may be a valuable construct in differentiating between obsessive features and worry.

The Growth of Older Inmate Populations: How Population Aging Explains Rising Age at Admission.

Science.gov (United States)

Luallen, Jeremy; Cutler, Christopher

2017-09-01

Older inmates are the fastest growing segment of the prison population; however, the reasons for this are not well understood. One explanation is that the general population is aging, driving prison age distributions to change. For this article, we study the role of population aging in prison growth by investigating how the baby boom phenomenon of post-World War II has contributed to the growth of older inmate populations. We identify the impact of population aging using simulation methods that explain prison growth as the combination of criminal justice processes. Overall, we find evidence that population aging has played a significant role in explaining the growth of older inmate populations, in particular among inmates aged between 50 and 64 years, contributing to as much as half of the observed increase in these groups since 2000. This finding stands in contrast to the notion that population aging has little explanatory power in describing the growth of prison populations and implies that older inmate groups are more sensitive to compositional changes in the general population. We argue that prediction-based modeling of prison growth should more seriously consider the impacts and consequences of demographic shifts among older prisoner populations. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Nurses' 'worry' as predictor of deteriorating surgical ward patients: A prospective cohort study of the Dutch-Early-Nurse-Worry-Indicator-Score

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Douw, G.; Huisman-de Waal, G.J.; Zanten, A.R. van; Hoeven, J.G. van der; Schoonhoven, L.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Nurses' 'worry' is used as a calling criterion in many Rapid Response Systems, however it is valued inconsistently. Furthermore, barriers to call the Rapid Response Team can cause delay in escalating care. The literature identifies nine indicators which trigger nurses to worry about a

Lithuanian Population Aging Factors Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnė Garlauskaitė

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to identify the factors that determine aging of Lithuania’s population and to assess the influence of these factors. The article shows Lithuanian population aging factors analysis, which consists of two main parts: the first describes the aging of the population and its characteristics in theoretical terms. Second part is dedicated to the assessment of trends that influence the aging population and demographic factors and also to analyse the determinants of the aging of the population of Lithuania. After analysis it is concluded in the article that the decline in the birth rate and increase in the number of emigrants compared to immigrants have the greatest impact on aging of the population, so in order to show the aging of the population, a lot of attention should be paid to management of these demographic processes.

Trait anxiety, defensiveness, and the structure of worry.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eysenck, M.W.; van Berkum, J.J.A.

1992-01-01

A principal components analysis of the ten scales of the Worry Questionnaire revealed the existence of major worry factors or domains of social evaluation and physical threat, and these factors were confirmed in a subsequent item analysis. Those high in trait anxiety had much higher scores on the

TRAIT ANXIETY, DEFENSIVENESS, AND THE STRUCTURE OF WORRY

NARCIS (Netherlands)

EYSENCK, MW; VANBERKUM, J

1992-01-01

A principal components analysis of the ten scales of the Worry Questionnaire revealed the existence of major worry factors or domains of social evaluation and physical threat, and these factors were confirmed in a subsequent item analysis. Those high in trait anxiety had much higher scores on the

Worry experienced during the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS pandemic in Korea.

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Jun-Soo Ro

Full Text Available Korea failed in its risk communication during the early stage of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS outbreak; consequently, it faced difficulties in managing MERS, while disease-related worry increased. Disease-related worry can help disease prevention and management, but can also have a detrimental effect. This study measured the overall level of disease-related worry during the MERS outbreak period in Korea and the influencing factors and levels of disease-related worry during key outbreak periods.The cross-sectional survey included 1,000 adults who resided in Korea. An ordinal logistic regression was performed for the overall level of MERS-related worry, and influencing factors of worry were analyzed. A reliability test was performed on the levels of MERS-related worry during key outbreak periods.The overall level of MERS-related worry was 2.44. Multivariate analysis revealed that women and respondents w very poor subjective health status had higher levels of worry. Respondents with very high stress in daily life had higher levels of worry than those who reported having little stress. The reliability test results on MERS-related worry scores during key outbreak periods showed consistent scores during each period.Level of worry increased in cases having higher perceived susceptibility and greater trust in informal information, while initial stage of outbreak was closely associated with that at later stages. These findings suggest the importance of managing the level of worry by providing timely and accurate disease-related information during the initial stage of disease outbreak.

Homeschooling Worries: Trusting That the Dots Will Connect

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Rivero, Lisa

2012-01-01

Homeschooling parents worry a lot. And homeschooling parents of gifted children seem to worry even more than most. Parents who homeschool intense, smart, sensitive, and perfectionist children and teens are often themselves intense, smart, sensitive, and perfectionistic, even if they don't always think of themselves as gifted. One shouldn't be too…

Helping Kids Handle Worry

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... world around them, preteens also may worry about world events or issues they hear about on the news or at ... the news. Parents can help by discussing these issues, offering accurate ... and stress about a world event that's beyond your control, kids are likely ...

Worry and perceived threat of proximal and distal undesirable outcomes.

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Bredemeier, Keith; Berenbaum, Howard; Spielberg, Jeffrey M

2012-04-01

Individuals who are prone to worry tend to overestimate the likelihoods and costs of future undesirable outcomes. However, it is unclear whether these relations vary as a function of the timeframe of the event in question. In the present study, 342 undergraduate students completed a self-report measure of worry and rated the perceived probabilities and costs of 40 undesirable outcomes. Specifically, each participant estimated the probability that each of these outcomes would occur within three different timeframes: the next month, the next year, and the next 10 years. We found that the strength of the association between worry and probability estimates was strongest for the most proximal timeframe. Probability estimates were more strongly associated with worry for participants with elevated cost estimates, and this interactive effect was strongest for the most distal timeframe. Implications of these findings for understanding the etiology and treatment of excessive worry are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Why Do Children Worry about Their Academic Achievement? An Expectancy-Value Perspective on Elementary Students' Worries about Their Mathematics and Reading Performance

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Lauermann, Fani; Eccles, Jacquelynne S.; Pekrun, Reinhard

2017-01-01

Children's worrying about their academic performance has profound implications for their learning and wellbeing in school. Understanding the contextual and psychological antecedents of students' worry thus represents an important area of research. Drawing on Eccles and colleagues' expectancy-value theory and Pekrun's control-value theory and using…

The effects of reducing worry in patients with persecutory delusions: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

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Freeman Daniel

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Our approach to advancing the treatment of psychosis is to focus on key single symptoms and develop interventions that target the mechanisms that maintain them. In our theoretical research we have found worry to be an important factor in the development and maintenance of persecutory delusions. Worry brings implausible ideas to mind, keeps them there, and makes the experience distressing. Therefore the aim of the trial is to test the clinical efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for worry for patients with persecutory delusions and determine how the worry treatment might reduce delusions. Methods/Design An explanatory randomized controlled trial - called the Worry Intervention Trial (WIT - with 150 patients with persecutory delusions will be carried out. Patients will be randomized to the worry intervention in addition to standard care or to standard care. Randomization will be carried out independently, assessments carried out single-blind, and therapy competence and adherence monitored. The study population will be individuals with persecutory delusions and worry in the context of a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis. They will not have responded adequately to previous treatment. The intervention is a six-session cognitive-behavioral treatment provided over eight weeks. The control condition will be treatment as usual, which is typically antipsychotic medication and regular appointments. The principal hypotheses are that a worry intervention will reduce levels of worry and that it will also reduce the persecutory delusions. Assessments will be carried out at 0 weeks (baseline, 8 weeks (post treatment and 24 weeks (follow-up. The statistical analysis strategy will follow the intention-to-treat principle and involve the use of linear mixed models to evaluate and estimate the relevant between- and within-subjects effects (allowing for the possibility of missing data. Both traditional regression and newer instrumental

Worry and problem-solving skills and beliefs in primary school children.

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Parkinson, Monika; Creswell, Cathy

2011-03-01

To examine the association between worry and problem-solving skills and beliefs (confidence and perceived control) in primary school children. Children (8-11 years) were screened using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children. High (N= 27) and low (N= 30) scorers completed measures of anxiety, problem-solving skills (generating alternative solutions to problems, planfulness, and effectiveness of solutions) and problem-solving beliefs (confidence and perceived control). High and low worry groups differed significantly on measures of anxiety and problem-solving beliefs (confidence and control) but not on problem-solving skills. Consistent with findings with adults, worry in children was associated with cognitive distortions, not skills deficits. Interventions for worried children may benefit from a focus on increasing positive problem-solving beliefs. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

Worry Is Good for Breast Cancer Screening: A Study of Female Relatives from the Ontario Site of the Breast Cancer Family Registry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, L.; Knight, J. A.; Andrulis, I. L.; Chiarelli, A. M.; Glendon, G.; Ritvo, P.

2012-01-01

Few prospective studies have examined associations between breast cancer worry and screening behaviours in women with elevated breast cancer risks based on family history. Methods. This study included 901 high familial risk women, aged 23-71 years, from the Ontario site of the Breast Cancer Family Registry. Self-reported breast screening behaviours at year-one followup were compared between women at low (N=305), medium ( N=433), and high (N=163) levels of baseline breast cancer worry using logistic regression. Nonlinear relationships were assessed using likelihood ratio tests. Results. A significant non-linear inverted “U” relationship was observed between breast cancer worry and mammography screening (π=0. 034) for all women, where women at either low or high worry levels were less likely than those at medium to have a screening mammogram. A similar significant non-linear inverted “U” relationship was also found among all women and women at low familial risk for worry and screening clinical breast examinations (CBEs). Conclusions. Medium levels of cancer worries predicted higher rates of screening mammography and CBE among high-risk women

Investigation of the cognitive variables associated with worry in children with Generalised Anxiety Disorder and their parents.

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Donovan, Caroline L; Holmes, Monique C; Farrell, Lara J

2016-03-01

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), negative beliefs about worry (NBW), positive beliefs about worry (PBW), negative problem orientation (NPO) and cognitive avoidance (CA) have been found to be integral in the conceptualisation of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in adults, yet they have rarely been investigated in children with GAD. This study sought to determine (a) whether IU, NBW, PBW, NPO and CA differ between children diagnosed with GAD and non-anxious children and (b) to examine whether IU, NBW, PBW, NPO and CA differ between parents of children diagnosed with GAD and parents of children without an anxiety disorder. Participants were 50 children (aged 7-12 years), plus one of their parents. The 25 GAD children and 25 non-anxious children were matched on age and gender. Parents and children completed clinical diagnostic interviews, as well as a battery of questionnaires measuring worry, IU, NBW, PBW, NPO and CA. Children with GAD endorsed significantly higher levels of worry, IU, NBW, NPO and CA, but not PBW compared to non-anxious children. Parents of children with GAD did not differ from parents of non-anxious children on any of the variables. The study was limited by it's use of modified adult measures for some variables and a lack of heterogeneity in the sample. The cognitive variables of IU, NBW, NPO and CA may also be important in the conceptualisation and treatment of GAD in children as they are in adults. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Heart rate and autonomic response to stress after experimental induction of worry versus relaxation in healthy, high-worry, and generalized anxiety disorder individuals.

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Fisher, Aaron J; Newman, Michelle G

2013-04-01

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most commonly occurring anxiety disorder and has been related to cardiovascular morbidity such as cardiac ischemia, sudden cardiac death, and myocardial infarction. Both GAD and its cardinal symptom - worry - have been shown to promote muted physiological reactivity in response to laboratory and ecological stressors. Importantly, no study to date has examined the concurrent and relative contributions of trait and state worry within healthy controls, (non-clinical) high trait-worry controls, and GAD participants. The present study examined heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) responses to laboratory stress during and following the experimental induction of worry versus relaxation in healthy controls (n=42), high trait worriers (n=33) and participants with GAD (n=76). All groups exhibited increased HR and decreased RSA in response to the stressor, with no differences by condition. Baseline sAA significantly moderated HR and RSA reactivity, such that higher sAA predicted greater increases in HR and decreases in RSA. There was a significant group by baseline sAA interaction such that in GAD, higher baseline sAA predicted decreased change in sAA during stress, whereas higher baseline sAA predicted greater sAA change in healthy controls. High-worry controls fell non-significantly between these groups. The present study provides additional evidence for the effect of worry on diminished HR stress response and points to possible suppression of adrenergic sympathetic stress responses in GAD. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The spectrum of worry in the community-dwelling elderly.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Golden, Jeannette

2011-11-01

In this study, we examine the prevalence and distribution of worry, its content, and its associations with quality of life and depression, based on a large sample of community-dwelling elderly. We will attempt to distinguish between pathological and non-pathological worry based on these associations.

Intolerance of Uncertainty, Fear of Anxiety, and Adolescent Worry

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Dugas, Michel J.; Laugesen, Nina; Bukowski, William M.

2012-01-01

A 5 year, ten wave longitudinal study of 338 adolescents assessed the association between two forms of cognitive vulnerability (intolerance of uncertainty and fear of anxiety) and worry. Multilevel mediational analyses revealed a bidirectional and reciprocal relation between intolerance of uncertainty and worry in which change in one variable…

Stool Color: When to Worry

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Stool color: When to worry Yesterday, my stool color was bright green. Should I be concerned? Answers from Michael ... M.D. Stool comes in a range of colors. All shades of brown and even green are ...

Relationship between irritable bowel syndrome, worry and stress in adolescent girls.

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Song, Sang-Wook; Park, Seo-Jin; Kim, Se-Hong; Kang, Sung-Goo

2012-11-01

The aim of this study is to investigate prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) among adolescents and difference in worry and stress between normal and IBS groups. Questionnaire survey was conducted at a girl's middle and high school. Students from seventh to eleventh grade participated in the examination on Rome II criteria, lifestyle and dietary habits. Worry and stress were measured with the Korean version Penn State Worry Questionnaire-Children and the Korean version Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument. Worry score was significantly higher in the IBS group (22.07 ± 9.38, P high school students than in middle school students (P = 0.02). Stress score also was higher in the IBS group than in the normal group (P high school girls than in the middle school ones (P = 0.04). Of all the lifestyle factors influencing IBS preference for fatty foods, preference for salty foods, drinking alcohol and sleeping for less than six hours a day were found to be significant. Worry and stress seem to be associated with IBS symptoms. The findings of this study draw a clue that less worry and stress will help decrease IBS symptoms.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): When Worry Gets Out of Control

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WHAT IS GAD? Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. You might worry about things like health, money, or family problems. But people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) feel extremely worried or feel nervous ...

Cardiovascular risk in men aged over 40 in Boa Vista, Brazil

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Mário Maciel de Lima

2016-01-01

Conclusions: Our study highlights a worrying trend in increasing obesity and hypertension, most likely associated with increasingly poor diet and reduced participation in exercises. As the Brazilian population ages, this will drive increasing rates of cardiovascular mortality unless these trends are reversed. This study suggests that such campaigns should focus on men over the age of 40, who are married or divorced and of lower income.

Generalized anxiety disorder and online intelligence: a phenomenological account of why worrying is unhelpful

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meynen, G.

2011-01-01

Worrying is the central feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Many people worry from time to time, but in GAD the worrying is prolonged and difficult to control. Worrying is a specific way of coping with perceived threats and feared situations. Meanwhile, it is not considered to be a

Prolonged cardiac effects of momentary assessed stressful events and worry episodes.

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Pieper, Suzanne; Brosschot, Jos F; van der Leeden, Rien; Thayer, Julian F

2010-07-01

To test the hypothesize that increased heart rate (HR) and decreased heart rate variability (HRV) are not only due to concurrent stressful events and worries but also to stressors and worries occurring in the preceding hours or stressors anticipated to occur in the next hour. Worry was expected to mediate at least part of the prolonged effects of stressors. Ambulatory HR and HRV of 73 teachers were recorded for 4 days, during which the participants reported occurrence and duration of worry episodes and stressful events on an hourly basis, using computerized diaries. Multilevel regression models were used, accounting for effects of several biobehavioral variables. Stressful events were not associated with changes in HR or HRV. However, worry episodes had effects on concurrent HR and HRV (2.55 beats/minute; -5.76 milliseconds) and HR and HRV in the succeeding hour (3.05 beats/minute; -5.80 milliseconds) and 2 hours later (1.52 beats/minute; -3.14 milliseconds). These findings were independent of emotions, physical activity, posture, and other biobehavioral factors. Worry has effects on cardiac activity, and these effects were still visible after 2 hours. The latter finding suggests that a considerable part of prolonged activation may be induced by unconscious stress-related cognition.

Stigma, career worry, and mental illness symptomatology: Factors influencing treatment-seeking for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom soldiers and veterans.

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Brown, Nicholas B; Bruce, Steven E

2016-05-01

Mental health related stigma, as well as mental illness symptomatology, have been shown to negatively impact treatment-seeking within military populations. However, few studies have delineated the 2 forms of stigma (self-stigma and public stigma), and none have differentiated between stigma and career-related consequences (career worry). The aim of this study was to increase our understanding of low treatment-seeking rates among soldiers and veterans by expanding upon previous measurements of the stigma construct and examining factors influencing willingness to seek treatment. The sample consisted of 276 Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) soldiers and veterans. Individual levels of self-stigma, public stigma, and career worry were measured, as were levels of willingness to seek treatment. Symptoms of PTSD, depression, and substance abuse were also evaluated to account for the influence of mental illness on treatment-seeking. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a 3-factor model including self-stigma, public stigma, and career worry fit the data significantly better than a 1- or 2- factor model. A multiple regression analysis also revealed that these 3 factors, combined with mental illness symptomatology, significantly predicted individual levels of willingness to seek treatment. Career worry was the strongest predictor, particularly for individuals with no treatment history. This study confirmed that career worry is a factor independent of self-stigma and public stigma. Findings indicate that a fear of negatively affecting one's career is the most influential factor in determining willingness to seek mental health treatment for the military population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Food for the ageing population

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Raats, M.M.; Groot, de C.P.G.M.; Staveren, van W.A.

2008-01-01

The world’s ageing population is increasing and food professionals will have to address the needs of older generations more closely in the future. This unique volume reviews the characteristics of the ageing population as food consumers, the role of nutrition in healthy ageing and the design of food

Using residents' worries about technology as a way of resolving environmental remediation dilemmas.

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Prior, Jason; Hubbard, Phil; Rai, Tapan

2017-02-15

The choice of technologies used to remediate contaminated environments are increasingly made via engagement with affected local residents. Despite this, little is known about how residents perceive remediation technology applications. Building on the findings of broader technology worry research, and drawing on data from a telephone survey of 2009 residents living near thirteen contaminated sites in Australia, regression analysis of closed-ended survey questions and coding analysis of open-ended survey questions are combined to identify the main predictors of worries concerning particular remediation technologies, and how worry affects them. This suggests respondents are more worried about the application of chemical remediation technologies than the application of physical and thermal technologies, which in turn caused more worry than the application of biotechnology. The paper suggests that these worries can be reduced via direct engagement with residents about remediation technologies, suggesting that such engagement can provide knowledge that improves remediation technology decisions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Older persons' worries expressed during home care visits: Exploring the content of cues and concerns identified by the Verona coding definitions of emotional sequences.

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Hafskjold, Linda; Eide, Tom; Holmström, Inger K; Sundling, Vibeke; van Dulmen, Sandra; Eide, Hilde

2016-12-01

Little is known about how older persons in home care express their concerns. Emotional cues and concerns can be identified by the Verona coding definitions of emotional sequences (VR-CoDES), but the method gives no insight into what causes the distress and the emotions involved. The aims of this study are to explore (1) older persons' worries and (2) the content of these expressions. An observational exploratory two-step approach was used to investigate audiotaped recordings from 38 Norwegian home care visits with older persons and nurse assistants. First, 206 cues and concerns were identified using VR-CoDES. Second, the content and context of these expressions were analysed inductively. Four main categories emerged: worries about relationships with others, worries about health care-related issues, worries about aging and bodily impairment, and life narratives and value issues, with several subcategories showing the causes of worry and emotions involved. The two-step approach provides an in-depth knowledge of older persons' worries, causes of worries, and their related emotions. The subcategories described in a language close to the experience can be useful in practice development and communication training for students and health care providers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parent-teen worry about the teen contracting AIDS.

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Carroll, R M; Shepard, M P; Mahon, M M; Deatrick, J A; Orsi, A J; Moriarty, H J; Feetham, S L

1999-04-01

A secondary data analysis of the National Commission on Children: 1990 Survey of Parents and Children was conducted with a subsample of 457 parent-teen pairs who responded to the "worry about AIDS" question. The teen's worry about contracting AIDS was associated with race, parent's education, the amount of discipline from the parent for engaging in sex, the teen's desire to talk to the parent about the problem of sex, the teen's rating of the neighborhood as a safe place to grow up, whether the parent listened to the teen's telephone interview, and the parent's response to whether his or her teen had a history of sexually transmitted disease. Of the parent-teen pairs in the subsample, 46% (N = 210) agreed in their responses about worry. Agreement was more frequent among the parent-teen pairs when compared to randomly constructed surrogate pairs. Dyadic analysis supported a family system view of perceived susceptibility.

What keeps low-SES children from sleeping well: the role of presleep worries and sleep environment

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Bagley, Erika J.; Kelly, Ryan J.; Buckhalt, Joseph A.; El-Sheikh, Mona

2014-01-01

Objectives Children in families of low socioeconomic status (SES) have been found to have poor sleep, yet the reasons for this finding are unclear. Two possible mediators, presleep worries and home environment conditions, were investigated as indirect pathways between SES and children’s sleep. Participants/Methods The participants consisted of 271 children (M (age) = 11.33 years; standard deviation (SD) = 7.74 months) from families varying in SES as indexed by the income-to-needs ratio. Sleep was assessed with actigraphy (sleep minutes, night waking duration, and variability in sleep schedule) and child self-reported sleep/wake problems (e.g., oversleeping and trouble falling asleep) and sleepiness (e.g., sleeping in class and falling asleep while doing homework). Presleep worries and home environment conditions were assessed with questionnaires. Results Lower SES was associated with more subjective sleep/wake problems and daytime sleepiness, and increased exposure to disruptive sleep conditions and greater presleep worries were mediators of these associations. In addition, environmental conditions served as an intervening variable linking SES to variability in an actigraphy-derived sleep schedule, and, similarly, presleep worry was an intervening variable linking SES to actigraphy-based night waking duration. Across sleep parameters, the model explained 5–29% of variance. Conclusions Sleep environment and psychological factors are associated with socioeconomic disparities, which affect children’s sleep. PMID:25701537

What keeps low-SES children from sleeping well: the role of presleep worries and sleep environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bagley, Erika J; Kelly, Ryan J; Buckhalt, Joseph A; El-Sheikh, Mona

2015-04-01

Children in families of low socioeconomic status (SES) have been found to have poor sleep, yet the reasons for this finding are unclear. Two possible mediators, presleep worries and home environment conditions, were investigated as indirect pathways between SES and children's sleep. The participants consisted of 271 children (M (age) = 11.33 years; standard deviation (SD) = 7.74 months) from families varying in SES as indexed by the income-to-needs ratio. Sleep was assessed with actigraphy (sleep minutes, night waking duration, and variability in sleep schedule) and child self-reported sleep/wake problems (e.g., oversleeping and trouble falling asleep) and sleepiness (e.g., sleeping in class and falling asleep while doing homework). Presleep worries and home environment conditions were assessed with questionnaires. Lower SES was associated with more subjective sleep/wake problems and daytime sleepiness, and increased exposure to disruptive sleep conditions and greater presleep worries were mediators of these associations. In addition, environmental conditions served as an intervening variable linking SES to variability in an actigraphy-derived sleep schedule, and, similarly, presleep worry was an intervening variable linking SES to actigraphy-based night waking duration. Across sleep parameters, the model explained 5-29% of variance. Sleep environment and psychological factors are associated with socioeconomic disparities, which affect children's sleep. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

What do cancer patients worry about when making decisions about treatment? Variation across racial/ethnic groups.

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Martin, Michelle Y; Fouad, Mona N; Oster, Robert A; Schrag, Deborah; Urmie, Julie; Sanders, Sara; Pisu, Maria

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the issues patients worry about when making decisions about cancer treatment. A total of 5,044 colorectal and lung cancer patients from the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium reported their level of worry about (1) treatment side effects, (2) treatment costs, (3) time away from family, (4) time away from work, and (5) transportation to treatment sites. Using multivariable logistic regression, we evaluated the association of sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables with worry. Overall, 75 % of patients worried about side effects of treatments; 40 %, the cost of treatment; 50 %, time away from family; 52 %, time away from work; and 22 %, about transportation. In multivariable analyses, across all worry domains, older patients had lower odds of reporting worry (p values perceived less than excellent quality of care, self-assessed their health as less than excellent, and those with a higher cancer stage were more likely to report worry. Asian patients were more likely to report worry than Whites about the cost of treatment and transportation, and relative to Whites, Hispanics were more likely to report worry about transportation (p values ethnicity. Understanding the source of patient worry and identifying interventions to alleviate worry are important to delivering patient-centered cancer care.

Standard Populations (Millions) for Age-Adjustment - SEER Population Datasets

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Download files containing standard population data for use in statististical software. The files contain the same data distributed with SEER*Stat software. You can also view the standard populations, either 19 age groups or single ages.

Influence of Cancer Worry on Four Cancer Related Health Protective Behaviors among a Nationally Representative Sample: Implications for Health Promotion Efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Amuta, Ann O; Mkuu, Rahma S; Jacobs, Wura; Ejembi, Agbenu Z

2017-03-01

The aims of this study were to assess what sociodemographic characteristics are associated with cancer worry and what the influence of cancer worry is on four cancer-related protective health behaviors. Data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) (4th cycle of the 4th iteration) were used. Multiple regression models were used for all analyses. Behaviors analyzed were as follows: physical activity, diets, smoking, and routine medical screening. Demographics controls included participant age, income, body mass index (BMI), race/ethnicity, and education. N = 2630, Older participants (OR = .99, p health behavior and may be short-lived, the influence of worry on health-related decision making is likely to be lasting even when the emotions are no longer present.

Charasteristics of Ageing Population in Semarang City

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Puji Hardati

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Increase of amount of ageing population represent the indication that a region have experienced of the ageing population. In some developing countries, of including Indonesia, growth of ageing population are estimate will mount quickly in period to come, although its percentage do not same. Whereas characteristic do not know surely. This matter is caused by there is view that ageing population of still not yet of this problem, but within long term will be are problem of if are not paid attention since now. Studying of ageing population of pursuant to its characteristic will assist in handling good problems now and also to come. With the existence of data of usable ageing population resident characteristic for the materials of population development planning in area.

Worry as a Predictor of Nutrition Behaviors: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey

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Ferrer, Rebecca A.; Bergman, Hannah E.; Klein, William M. P.

2013-01-01

Worry has been shown to predict a variety of health behaviors, such as cancer screening, yet there are few studies linking worry and nutrition. This study used nationally representative data from National Cancer Institute's Food Attitudes and Behavior Survey ("n" = 3,397) to examine the association between health-related worry and a variety of…

Statistics Anxiety and Worry: The Roles of Worry Beliefs, Negative Problem Orientation, and Cognitive Avoidance

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Williams, Amanda S.

2015-01-01

Statistics anxiety is a common problem for graduate students. This study explores the multivariate relationship between a set of worry-related variables and six types of statistics anxiety. Canonical correlation analysis indicates a significant relationship between the two sets of variables. Findings suggest that students who are more intolerant…

Diet quality and feelings of worry, sadness or unhappiness in Canadian children.

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McMartin, Seanna E; Willows, Noreen D; Colman, Ian; Ohinmaa, Arto; Storey, Kate; Veugelers, Paul J

2013-07-25

To examine the association between diet quality and feelings of worry, sadness or unhappiness in Canadian children. Responses to the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire of 6,528 grade 5 students were used to calculate a composite score of diet quality, and its components: variety, adequacy, moderation and balance. Responses to the question on "feelings of worry, sadness or unhappiness" from the EuroQoL 5 Dimension questions for Youth (EQ-5D-Y), a validated Health Related Quality of Life questionnaire, constitute the outcome of interest. Multilevel logistic regression methods were used to examine the association between diet quality and feelings of worry, sadness or unhappiness. All analyses were adjusted for gender, household income, parental education, energy intake, weight status, physical activity level, geographic area and year of data collection. Diet quality was inversely associated with children's feelings of worried, sad or unhappy (Odds ratio (95% confidence interval): 0.90 (0.85-0.97)). Dietary variety and dietary adequacy were also statistically significantly associated with lower odds of feeling worried, sad or unhappy. When the results were stratified by gender, the effect of diet on feeling worried, sad or unhappy was more pronounced in girls than boys. These findings suggest that diet quality plays a role in feelings of worry, sadness or unhappiness and complement other studies that have suggested the link between diet and mental health. We recommend consideration of diet quality in public health strategies that aim to reduce the burden of poor mental health in children and youth.

Increased Pathological Worry Levels in Patients with Alopecia Areata

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Basak Sahin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: Alopecia Areata (AA is a type of hair loss that has been considered to have associations with various psychiatric disorders. In this study, we aimed to compare pathological worry levels between patients with AA and healthy controls (HC. Material and Method: Sixty-three patients with AA and 90 HCs were included in the present study after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The socio-demographic characteristics, some clinical characteristics, and the scores from the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ were compared between groups. Results: The demographic characteristics were found to be similar between groups except for gender. The family history of AA was significantly higher in the AA group. The mean score of PSWQ in the AA group was 44.02 ± 11.59, compared to 39.71 ± 7.77 in the HC group. The mean score of PSWQ was significantly higher in the AA group (t=-3.27, p= 0.001.Discussion: The present study is the first to compare pathological worry between patients with AA and HCs. We suggest that pathological worry should be more thoroughly investigated in patients with AA to improve their quality of life. Also, this can be an effective approach to targeting the patients who may develop anxiety disorder.

Oral medicine and the ageing population.

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Yap, T; McCullough, M

2015-03-01

The oral cavity is subject to age related processes such as cellular ageing and immunosenescence. The ageing population bears an increased burden of intraoral pathology. In oral medicine, the majority of presenting patients are in their fifth to seventh decade of life. In this review, we discuss the ageing population's susceptibility to mucosal disorders and the increased prevalence of potentially malignant disorders and oral squamous cell carcinoma, as well as dermatoses including oral lichen planus and immunobullous conditions. We also address the ageing population's susceptibility to oral discomfort and explore salivary secretion, ulceration and the symptoms of oral burning. Finally, we will describe orofacial pain conditions which are more likely encountered in an older population. This update highlights clinical presentations which are more likely to be encountered in the ageing population in a general practice setting and the importance of screening both new and long-term patients. © 2015 Australian Dental Association.

Generalized anxiety disorder and online intelligence: A phenomenological account of why worrying is unhelpful

OpenAIRE

Meynen, Gerben

2011-01-01

Worrying is the central feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Many people worry from time to time, but in GAD the worrying is prolonged and difficult to control. Worrying is a specific way of coping with perceived threats and feared situations. Meanwhile, it is not considered to be a helpful coping strategy, and the phenomenological account developed in this paper aims to show why. It builds on several phenomenological notions and in particular on Michael Wheeler's application of the...

Goal directed worry rules are associated with distinct patterns of amygdala functional connectivity and vagal modulation during perseverative cognition

OpenAIRE

Meeten, Frances; Davey, Graham C L; Makovac, Elena; Watson, David R.; Garfinkel, Sarah N.; Critchley, Hugo D.; Ottaviani, Cristina

2016-01-01

Excessive and uncontrollable worry is a defining feature of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). An important endeavor in the treatment of pathological worry is to understand why some people are unable to stop worrying once they have started. Worry perseveration is associated with a tendency to deploy goal-directed worry rules (known as “as many as can” worry rules; AMA). These require attention to the goal of the worry task and continuation of worry until the aims of the “worry bout” are achi...

Generalized anxiety disorder and online intelligence: a phenomenological account of why worrying is unhelpful.

Science.gov (United States)

Meynen, Gerben

2011-05-03

Worrying is the central feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Many people worry from time to time, but in GAD the worrying is prolonged and difficult to control. Worrying is a specific way of coping with perceived threats and feared situations. Meanwhile, it is not considered to be a helpful coping strategy, and the phenomenological account developed in this paper aims to show why. It builds on several phenomenological notions and in particular on Michael Wheeler's application of these notions to artificial intelligence and the cognitive sciences. Wheeler emphasizes the value of 'online intelligence' as contrasted to 'offline intelligence'. I discuss and apply these concepts with respect to worrying as it occurs in GAD, suggesting that GAD patients overrate the value of detached contemplation (offline intelligence), while underrating their embodied-embedded adaptive skills (online intelligence). I argue that this phenomenological account does not only help explaining why worrying is used as a coping strategy, but also why cognitive behavioral therapy is successful in treating GAD.

Parental perceptions of teen driving: Restrictions, worry and influence.

Science.gov (United States)

Jewett, Amy; Shults, Ruth A; Bhat, Geeta

2016-12-01

Parents play a critical role in preventing crashes among teens. Research of parental perceptions and concerns regarding teen driving safety is limited. We examined results from the 2013 Summer ConsumerStyles survey that queried parents about restrictions placed on their teen drivers, their perceived level of "worry" about their teen driver's safety, and influence of parental restrictions regarding their teen's driving. We produced frequency distributions for the number of restrictions imposed, parental "worry," and influence of rules regarding their teen's driving, reported by teen's driving license status (learning to drive or obtained a driver's license). Response categories were dichotomized because of small cell sizes, and we ran separate log-linear regression models to explore whether imposing all four restrictions on teen drivers was associated with either worry intensity ("a lot" versus "somewhat, not very much or not at all") or perceived influence of parental rules ("a lot" versus "somewhat, not very much or not at all"). Among the 456 parent respondents, 80% reported having restrictions for their teen driver regarding use of safety belts, drinking and driving, cell phones, and text messaging while driving. However, among the 188 parents of licensed teens, only 9% reported having a written parent-teen driving agreement, either currently or in the past. Worrying "a lot" was reported less frequently by parents of newly licensed teens (36%) compared with parents of learning teens (61%). Parents report having rules and restrictions for their teen drivers, but only a small percentage formalize the rules and restrictions in a written parent-teen driving agreement. Parents worry less about their teen driver's safety during the newly licensed phase, when crash risk is high as compared to the learning phase. Further research is needed into how to effectively support parents in supervising and monitoring their teen driver. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Perceptions of smoking-related risk and worry among dual-smoker couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Ranby, Krista W; Lewis, Megan A; Toll, Benjamin A; Rohrbaugh, Michael J; Lipkus, Isaac M

2013-03-01

Quit rates are lower and relapse rates are higher for people in close relationships with a partner who smokes. Although desire to quit is often related to health concerns for one's self, much less is known about psychosocial factors associated with quitting in dual-smoker couples. This study investigated relations among beliefs about smoking and desire to quit from both partners' perspectives. We recruited 63 couples in which both partners smoke daily. Participants were aged 21-67 (M = 43.0, SD = 11.3) and had been smoking for 4-51 years (M = 22.9, SD = 11.3). Individuals' desire to quit related to worry about partner's health (r = .29, p belief that own smoking has caused partner physical harm (r = .38, p harm of smoking for oneself (r = .30, p scale) for their partner's help if they attempt to quit. Dual-smoker couples are at heightened health risks due to exposure to passive smoke and their own smoking. Partners' perceived risk and worry about the harms of smoking could be important leverage points for smoking cessation efforts. Interventions can be informed by considering both partners' beliefs and by helping partners develop plans for quitting and supporting each other.

Worry in Children: Changing Associations with Fear, Thinking, and Problem-Solving

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, Imogen; Szabó, Marianna

2015-01-01

Worry in adults has been conceptualized as a thinking process involving problem-solving attempts about anticipated negative outcomes. This process is related to, though distinct from, fear. Previous research suggested that compared to adults, children's experience of worry is less strongly associated with thinking and more closely related to fear.…

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia during worry forecasts stress-related increases in psychological distress.

Science.gov (United States)

Gouin, Jean-Philippe; Deschênes, Sonya S; Dugas, Michel J

2014-09-01

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has been conceptualized as an index of emotion regulation abilities. Although resting RSA has been associated with both concurrent and prospective affective responses to stress, the impact of RSA reactivity on emotional responses to stress is inconsistent across studies. The type of emotional stimuli used to elicit these phasic RSA responses may influence the adaptive value of RSA reactivity. We propose that RSA reactivity to a personally relevant worry-based stressor might forecast future affective responses to stress. To evaluate whether resting RSA and RSA reactivity to worry inductions predict stress-related increases in psychological distress, an academic stress model was used to prospectively examine changes in psychological distress from the well-defined low- and high-stress periods. During the low-stress period, 76 participants completed self-report mood measures and had their RSA assessed during a resting baseline, free worry period and worry catastrophizing interview. Participants completed another mood assessment during the high-stress period. Results indicated that baseline psychological distress predicted larger decreases in RSA during the worry inductions. Lower resting RSA and greater RSA suppression to the worry inductions at baseline prospectively predicted larger increases in psychological distress from the low- to high-stress period, even after accounting for the impact of baseline distress on RSA. These results provide further evidence that RSA may represent a unique index of emotion regulation abilities in times of stress.

Susceptibility, likelihood to be diagnosed, worry and fear for contracting Lyme disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Fogel, Joshua; Chawla, Gurasees S

Risk perception and psychological concerns are relevant for understanding how people view Lyme disease. This study investigates the four separate outcomes of susceptibility, likelihood to be diagnosed, worry, and fear for contracting Lyme disease. University students (n=713) were surveyed about demographics, perceived health, Lyme disease knowledge, Lyme disease preventive behaviors, Lyme disease history, and Lyme disease miscellaneous variables. We found that women were associated with increased susceptibility and fear. Asian/Asian-American race/ethnicity was associated with increased worry and fear. Perceived good health was associated with increased likelihood to be diagnosed, worry, and fear. Correct knowledge was associated with increased susceptibility and likelihood to be diagnosed. Those who typically spend a lot of time outdoors were associated with increased susceptibility, likelihood to be diagnosed, worry, and fear. In conclusion, healthcare providers and public health campaigns should address susceptibility, likelihood to be diagnosed, worry, and fear about Lyme disease, and should particularly target women and Asians/Asian-Americans to address any possible misconceptions and/or offer effective coping strategies. Copyright © 2016 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Generalized anxiety disorder and online intelligence: A phenomenological account of why worrying is unhelpful

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meynen Gerben

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Worrying is the central feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD. Many people worry from time to time, but in GAD the worrying is prolonged and difficult to control. Worrying is a specific way of coping with perceived threats and feared situations. Meanwhile, it is not considered to be a helpful coping strategy, and the phenomenological account developed in this paper aims to show why. It builds on several phenomenological notions and in particular on Michael Wheeler's application of these notions to artificial intelligence and the cognitive sciences. Wheeler emphasizes the value of 'online intelligence' as contrasted to 'offline intelligence'. I discuss and apply these concepts with respect to worrying as it occurs in GAD, suggesting that GAD patients overrate the value of detached contemplation (offline intelligence, while underrating their embodied-embedded adaptive skills (online intelligence. I argue that this phenomenological account does not only help explaining why worrying is used as a coping strategy, but also why cognitive behavioral therapy is successful in treating GAD.

WORRY, ANXIETY AND TENSION — IMPORTANCE ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Enrique

cognitive. Tension: Increased and unpleasant motor and psychological activity or a state of mental or ... MRC Research Unit on Anxiety and Stress. Disorders ... and brain imaging. Worry ... serve an adaptive function to the daily challenges of our environment. ... connection to physical symptoms ... Experience-conditioning.

Electrocortical consequences of image processing: The influence of working memory load and worry.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Evan J; Grant, DeMond M

2017-03-30

Research suggests that worry precludes emotional processing as well as biases attentional processes. Although there is burgeoning evidence for the relationship between executive functioning and worry, more research in this area is needed. A recent theory suggests one mechanism for the negative effects of worry on neural indicators of attention may be working memory load, however few studies have examined this directly. The goal of the current study was to document the influence of both visual and verbal working memory load and worry on attention allocation during processing of emotional images in a cued image paradigm. It was hypothesized that working memory load will decrease attention allocation during processing of emotional images. This was tested among 38 participants using a modified S1-S2 paradigm. Results indicated that both the visual and verbal working memory tasks resulted in a reduction of attention allocation to the processing of images across stimulus types compared to the baseline task, although only for individuals low in worry. These data extend the literature by documenting decreased neural responding (i.e., LPP amplitude) to imagery both the visual and verbal working memory load, particularly among individuals low in worry. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Momentary work worries, marital disclosure, and salivary cortisol among parents of young children.

Science.gov (United States)

Slatcher, Richard B; Robles, Theodore F; Repetti, Rena L; Fellows, Michelle D

2010-11-01

To investigate whether worries about work are linked to people's own cortisol levels and their spouses' cortisol levels in everyday life and whether marital factors may moderate these links. Although research has shown that satisfying marriages can buffer the physiological effects of everyday stress, the specific mechanisms through which marriage influences the processing and transmission of stress have not yet been identified. Thirty-seven healthy married couples completed baseline measures and then provided saliva samples and indicated their worries about work for six times a day from a Saturday morning through a Monday evening. Wives' cortisol levels were associated positively with their own work worries (p = .008) and with their husbands' work worries (p = .006). Husbands' cortisol levels were associated positively only with their own work worries (p = .015). Wives low in both marital satisfaction and disclosure showed a stronger association between work worries and cortisol compared with wives reporting either high marital satisfaction and/or high marital disclosure. These results suggest that momentary feelings of stress affect not only one's own cortisol levels but affect close others' cortisol levels as well. Furthermore, they suggest that, for women, the stress-buffering effects of a happy marriage may be partially explained by the extent to which they disclose their thoughts and feelings with their spouses.

Relationship between beliefs, motivation, and worries about physical activity and physical activity participation in persons with rheumatoid arthritis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrlich-Jones, Linda; Lee, Jungwha; Semanik, Pamela; Cox, Cheryl; Dunlop, Dorothy; Chang, Rowland W

2011-12-01

To determine the relationship between beliefs, motivation, and worries about physical activity and physical activity participation in persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A cross-sectional study used baseline data from 185 adults with RA enrolled in a randomized clinical trial assessing the effectiveness of an intervention to promote physical activity. Data included patients' self-reported beliefs that physical activity can be beneficial for their disease, motivation for physical activity participation, worries about physical activity participation, and average daily accelerometer counts of activity over a week's time. Body mass index (BMI), sex, age, race, and disease activity were measured as potential statistical moderators of physical activity. Physical activity participation was greater for those with higher scores on scales measuring beliefs that physical activity is beneficial for their disease (P for trend = 0.032) and motivation for physical activity participation (P for trend = 0.007) when adjusted for age, sex, BMI, race, and disease activity. There was a positive but nonsignificant trend in physical activity participation in relation to worries. Stronger beliefs that physical activity can be helpful for managing disease and increased motivation to engage in physical activity are related to higher levels of physical activity participation. These data provide a preliminary empirical rationale for why interventions targeting these concepts should lead to improved physical activity participation in adults with RA. Copyright © 2011 by the American College of Rheumatology.

Women with urinary incontinence: self-perceived worries and general practitioners' knowledge of problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Lagro-Janssen, T L; Smits, A J; Van Weel, C

1990-01-01

In the context of a large scale survey of health problems in women aged 50 to 65 years, a study was undertaken on the effects of incontinence on daily life. For this purpose 1442 women randomly selected from the practice files of 75 general practitioners in the eastern part of the Netherlands were interviewed at home (response rate 60%). In cases of moderate or severe incontinence the general practitioner of the woman concerned was asked whether this problem had been diagnosed in general practice. Incontinence was reported in 22.5% of the women. Overall, 77.8% of the women did not feel worried about it and 75.4% did not feel restricted in their activities; even for women with severe incontinence (daily frequency and needing protective pads) only 15.6% experienced much worry and 15.7% much restriction. About a third of the women with incontinence (32.0%) had been identified by their general practitioner. The greater the worries and restrictions owing to incontinence, the greater the chance that the incontinence was known to the general practitioner concerned. Only a small minority of the women who felt severely restricted were not identified by their general practitioner. There was a positive relation between recognized incontinence and a history of hysterectomy. This study contradicts the image of the incontinent woman as isolated and helpless; most women in this study seemed able to cope. PMID:2121179

Intolerance of Uncertainty, anxiety, and worry in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Osmanağaoğlu, Nihan; Creswell, Cathy; Dodd, Helen F

2018-01-01

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) has been implicated in the development and maintenance of worry and anxiety in adults and there is an increasing interest in the role that IU may play in anxiety and worry in children and adolescents. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize existing research on IU with regard to anxiety and worry in young people, and to provide a context for considering future directions in this area of research. The systematic review yielded 31 studies that investigated the association of IU with either anxiety or worry in children and adolescents. The meta-analysis showed that IU accounted for 36.00% of the variance in anxiety and 39.69% in worry. Due to the low number of studies and methodological factors, examination of potential moderators was limited; and of those we were able to examine, none were significant moderators of either association. Most studies relied on questionnaire measures of IU, anxiety, and worry; all studies except one were cross-sectional and the majority of the studies were with community samples. The inclusion of eligible studies was limited to studies published in English that focus on typically developing children. There is a strong association between IU and both anxiety and worry in young people therefore IU may be a relevant construct to target in treatment. To extend the existing literature, future research should incorporate longitudinal and experimental designs, and include samples of young people who have a range of anxiety disorders. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Does Worrying Mean Caring Too Much? Interpersonal Prototypicality of Dimensional Worry Controlling for Social Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Erickson, Thane M; Newman, Michelle G; Siebert, Erin C; Carlile, Jessica A; Scarsella, Gina M; Abelson, James L

2016-01-01

Worry, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms are dimensions that have each been linked to heterogeneous problems in interpersonal functioning. However, the relationships between these symptoms and interpersonal difficulties remain unclear given that most studies have examined diagnostic categories, not accounted for symptoms' shared variability due to general distress, and investigated only interpersonal problems (neglecting interpersonal traits, interpersonal goals, social behavior in daily life, and reports of significant others). To address these issues, students (Study 1; N=282) endorsed symptoms and interpersonal circumplex measures of traits and problems, as well as event-contingent social behaviors during one week of naturalistic daily interactions (N=184; 7,036 records). Additionally, depressed and anxious patients (N=47) reported symptoms and interpersonal goals in a dyadic relationship, and significant others rated patients' interpersonal goals and impact (Study 2). We derived hypotheses about prototypical interpersonal features from theories about the functions of particular symptoms and social behaviors. As expected, worry was uniquely associated with prototypically affiliative tendencies across all self-report measures in both samples, but predicted impacting significant others in unaffiliative ways. As also hypothesized, social anxiety was uniquely and prototypically associated with low dominance across measures, and general distress was associated with cold-submissive tendencies. Findings for depressive symptoms provided less consistent evidence for unique prototypical interpersonal features. Overall, results suggest the importance of multimethod assessment and accounting for general distress in interpersonal models of worry, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

When we should worry more: using cognitive bias modification to drive adaptive health behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Notebaert, Lies; Chrystal, Jessica; Clarke, Patrick J F; Holmes, Emily A; MacLeod, Colin

2014-01-01

A lack of behavioural engagement in health promotion or disease prevention is a problem across many health domains. In these cases where people face a genuine danger, a reduced focus on threat and low levels of anxiety or worry are maladaptive in terms of promoting protection or prevention behaviour. Therefore, it is possible that increasing the processing of threat will increase worry and thereby enhance engagement in adaptive behaviour. Laboratory studies have shown that cognitive bias modification (CBM) can increase or decrease anxiety and worry when increased versus decreased processing of threat is encouraged. In the current study, CBM for interpretation (CBM-I) is used to target engagement in sun protection behaviour. The goal was to investigate whether inducing a negative rather than a positive interpretation bias for physical threat information can enhance worry elicited when viewing a health campaign video (warning against melanoma skin cancer), and consequently lead to more adaptive behaviour (sun protection). Participants were successfully trained to either adopt a positive or negative interpretation bias using physical threat scenarios. However, contrary to expectations results showed that participants in the positive training condition reported higher levels of worry elicited by the melanoma video than participants in the negative training condition. Video elicited worry was, however, positively correlated with a measure of engagement in sun protection behaviour, suggesting that higher levels of worry do promote adaptive behaviour. These findings imply that more research is needed to determine under which conditions increased versus decreased processing of threat can drive adaptive worry. Various potential explanations for the current findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Work stress, worries, and pain interact synergistically with modelled traffic noise on cross-sectional associations with self-reported sleep problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kristiansen, Jesper; Persson, Roger; Björk, Jonas; Albin, Maria; Jakobsson, Kristina; Ostergren, Per-Olof; Ardö, Jonas

2011-02-01

To examine the risk of sleep problems associated with work stress (job strain, job demands, and decision authority), worries and pain and to investigate the synergistic interaction between these factors and traffic noise. Sleep problems and predictor variables were assessed in a cross-sectional public health survey with 12,093 respondents. Traffic noise levels were assessed using modelled A-weighted energy equivalent traffic sound levels at the residence. The risk of sleep problems was modelled using multiple logistic regression analysis. With regard to sleep problems not attributed to any external source (general sleep problems), independent main effects were found for traffic noise (women), decision authority (women), job strain, job demands, suffering from pain or other afflictions, worries about losing the job, experiencing bullying at work, having troubles paying the bills, and having a sick, disabled, or old relative to take care of (women). Significant synergistic effects were found for traffic noise and experiencing bullying at work in women. With regard to sleep problems attributed to traffic noise, strong synergistic interactions were found between traffic noise and, respectively, job demands (men), having pain or other afflictions, taking care of a sick, old, or disabled relative, and having troubles paying the bills. Main effects were found for worries about losing the job, experiencing bullying at work, job strain (men), and decision authority (men). Synergistic interactions could potentially contribute with 10-20% of the sleep problems attributed to traffic noise in the population. Work stress, pain, and different worries were independently associated with general sleep problems and showed in general no synergistic interaction with traffic noise. In contrast, synergistic effects between traffic noise and psychological factors were found with regard to sleep problems attributed to traffic noise. The synergy may contribute significantly to sleep

The relationship of thought-action fusion to pathologicial worry and generalized anxiety disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Hazlett-Stevens, Holly; Zucker, Bonnie G; Craske, Michelle G

2002-10-01

Meta-cognitive beliefs associated with pathological worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) may encompass the likelihood subtype of thought-action fusion (TAF), the belief that one's thoughts can influence outside events. In the current study of 494 undergraduate college students, positive correlations between scores on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and the two Likelihood subscales of the TAF Scale were found, and participants endorsing at least some DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for GAD scored significantly higher on both TAF-Likelihood subscales than participants reporting no GAD symptoms. However, these TAF scales did not predict GAD diagnostic status with PSWQ included as a predictor. In contrast to previous research, the TAF-Moral scale did not correlate with worry. Relationships between TAF, pathological worry, and meta-cognition are discussed in relation to GAD.

Why Does Population Aging Matter So Much for Asia? Population Aging, Economic Growth, and Economic Security in Asia

OpenAIRE

Lee, Sang-Hyop; Mason, Andrew; Park, Donghyun

2011-01-01

Asia as a whole is experiencing a rapid demographic transition toward older populations, though different countries are at different stages of this region- wide trend. We document Asia's aging population, describe the region's old-age support systems, and highlight the regional socioeconomic implications of the transition for those support systems. Aging populations present two fundamental challenges to Asian policymakers: (1) developing socioeconomic systems that can provide economic securit...

Belief in the paranormal and modern health worries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Utinans A.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available It has been found, that despite the improvement of the objective health indicators, people's subjective perception of health is that health indicators are getting worse (Barsky A.J., 1988, which is one of the reasons why a new term “modern health worries” is coming into use in medical literature (Petrie K.J., Wessely S., 2002. People are worried and scared of the effect of new high tech innovations (effect of cell phone radiation, environmental pollution, ozone layer depletion, etc., changes in manufacturing of food products (genetically modified food, food concentrates etc.. Nowadays, many people, being worried about their health, turn to new eating habits (veganism, defend themselves against various innovations in the health system (vaccination, etc. It could be defined as fear of consequences of scientific progress. The reason of fear is not only the misunderstanding of scientific innovations. Quite often, it is a belief in pseudoscientific theories (for example, “conspiracy” or belief in the paranormal phenomena (karma violations, disruption of the cosmic plan. In a part of cases protesters against vaccines and genetically modified food belong to new religious movements which are based on belief in the paranormal and magical thinking. Magical thinking predisposes to the negative attitude towards scientific assumptions and innovations, like a genetically modified food (Saher, 2006. Aim of study. To study the correlation between pseudoscientific assumptions, belief in the paranormal and modern health worries. This condition of modern health worries is becoming important for health care system. It causes the increase in the number of symptoms (Koteles et al., 2011, which, in its turn, increases the doctors' visit rate on one hand (Rief W et al., 2012, but, on the other hand, increases evasion to attend traditional medical care activities. Part of supporters of pseudoscientific beliefs experiences anxiety as to the bad food toxins

Worrying about the LHC, a lesson from astrophysics?

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2008-01-01

To worry about the LHC is a popular sport. I shall share my own worries, hopefully original, and do it via a parable (for this method, I can quote earlier authors). The parable concerns a topic in astrophysics (gamma-ray bursts) which happens to be a simple exercise --but quite an interesting one-- on elementary particle-physics and beam dynamics, topics not unrelated to the LHC. Though most of the talk will be dedicated to the physics and, in particular, to its recent developments, the allegory will allow me to detect what, I shall argue, may be dangerous 'viruses' invading science. I do not have the decisive antidotes, but I shall discuss some possible ones.

"What I Worry About." Meeting the Needs of the Community College Student.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaritsky, Joyce Ship

1990-01-01

Summarizes concerns commonly expressed by incoming LaGuardia Community College freshmen (e.g., worries about parenting; fear of random violence; financial worries; fear of educational failure; and anxiety about mastering English). Reviews an instructor's efforts to empower students and build self-concept. Advocates a systemwide effort to meet…

Modern health worries - the dark side of spirituality?

Science.gov (United States)

Köteles, Ferenc; Simor, Péter; Czető, Márton; Sárog, Noémi; Szemerszky, Renáta

2016-08-01

Modern health worries (MHWs) are widespread in modern societies. MHWs were connected to both negative and positive psychological characteristics in previous studies. The study aimed to investigate the relationships among intuitive-experiential information processing style, spirituality, MHWs, and psychological well-being. Members of the Hungarian Skeptic Society (N = 128), individuals committed to astrology (N = 601), and people from a non-representative community sample (N = 554) completed questionnaires assessing intuitive-experiential information processing style, spirituality, modern health worries (MHWs), and psychological well-being. Astrologers showed higher levels of spirituality, intuitive-experiential thinking, and modern health worries than individuals from the community sample; and skeptics scored even lower than the latter group with respect to all three constructs. Within the community sample, medium level connections between measures of spirituality and the experiential thinking style, and weak to medium level correlations between spirituality and MHWs were found. The connection between MHWs and experiential thinking style was completely mediated by spirituality. Individuals with higher levels of spirituality are particularly vulnerable to overgeneralized messages on health related risks. Official communication of potential risks based on rational scientific reasoning is not appropriate to persuade them as it has no impact on the intuitive-experiential system. © 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

What, me worry? Adolescent generalized anxiety disorder symptoms and problemematic interactions in the family

OpenAIRE

Wijsbroek, S.A.M.

2011-01-01

Research has shown that Generalized Anxiety Disorder is one of the most common anxiety disorders found in adolescents today. Its main symptoms are disproportionate fear and anxiety (worrying) about work-related or school-related events or activities and social relations. Adolescents suffering from GAD symptoms have difficulty keeping fear and worries in check. This causes mounting stress and impairs their functioning. GAD sufferers tend to worry about issues stemming from social relationships...

Vulture worries stalk activists on Uttarayan

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2007-03-01

Mar 1, 2007 ... Vulture worries stalk activists on Uttarayan. Anon. Ahmedabad – When kites take to the skies on Uttarayan, animal activists will be biting their nails in apprehension. Their main concern is the White-rumped. Vulture, a highly endangered species, of which only 137 birds are left in the city, according to figures ...

Estimating population age structure using otolith morphometrics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Doering-Arjes, P.; Cardinale, M.; Mosegaard, Henrik

2008-01-01

known-age fish individuals. Here we used known-age Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) from the Faroe Bank and Faroe Plateau stocks. Cod populations usually show quite large variation in growth rates and otolith shape. We showed that including otolith morphometrics into ageing processes has the potential...... populations. The intercalibration method was successful but generalization from one stock to another remains problematic. The development of an otolith growth model is needed for generalization if an operational method for different populations is required in the future....... to make ageing objective, accurate, and fast. Calibration analysis indicated that a known-age sample from the same population and environment is needed to obtain robust calibration; using a sample from a different stock more than doubles the error rate, even in the case of genetically highly related...

Worry spreads: interpersonal transfer of problem-related anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkinson, Brian; Simons, Gwenda

2012-01-01

This paper distinguishes processes potentially contributing to interpersonal anxiety transfer, including object-directed social appraisal, empathic worry, and anxiety contagion, and reviews evidence for their operation. We argue that these anxiety-transfer processes may be exploited strategically when attempting to regulate relationship partners' emotion. More generally, anxiety may serve as either a warning signal to other people about threat (alerting function) or an appeal for emotional support or practical help (comfort-seeking function). Tensions between these two interpersonal functions may account for mutually incongruent interpersonal responses to expressed anxiety, including mistargeted interpersonal regulation attempts. Because worry waxes and wanes over time as a function of other people's ongoing reactions, interpersonal interventions may help to alleviate some of its maladaptive consequences.

The challenges of human population ageing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sander, Miriam; Oxlund, Bjarke; Jespersen, Astrid

2015-01-01

The 20th century saw an unprecedented increase in average human lifespan as well as a rapid decline in human fertility in many countries of the world. The accompanying worldwide change in demographics of human populations is linked to unanticipated and unprecedented economic, cultural, medical...... of Copenhagen (UCPH) and the Center for Healthy Ageing at UCPH, which took place on 20-21 June 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Questions discussed here include the following: what is driving age-structural change in human populations? how can we create 'age-friendly' societies and promote 'ageing...

Threat engagement, disengagement, and sensitivity bias in worry-prone individuals as measured by an emotional go/no-go task.

Science.gov (United States)

Gole, Markus; Köchel, Angelika; Schäfer, Axel; Schienle, Anne

2012-03-01

The goal of the present study was to investigate a threat engagement, disengagement, and sensitivity bias in individuals suffering from pathological worry. Twenty participants high in worry proneness and 16 control participants low in worry proneness completed an emotional go/no-go task with worry-related threat words and neutral words. Shorter reaction times (i.e., threat engagement bias), smaller omission error rates (i.e., threat sensitivity bias), and larger commission error rates (i.e., threat disengagement bias) emerged only in the high worry group when worry-related words constituted the go-stimuli and neutral words the no-go stimuli. Also, smaller omission error rates as well as larger commission error rates were observed in the high worry group relative to the low worry group when worry-related go stimuli and neutral no-go stimuli were used. The obtained results await further replication within a generalized anxiety disorder sample. Also, further samples should include men as well. Our data suggest that worry-prone individuals are threat-sensitive, engage more rapidly with aversion, and disengage harder. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emotion as a boost to metacognition: how worry enhances the quality of confidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Massoni, Sébastien

2014-10-01

Emotion and cognition are known to interact during human decision processes. In this study we focus on a specific kind of cognition, namely metacognition. Our experiment induces a negative emotion, worry, during a perceptual task. In a numerosity task subjects have to make a two alternative forced choice and then reveal their confidence in this decision. We measure metacognition in terms of discrimination and calibration abilities. Our results show that metacognition, but not choice, is affected by the level of worry anticipated before the decision. Under worry individuals tend to have better metacognition in terms of the two measures. Furthermore understanding the formation of confidence is better explained with taking into account the level of worry in the model. This study shows the importance of an emotional component in the formation and the quality of the subjective probabilities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Worry amplifies theory-of-mind reasoning for negatively valenced social stimuli in generalized anxiety disorder.

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Zainal, Nur Hani; Newman, Michelle G

2018-02-01

Theory-of-mind (ToM) is the ability to accurately infer others' thoughts and feelings. In generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), cognitive and emotion regulation theories allude to the plausibility that ToM is conditional on the degree of individuals' state worry, a hallmark symptom. GAD and state worry may interact to predict ToM constructs. However, no experiments have directly tested such interactional hypotheses, and used ToM as a framework to advance understanding of social cognition in GAD. This study therefore aimed to address this gap. 171 participants (69 GAD, 102 Controls) were randomly assigned to either a Worry or Relaxation induction and completed well-validated ToM decoding (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test) and reasoning (Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition) tasks. GAD status significantly interacted with state worry to predict accuracy of overall reasoning, cognitive-reasoning, positive-reasoning, and negative-reasoning ToM. Worry, as opposed to relaxation, led sufferers of GAD to display more accurate overall reasoning and cognitive-reasoning ToM than controls, especially for negative signals. Participants with GAD who worried, but not relaxed, were also significantly better than the norm at interpreting negative signals. These findings remained after controlling for gender, executive function, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms. For other ToM abilities, mean scores of persons with and without GAD who either worried or relaxed were normative. The ToM reasoning measure lacked self-reference, and these preliminary findings warrant replication. Theoretical implications, such as the state worry-contingent nature of ToM in GAD, and clinical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prioritizing Parental Worry Associated with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Using Best-Worst Scaling.

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Peay, Holly Landrum; Hollin, I L; Bridges, J F P

2016-04-01

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive, fatal pediatric disorder with significant burden on parents. Assessing disease impact can inform clinical interventions. Best-worst scaling (BWS) was used to elicit parental priorities among 16 short-term, DMD-related worries identified through community engagement. Respondents viewed 16 subsets of worries, identified using a balanced, incomplete block design, and identified the most and least worrying items. Priorities were assessed using best-worst scores (spanning +1 to -1) representing the relative number of times items were endorsed as most and least worrying. Independent-sample t-tests compared prioritization of parents with ambulatory and non-ambulatory children. Participants (n = 119) most prioritized worries about weakness progression (BW score = 0.64) and getting the right care over time (BW = 0.25). Compared to parents of non-ambulatory children, parents of ambulatory children more highly prioritized missing treatments (BW = 0.31 vs. 0.13, p < 0.001) and being a good enough parent (BW = 0.06 vs. -0.08, p = 0.010), and less prioritized child feeling like a burden (BW = -0.24 vs. -0.07, p < 0.001). Regardless of child's disease stage, caregiver interventions should address the emotional impact of caring for a child with a progressive, fatal disease. We demonstrate an accessible, clinically-relevant approach to prioritize disease impact using BWS, which offers an alternative to the use of traditional rating/ranking scales.

Aging-From molecules to populations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sander, Miriam; Avlund, Kirsten; Lauritzen, Martin

2008-01-01

of human aging. To foster interactions and collaboration between diverse scientists interested in the biochemical, physiological, epidemiological and psychosocial aspects of aging, The University of Copenhagen Faculty of Health Sciences recently organized and co-sponsored a workshop entitled Aging......-From Molecules to Populations. The following questions about human aging were discussed at the workshop: What is the limit of human life expectancy? What are the key indicators of human aging? What are the key drivers of human aging? Which genes have the greatest impact on human aging? How similar is aging...

Worry and problem-solving skills and beliefs in primary school children

OpenAIRE

Parkinson, Monika; Creswell, Catharine

2011-01-01

Objective. To examine the association between worry and problem-solving skills and beliefs (confidence and perceived control) in primary school children.\\ud Method. Children (8–11 years) were screened using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children. High (N ¼ 27) and low (N ¼ 30) scorers completed measures of anxiety, problem-solving skills (generating alternative solutions to\\ud problems, planfulness, and effectiveness of solutions) and problem-solving beliefs(confidence and perceived ...

Cancer-Related Worry and Physical Well-Being in the Context of Perceived Stress in Young Adults with Testicular Cancer.

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Darabos, Katie; Hoyt, Michael A

2017-06-01

Uncertainty associated with cancer can foster future-focused worry and ultimately diminish physical well-being, especially among young adult survivors. Stress perceptions might exacerbate the association of worry and physical well-being. Young adults with testicular cancer (N = 171) completed measures of physical well-being, perceived stress, and future cancer-related worry. Perceived stress and future worry were both negatively associated with physical well-being. Perceived stress moderated the relationship; more perceived stress was related to lower physical well-being in those with high worry. Interventions aimed at worry reduction might benefit from reducing global stress perceptions.

Age, cohort and period effects in the prevalence of sleep disturbances among older people: the impact of economic downturn.

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Dregan, Alex; Armstrong, David

2009-11-01

Using two longitudinal and nationally representative datasets, this study employs a cross-cohort analysis to examine age, cohort and period effects in the prevalence of sleep loss through worry for people over the age of 50 in the UK. The likelihood of reporting sleep loss through worry is calculated at two time-points for 7785 respondents from the Health and Activity Survey (HALs) and 21,834 respondents from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), with baseline information on sleep loss through worry. Descriptive statistical methods were applied to determine the prevalence rates in sleep loss through worry at each survey within both datasets. The results of analysis reveal that sleep loss through worry declined with age, but this pattern was tempered by a temporary increase in the early 1990s. The contemporary economic downturn is suggested as a possible explanation for the significant increase in the prevalence of sleep loss through worry in 1991.

Population Aging: An Emerging Research Agenda for Sustainable Development

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Shogo Kudo

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In recent years, population aging has been recognized as an emerging challenge in many parts of the world. Earlier studies discussed its impacts on the sustainability of social security systems and national economic growth; however, they tended to focus on the issues at the national level and were limited to developed countries. With the knowledge that population aging will be a predominant trend in both developed and developing countries, this paper aims to: (i describe the global population aging trend and its regional demography; (ii provide a structural review of population aging challenges at the national, communal and individual levels; and (iii elaborate future research topics on population aging with a particular emphasis on developing countries. Several indicators suggest rapid population aging in the coming decades, especially in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The structural review presents the diverse challenges that affect both young and older population groups. Finally, the need for linking population aging with the sustainable development concept and the possible rural decline caused by rapid urbanization are suggested as future research topics. Further studies to establish a body of knowledge on population aging in developing countries are required to place population aging on the agenda of future sustainable development discussions.

Visualising the demographic factors which shape population age structure

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Tom Wilson

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Background: The population pyramid is one of the most popular tools for visualising population age structure. However, it is difficult to discern from the diagram the relative effects of different demographic components on the size of age-specific populations, making it hard to understand exactly how a population's age structure is formed. Objective: The aim of this paper is to introduce a type of population pyramid which shows how births, deaths, and migration have shaped a population's age structure. Methods: Births, deaths, and population data were obtained from the Human Mortality Database and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. A variation on the conventional population pyramid, termed here a components-of-change pyramid, was created. Based on cohort population accounts, it illustrates how births, deaths, and net migration have created the population of each age group. A simple measure which summarises the impact of net migration on age structure is also suggested. Results: Example components-of-change pyramids for several countries and subnational regions are presented, which illustrate how births, deaths, and net migration have fashioned current population age structures. The influence of migration is shown to vary greatly between populations. Conclusions: The new type of pyramid aids interpretation of a population's age structure and helps to understand its demographic history over the last century.

Regional Impact of Population Aging on Changes in Individual Self-perceptions of Aging: Findings From the German Ageing Survey.

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Wolff, Julia K; Beyer, Ann-Kristin; Wurm, Susanne; Nowossadeck, Sonja; Wiest, Maja

2018-01-18

The importance of self-perceptions of aging (SPA) for health and longevity is well documented. Comparably little is known about factors that contribute to SPA. Besides individual factors, the context a person lives in may shape SPA. Research has so far focused on country-level differences in age stereotypes, indicating that rapid population aging accompanies more negative age stereotypes. The present study expands previous research by investigating the impact of district-specific population aging within one country on different facets of SPA. Based on a large representative survey in Germany, the study investigates changes in SPA as ongoing development as well as the SPA of physical loss over a 12-year period in adults aged 40+. The study uses several indicators of population aging (e.g., population development, average age, greying index), to identify four clusters differing in their pace of population aging. Based on three-level latent change models, these clusters were compared in their impact on changes in SPA. Compared to districts with an average rate of population aging, the study shows that persons living in regions with a fast population aging rate (C1) hold more negative SPA in both facets (ps = .01). Districts with slow population aging (C2) have significantly higher SPA ongoing development (p = .03). The study underlines the importance for regional differences in population aging on the development of SPA. In particular, societies should be aware that fast population aging may result in more negative SPA. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Cancer treatment decision-making among young adults with lung and colorectal cancer: a comparison with adults in middle age.

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Mack, Jennifer W; Cronin, Angel; Fasciano, Karen; Block, Susan D; Keating, Nancy L

2016-09-01

Our aim is to understand experiences with treatment decision-making among young adults with cancer. We studied patients with lung cancer or colorectal cancer in the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium, a prospective cohort study. We identified 148 young adult patients aged 21-40 years who completed baseline interview questions about cancer treatment decision-making; each was propensity score matched to three middle adult patients aged 41-60 years, for a cohort of 592 patients. Patients were asked about decision-making preferences, family involvement in decision-making, and worries about treatment. An ordinal logistic regression model evaluated factors associated with more treatment worries. Young and middle-aged adults reported similar decision-making preferences (p = 0.80) and roles relative to physicians (p = 0.36). Although family involvement was similar in the age groups (p = 0.21), young adults were more likely to have dependent children in the home (60% younger versus 28% middle-aged adults, p Young adults reported more worries about time away from family (p = 0.002), and, in unadjusted analyses, more cancer treatment-related worries (mean number of responses of 'somewhat' or 'very' worried 2.5 for younger versus 2.2 for middle-aged adults, p = 0.02.) However, in adjusted analyses, worries were associated with the presence of dependent children in the home (odds ratio [OR] 1.55, 95% CI = 1.07-2.24, p = 0.02), rather than age. Young adults involve doctors and family members in decisions at rates similar to middle-aged adults but experience more worries about time away from family. Patients with dependent children are especially likely to experience worries. Treatment decision-making strategies should be based on individual preferences and needs rather than age alone. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Women's work, worry and fear: the portrayal of sexuality and sexual health in US magazines for teenage and middle-aged women, 2000-2007.

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Clarke, Juanne

2009-05-01

The purpose of this paper is to report on an exploratory content analysis of the portrayal of sexuality, sexual health and disease in select magazines designed for two groups of women: teenagers and women in the 40-50-year-old age category in the USA. The analysis found that magazine portrayal was both similar for the two groups of women and distinctly different. Neither group of magazines focused on women's sexual desire. Both kinds of magazines emphasized that it was women's work and worry to control sexual expression. Teenagers were described as responsible for avoiding sex in order to prevent pregnancy, fearsomely described STIs and untrustworthy male sexual partners. Abstinence was presented as the only viable option for young women. Women in the 40-50-year-old age group were portrayed as responsible for the emotion work and sexual relations linked to their responsibility for maintaining their marriages and fulfilling their tasks of motherhood, especially through the monitoring of the sexuality of their female children. Sex was characterized in terms akin to women's work within the home. Possible explanations for, and consequences of, these presentations of sexuality are discussed.

Physical activity, depressed mood and pregnancy worries in European obese pregnant women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

de Wit, Linda; Jelsma, Judith G M; van Poppel, Mireille N M

2015-01-01

and lifestyle intervention for the prevention of gestational diabetes mellitus (DALI) study were used. Time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behaviour was measured with accelerometers. Depressed mood was measured with the WHO well-being index (WHO-5) and pregnancy......BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between mental health status (i.e. depressed mood and pregnancy-related worries) and objectively measured physical activity levels in obese pregnant women from seven European countries. METHODS: Baseline data from the vitamin D......-related worries with the Cambridge Worry Scale (CWS). In addition, socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, and perceptions and attitude regarding weight management and physical activity were measured. Linear regression analyses were performed to assess the association of mental health status...

Influences of Personal Standards and Perceived Parental Expectations on Worry for Asian American and White American College Students

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Berenbaum, Howard; Okazaki, Sumie

2012-01-01

The current study examined perceptions of living up to parental expectations and personal standards as possible mediators of the relationship between ethnicity and worry in a sample of 836 Asian American and 856 White American college students. Asian Americans reported higher frequency of academic- and family-related worry, but they did not report higher levels of global tendency to worry. Perceptions of living up to parental expectations of current academic performance and personal standards for preparation for a future career partially explained ethnic differences in frequency of academic worry. Personal standards and perceptions of living up to parental expectations for respect for the family partially explained ethnic differences in frequency of family worry. The findings highlight the importance of targeting domain-specific personal standards and perceived parental expectations to reduce worry among Asian Americans. PMID:22416875

Terrorism-related fear and avoidance behavior in a multiethnic urban population.

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Eisenman, David P; Glik, Deborah; Ong, Michael; Zhou, Qiong; Tseng, Chi-Hong; Long, Anna; Fielding, Jonathan; Asch, Steven

2009-01-01

We sought to determine whether groups traditionally most vulnerable to disasters would be more likely than would be others to perceive population-level risk as high (as measured by the estimated color-coded alert level) would worry more about terrorism, and would avoid activities because of terrorism concerns. We conducted a random digit dial survey of the Los Angeles County population October 2004 through January 2005 in 6 languages. We asked respondents what color alert level the country was under, how often they worry about terrorist attacks, and how often they avoid activities because of terrorism. Multivariate regression modeled correlates of worry and avoidance, including mental illness, disability, demographic factors, and estimated color-coded alert level. Persons who are mentally ill, those who are disabled, African Americans, Latinos, Chinese Americans, Korean Americans, and non-US citizens were more likely to perceive population-level risk as high, as measured by the estimated color-coded alert level. These groups also reported more worry and avoidance behaviors because of concerns about terrorism. Vulnerable populations experience a disproportionate burden of the psychosocial impact of terrorism threats and our national response. Further studies should investigate the specific behaviors affected and further elucidate disparities in the disaster burden associated with terrorism and terrorism policies.

11 CFR 110.18 - Voting age population.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Voting age population. 110.18 Section 110.18 Federal Elections FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION GENERAL CONTRIBUTION AND EXPENDITURE LIMITATIONS AND... population of the United States, of each State, and of each Congressional district. The term voting age...

Capturing early signs of deterioration: the dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score and its value in the Rapid Response System.

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Douw, Gooske; Huisman-de Waal, Getty; van Zanten, Arthur R H; van der Hoeven, Johannes G; Schoonhoven, Lisette

2017-09-01

To determine the predictive value of individual and combined dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score indicators at various Early Warning Score levels, differentiating between Early Warning Scores reaching the trigger threshold to call a rapid response team and Early Warning Score levels not reaching this point. Dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score comprises nine indicators underlying nurses' 'worry' about a patient's condition. All indicators independently show significant association with unplanned intensive care/high dependency unit admission or unexpected mortality. Prediction of this outcome improved by adding the dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score indicators to an Early Warning Score based on vital signs. An observational cohort study was conducted on three surgical wards in a tertiary university-affiliated teaching hospital. Included were surgical, native-speaking, adult patients. Nurses scored presence of 'worry' and/or dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score indicators every shift or when worried. Vital signs were measured according to the prevailing protocol. Unplanned intensive care/high dependency unit admission or unexpected mortality was the composite endpoint. Percentages of 'worry' and dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score indicators were calculated at various Early Warning Score levels in control and event groups. Entering all dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score indicators in a multiple logistic regression analysis, we calculated a weighted score and calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value and negative predicted value for each possible total score. In 3522 patients, 102 (2·9%) had an unplanned intensive care/high dependency unit admissions (n = 97) or unexpected mortality (n = 5). Patients with such events and only slightly changed vital signs had significantly higher percentages of 'worry' and dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score indicators expressed than patients in the control group. Increasing number

Neurasthenia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and the Medicalization of Worry in a Vietnamese Psychiatric Hospital.

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Tran, Allen L

2017-06-01

This article examines two forms of the medicalization of worry in an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Biomedical psychiatrists understand patients' symptoms as manifestations of the excessive worry associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Drawing on an ethnopsychology of emotion that reflects increasingly popular models of neoliberal selfhood, these psychiatrists encourage patients to frame psychic distress in terms of private feelings to address the conditions in their lives that lead to chronic anxiety. However, most patients attribute their symptoms to neurasthenia instead of GAD. Differences between doctors' and patients' explanatory models are not just rooted in their understandings of illness but also in their respective conceptualizations of worry in terms of emotion and sentiment. Patients with neurasthenia reject doctors' attempts to psychologize distress and maintain a model of worry that supports a sense of moral selfhood based on notions of obligation and sacrifice. © 2016 by the American Anthropological Association.

Intolerance of uncertainty, worry, and rumination in major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

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Yook, Keunyoung; Kim, Keun-Hyang; Suh, Shin Young; Lee, Kang Soo

2010-08-01

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) can be defined as a cognitive bias that affects how a person perceives, interprets, and responds to uncertain situations. Although IU has been reported mainly in literature relating to worry and anxiety symptoms, it may be also important to investigate the relationship between IU, rumination, and depression in a clinical sample. Furthermore, individuals who are intolerant of uncertainty easily experience stress and could cope with stressful situations using repetitive thought such as worry and rumination. Thus, we investigated whether different forms of repetitive thought differentially mediate the relationship between IU and psychological symptoms. Participants included 27 patients with MDD, 28 patients with GAD, and 16 patients with comorbid GAD/MDD. Even though worry, rumination, IU, anxiety, and depressive symptoms correlated substantially with each other, worry partially mediated the relationship between IU and anxiety whereas rumination completely mediated the relationship between IU and depressive symptoms. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spirometry reference equations for central European populations from school age to old age.

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Rochat, Mascha K; Laubender, Ruediger P; Kuster, Daniela; Braendli, Otto; Moeller, Alexander; Mansmann, Ulrich; von Mutius, Erika; Wildhaber, Johannes

2013-01-01

Spirometry reference values are important for the interpretation of spirometry results. Reference values should be updated regularly, derived from a population as similar to the population for which they are to be used and span across all ages. Such spirometry reference equations are currently lacking for central European populations. To develop spirometry reference equations for central European populations between 8 and 90 years of age. We used data collected between January 1993 and December 2010 from a central European population. The data was modelled using "Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape" (GAMLSS). The spirometry reference equations were derived from 118'891 individuals consisting of 60'624 (51%) females and 58'267 (49%) males. Altogether, there were 18'211 (15.3%) children under the age of 18 years. We developed spirometry reference equations for a central European population between 8 and 90 years of age that can be implemented in a wide range of clinical settings.

Spirometry reference equations for central European populations from school age to old age.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mascha K Rochat

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Spirometry reference values are important for the interpretation of spirometry results. Reference values should be updated regularly, derived from a population as similar to the population for which they are to be used and span across all ages. Such spirometry reference equations are currently lacking for central European populations. OBJECTIVE: To develop spirometry reference equations for central European populations between 8 and 90 years of age. MATERIALS: We used data collected between January 1993 and December 2010 from a central European population. The data was modelled using "Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape" (GAMLSS. RESULTS: The spirometry reference equations were derived from 118'891 individuals consisting of 60'624 (51% females and 58'267 (49% males. Altogether, there were 18'211 (15.3% children under the age of 18 years. CONCLUSION: We developed spirometry reference equations for a central European population between 8 and 90 years of age that can be implemented in a wide range of clinical settings.

Separating Common from Unique Variance Within Emotional Distress: An Examination of Reliability and Relations to Worry.

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Marshall, Andrew J; Evanovich, Emma K; David, Sarah Jo; Mumma, Gregory H

2018-01-17

High comorbidity rates among emotional disorders have led researchers to examine transdiagnostic factors that may contribute to shared psychopathology. Bifactor models provide a unique method for examining transdiagnostic variables by modelling the common and unique factors within measures. Previous findings suggest that the bifactor model of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) may provide a method for examining transdiagnostic factors within emotional disorders. This study aimed to replicate the bifactor model of the DASS, a multidimensional measure of psychological distress, within a US adult sample and provide initial estimates of the reliability of the general and domain-specific factors. Furthermore, this study hypothesized that Worry, a theorized transdiagnostic variable, would show stronger relations to general emotional distress than domain-specific subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the bifactor model structure of the DASS in 456 US adult participants (279 females and 177 males, mean age 35.9 years) recruited online. The DASS bifactor model fitted well (CFI = 0.98; RMSEA = 0.05). The General Emotional Distress factor accounted for most of the reliable variance in item scores. Domain-specific subscales accounted for modest portions of reliable variance in items after accounting for the general scale. Finally, structural equation modelling indicated that Worry was strongly predicted by the General Emotional Distress factor. The DASS bifactor model is generalizable to a US community sample and General Emotional Distress, but not domain-specific factors, strongly predict the transdiagnostic variable Worry.

A Preliminary Investigation of Stimulus Control Training for Worry: Effects on Anxiety and Insomnia

Science.gov (United States)

McGowan, Sarah Kate; Behar, Evelyn

2013-01-01

For individuals with generalized anxiety disorder, worry becomes associated with numerous aspects of life (e.g., time of day, specific stimuli, environmental cues) and is thus under poor discriminative stimulus control (SC). In addition, excessive worry is associated with anxiety, depressed mood, and sleep difficulties. This investigation sought…

Quality of life, self-esteem and worries in young adult survivors of childhood cancer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Langeveld, N. E.; Grootenhuis, M. A.; Voûte, P. A.; de Haan, R. J.; van den Bos, C.

2004-01-01

This study assessed quality of life, self-esteem and worries in young adult survivors of childhood cancer compared to a group of young adults with no history of cancer. The impact of demographic, medical and treatment factors and self-esteem on survivors' quality of life and worries was studied.

Periodicity in Age-Resolved Populations

Science.gov (United States)

Esipov, Sergei

We discuss the interplay between the non-linear diffusion and age-resolved population dynamics. Depending on the age properties of collective migration the system may exhibit continuous joint expansion of all ages or continuous expansion with age segregation. Between these two obvious limiting regimes there is an interesting window of periodic expansion, which has been previously used by us in modeling bacterial colonies of Proteus mirabilis. In order to test whether the age-dependent collective migration leads to periodicity in other systems we performed a Fourier analysis of historical data on ethnic expansions and found multiple co-existing periods of activity.

What is that we were worried about?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bedir, M.; Ince, A.

2014-01-01

“What is it that you were worried about” is an art video3 where an energy rebalancing coach heals and cleans the unsettling energies of spaces by putting them into a holographic energy scan. Two artists draw our attention to an old bunker in a Bosnian Town, which used to be Tito’s atomic bomb

Should poverty researchers worry about inequality?

OpenAIRE

Armando Barrientos

2010-01-01

The paper constructs a case for arguing that poverty researchers need not worry about inequality (as poverty researchers). It reviews conceptualisations of poverty as essentially relational, a particular reflection of prevailing inequalities. In this approach, people are in poverty because they are less well off than others along important dimensions of wellbeing. As against this view, the paper constructs a case for studying poverty as non-relational. In this approach, people are in poverty ...

Parental perceptions of teen driving: Restrictions, worry and influence☆

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Jewett, Amy; Shults, Ruth A.; Bhat, Geeta

2016-01-01

Introduction Parents play a critical role in preventing crashes among teens. Research of parental perceptions and concerns regarding teen driving safety is limited. We examined results from the 2013 Summer ConsumerStyles survey that queried parents about restrictions placed on their teen drivers, their perceived level of “worry” about their teen driver’s safety, and influence of parental restrictions regarding their teen’s driving. Methods We produced frequency distributions for the number of restrictions imposed, parental “worry,” and influence of rules regarding their teen’s driving, reported by teen’s driving license status (learning to drive or obtained a driver’s license). Response categories were dichotomized because of small cell sizes, and we ran separate log-linear regression models to explore whether imposing all four restrictions on teen drivers was associated with either worry intensity (“a lot” versus “somewhat, not very much or not at all”) or perceived influence of parental rules (“a lot” versus “somewhat, not very much or not at all”). Results Among the 456 parent respondents, 80% reported having restrictions for their teen driver regarding use of safety belts, drinking and driving, cell phones, and text messaging while driving. However, among the 188 parents of licensed teens, only 9% reported having a written parent-teen driving agreement, either currently or in the past. Worrying “a lot” was reported less frequently by parents of newly licensed teens (36%) compared with parents of learning teens (61%). Conclusions and Practical Applications Parents report having rules and restrictions for their teen drivers, but only a small percentage formalize the rules and restrictions in a written parent-teen driving agreement. Parents worry less about their teen driver’s safety during the newly licensed phase, when crash risk is high as compared to the learning phase. Further research is needed into how to effectively

Worry-inducing stimuli in an aversive Go/NoGo task enhance reactive control in individuals with lower trait-anxiety.

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Leue, Anja; Rodilla, Carmen Cano; Beauducel, André

2017-04-01

This study relates predictions on reactive and proactive cognitive control to findings on anxious apprehension/worry and ERN/Ne. We investigated whether worry-inducing stimuli in an aversive performance setting lead to a more pronounced increase of the ERN/Ne in individuals with lower anxious apprehension/worry. We also explored the N2 amplitude in the context of worry-inducing stimuli. Fifty-eight participants performed an extended Go/NoGo task. A neutral or fearful face was presented at the beginning of each trial, with the fearful face as a worry-inducing, distracting stimulus. In an aversive feedback condition, aversive feedback was provided for false or too slow responses. We found a more pronounced decrease of the ERN/Ne after worry-inducing stimuli compared to neutral stimuli in participants with lower anxious apprehension/worry. Moreover, less pronounced N2 amplitudes were associated with shorter reaction times in the aversive feedback condition. Implications for future research on error monitoring and trait-anxiety are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Aging in Mexico: Population Trends and Emerging Issues

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Vega, William; López-Ortega, Mariana

2017-01-01

Abstract Although all nations in the America’s face a common demographic reality of longevity, declining fertility rates and changes in family roles a growing body of research points to a dramatic demographic transformation in Mexico. Although Mexico’s population is relatively young, with a median age of 27.9 in 2015, it will age rapidly in coming years, increasing to 42 years by 2050. The rapid median age in the nation also reflects the growing proportion of people 65 or older, and is expected to triple to 20.2% by 2050. This article examines how the age and gender structure of Mexico offers important insights about current and future political and social stability, as well as economic development. Mexico is the world’s eleventh largest country in terms of population size and the “demographic dividend” of a large youthful population is giving way to a growing older population that will inevitably place demands on health care and social security. The shift in age structure will result in increased dependency of retirees on the working-age population in the next 20 years. Mexico does not provide universal coverage of social security benefits and less than half of the labor force is covered by any pension or retirement plan. As a result, elderly Mexicans often continue working into old age. The high total poverty rate in the country, especially among the older population magnifies the problem of the potential dependency burden. The article ends with a discussion of key public policy issues related to aging in Mexico. PMID:27927730

Attachment Style and Rejection Sensitivity: The Mediating Effect of Self-Esteem and Worry Among Iranian College Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samira Khoshkam

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The present study evaluated the relations between anxious attachment styles and rejection sensitivity, and the potential mediating role of self-esteem and worry. A sample of 125 Iranian college students completed surveys assessing rejection sensitivity, attachment style, worry and self-esteem. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM analyses were conducted. Results show that there is a significant positive relationship between anxious attachment styles and rejection sensitivity. The study suggests that a higher score in anxious attachment styles is associated with a higher level of worry and lower level of self-esteem and it is also associated with higher level of rejection sensitivity. Furthermore, there is a positive significant relationship between worry and rejection sensitivity and there is a negative significant relationship between self-esteem and rejection sensitivity. Results indicate that self-esteem and worry mediate the relationship between anxious attachment styles and rejection sensitivity.

AGEING POPULATION: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AMONG EUROPEAN UNION STATES

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Laura DIACONU (MAXIM

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The aging population is a global phenomenon, which has affected almost all the EU states. The consequences are very important since it affects the socio-economic environment usually on the long run. Some of them could consist in increasing the public expenditure on pensions, social security and health services, which will raise the overall burden on the working population. Sometimes, a significant reduction of the labour force will even diminish the growth rate of an economy. Considering these aspects, the present paper intends to analyse the demographic situation from the EU states, the factors that have generated it and to identify the possible future trends. To determine the evolution of the ageing population phenomenon, we have analysed some demographic indicators included in various statistical reports and databases, such as the fertility rate, the median age, the percentage of population over a certain age and the age dependency ratio.

Some macroeconomic aspects of global population aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ronald; Mason, Andrew

2010-01-01

Across the demographic transition, declining mortality followed by declining fertility produces decades of rising support ratios as child dependency falls. These improving support ratios raise per capita consumption, other things equal, but eventually deteriorate as the population ages. Population aging and the forces leading to it can produce not only frightening declines in support ratios but also very substantial increases in productivity and per capita income by raising investment in physical and human capital. Longer life, lower fertility, and population aging all raise the demand for wealth needed to provide for old-age consumption. This leads to increased capital per worker even as aggregate saving rates fall. However, capital per worker may not rise if the increased demand for wealth is satisfied by increased familial or public pension transfers to the elderly. Thus, institutions and policies matter for the consequences of population aging. The accumulation of human capital also varies across the transition. Lower fertility and mortality are associated with higher human capital investment per child, also raising labor productivity. Together, the positive changes due to human and physical capital accumulation will likely outweigh the problems of declining support ratios. We draw on estimates and analyses from the National Transfer Accounts project to illustrate and quantify these points.

Maternal worries, home safety behaviors, and perceived difficulties.

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrickson, Sherry Garrett

2008-01-01

The aim of the study was to explore the worries, safety behaviors, and perceived difficulties in keeping children safe at home in a purposive sample of low-income, predominantly non-English speaking mothers as a foundation for later nursing interventions. This study was a qualitative, descriptive design with content analysis to identify maternal concerns, behaviors, and perceptions of home safety as part of a larger study. Eighty-two mothers, 64% of whom were monolingual Spanish-speakers, responded in writing to three semistructured interview questions. When mothers were unable to read and write the researcher wrote the responses, then read the content aloud for verification. A standardized probe for each question was posed to obtain richer responses. Data management included use of the software program NUD*IST and coding analyses following the Miles and Huberman guidelines (1994). Interpretations were translated into English for this report. The major worries were falling, health, kidnapping, and being hit by a car. The leading maternal behaviors were coded as being physically, verbally, and environmentally preventive. Mothers said that it was their role to provide safety, and that this role could be wearisome, such that constant supervision was difficult. Low-income mothers described their worries for their 1 to 4 year-old children, explored their behaviors for preventing injury, and discussed what made keeping children from harm difficult. Understanding how mothers keep children safe, the barriers to home safety, and effective safety behaviors are important to the health of children. The clinical relevance of this study includes building trust as clinicians plan assessment, intervention and evaluation of home safety to encourage dialog about concerns, safety behaviors, and barriers to keeping children from injury.

Ageing populations and changing worlds of work.

Science.gov (United States)

Beach, Brian

2014-08-01

Population ageing has reshaped the notion of retirement. The changes carry important implications for aspirations to extend working life. Cultural expectations regarding work and retirement must adapt to the reality posed by longer lives. The modern world is characterised by perpetual - and sometime rapid - change. Transformation throughout the second half of the 20th century brought about substantial shifts in the health and longevity of people in societies across the world. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the impacts of population ageing have gathered greater awareness in public consciousness and within the policy arena. Notions of old age, retirement, and later life have been fundamentally transformed, presenting stark challenges alongside novel opportunities for individuals, communities, and governments. Many of the topics of interest with respect to ageing populations are themselves the result of shifts that were unforeseen. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

“Her Life Rests on Your Shoulders”: Doing Worry as Emotion Work in the Care of Children With Diabetes

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Lisa Watt

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Research on parents’ caregiving experiences in the context of diabetes management have consistently shown that parents experience high levels of pediatric parenting stress, anxiety, depression, and general worry. However, how parents understand their worry is largely unexplored and little attention is paid to the work parents are already actively doing to manage their worry. Adopting Arlie Hochschild’s concept of “emotion work” and Dorothy Smith’s concept of “work,” this article examines how parents engage in the emotion work of doing worry. Drawing on the analysis of transcribed data from interviews with seven parents caring for children with diabetes, I show how parents expressed worry as an emotion they experience as well as an embodied way of knowing the presence of potential threats to their child’s health. Thus, doing worry is an essential aspect of work done by parents to ensure the safety and well-being of their children with diabetes.

Energy implications of an aging population

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-08-01

This study provides various demographic, medical, and economic information relative to energy usage on a segment of the population, the elderly, which is growing in absolute numbers and relative population percentage. This growth is expected to continue well into the twenty-first century. The US aging population numbered 3.1 million in 1900, and by 1977 it had climbed to 23.5 million. It can be stated with reasonable certainty that this figure will rise to 31 million in the year 2000 and 43 million in the year 2020. These figures, corresponding to more than 10% of our population, are by no means insignificant. As our fossil-fuel reserves are being depleted and the cost of energy mounts, it becomes apparent that the elderly will become increasingly vulnerable to the energy crisis, primarily beause of their physical tendency to infirmity, their economic and social situation, and their susceptibility to psychological depression. This white paper concentrates on those aspects of aging and the nation's energy problem which are not usually related in our everyday consideration of these as separable problems. It seeks to identify the peculiar energy problems of the aged and to consider alternatives in the solution of these problems in light of modern technology.

Population Ageing and the Theory of Demographic Transition: The ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Population Ageing and the Theory of Demographic Transition: The Case of Mauritius. ... the life expectancy of the population and consequently, the society is ageing. ... Originality/Value – Although some studies have been done on ageing yet ...

Ageing populations: the challenges ahead

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Kaare; Doblhammer, Gabriele; Rau, Roland

2009-01-01

birthdays. Although trends differ between countries, populations of nearly all such countries are ageing as a result of low fertility, low immigration, and long lives. A key question is: are increases in life expectancy accompanied by a concurrent postponement of functional limitations and disability......? The answer is still open, but research suggests that ageing processes are modifiable and that people are living longer without severe disability. This finding, together with technological and medical development and redistribution of work, will be important for our chances to meet the challenges of ageing...

Variations in Fearfulness and Worries of Xhosa Children

Science.gov (United States)

Akande, Adebowale

2010-01-01

Xhosa-speaking South African children in school settings face several academic and emotional challenges. These may be due to family obligation, conformity to authority figures and over expectations from parents, teachers and society. This study examines the differences in the number and types of reported fears and worries in 200 South African…

Psychometric Properties of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children in a Large Clinical Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Pestle, Sarah L.; Chorpita, Bruce F.; Schiffman, Jason

2008-01-01

The Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C; Chorpita, Tracey, Brown, Collica, & Barlow, 1997) is a 14-item self-report measure of worry in children and adolescents. Although the PSWQ-C has demonstrated favorable psychometric properties in small clinical and large community samples, this study represents the first psychometric…

Age- and Gender-Based Populations

Science.gov (United States)

... population increases the risks of cognitive decline and suicide. About 25% of older adults have some type of mental health problem, such as a mood disorder not associated with normal aging. Older adults with ...

Impact of Population Aging on Military and Security Policy

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Martina Šimková

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Population ageing is among the most important problems of developed European countries and the most frequently discussed social issues. The Czech Republic also faces population ageing and we cannot expect a different trend in the future. Life expectancy has increased due to better health care while current lifestyle often leads to lower natality, resulting in a negative rate of natural increase and a decreasing proportion of young people in population in the future. This problem affects all spheres of life and social and economic development. Population ageing may pose a threat to the security of the population in different ways. The functioning of the security system may be threatened due to decreasing workforce. Population ageing may undercut resources for military budgets. Young recruits represent an important part of military forces and the latter are competing in the labour market with more attractive occupations. Especially ensuring the stability of the personnel needed for securing crisis situations would be a significant problem of near future. This paper presents a demographic perspective on staffing and correct operation of military forces in the context of population ageing. It describes the current situation of human resources in the military policy of the Czech Republic and determines the negative impact of population ageing on recruitment potential. It deals with the sustainability of human resources for security forces.

Slowed ageing, welfare, and population problems.

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Wareham, Christopher

2015-10-01

Biological studies have demonstrated that it is possible to slow the ageing process and extend lifespan in a wide variety of organisms, perhaps including humans. Making use of the findings of these studies, this article examines two problems concerning the effect of life extension on population size and welfare. The first--the problem of overpopulation--is that as a result of life extension too many people will co-exist at the same time, resulting in decreases in average welfare. The second--the problem of underpopulation--is that life extension will result in too few people existing across time, resulting in decreases in total welfare. I argue that overpopulation is highly unlikely to result from technologies that slow ageing. Moreover, I claim that the problem of underpopulation relies on claims about life extension that are false in the case of life extension by slowed ageing. The upshot of these arguments is that the population problems discussed provide scant reason to oppose life extension by slowed ageing.

Social Problems Of Aged In A Rural Population

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Singh Charan

1995-01-01

Full Text Available Research Question: What are the social problems of aged persons in a rural population? Objectives: i To study social problems of aged. ii To identify measures to eliminate them. Study design: Cross- sectional. Setting: Rural areas of Machhra Rural Health & Training Centre attached with Deptt. of SPM, Medical College, Meerut. Participants: Population above 60 years of age. Sample Size: 1000 households from 5 villages, which had 464 participants. Study Variables: Chi- square test. Results: In all, 259 (55.8% aged persons were engaged in productive work while 205 (44.2% were not doing any productive work. Of 376 aged persons living in joint families, 207 (55% were being respected, 71(18.9% were indifferently treated and 98 (26.1% were being neglected by family members. Recommendations: It is a strong case for proper planning to improve the lot of old age population especially for their social problems at the earliest.

Future Money-Related Worries among Adolescents after Divorce

Science.gov (United States)

Koerner, Susan Silverberg; Korn, Marcella; Dennison, Renee Peltz; Witthoft, Sara

2011-01-01

The present research examined adolescents' views of their future with respect to money and financial well-being via an open-ended question and inductive content analysis. The participants were adolescents (N = 255) whose parents were divorced between 5 and 24 months at the time of data collection. The most common worries pertained to (a) being…

Effects of worry on physiological and subjective reactivity to emotional stimuli in generalized anxiety disorder and nonanxious control participants.

Science.gov (United States)

Llera, Sandra J; Newman, Michelle G

2010-10-01

The present study examined the effect of worry versus relaxation and neutral thought activity on both physiological and subjective responding to positive and negative emotional stimuli. Thirty-eight participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and 35 nonanxious control participants were randomly assigned to engage in worry, relaxation, or neutral inductions prior to sequential exposure to each of four emotion-inducing film clips. The clips were designed to elicit fear, sadness, happiness, and calm emotions. Self reported negative and positive affect was assessed following each induction and exposure, and vagal activity was measured throughout. Results indicate that worry (vs. relaxation) led to reduced vagal tone for the GAD group, as well as higher negative affect levels for both groups. Additionally, prior worry resulted in less physiological and subjective responding to the fearful film clip, and reduced negative affect in response to the sad clip. This suggests that worry may facilitate avoidance of processing negative emotions by way of preventing a negative emotional contrast. Implications for the role of worry in emotion avoidance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Population Ageing in Rural Settlements in the Republic of Croatia

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Ivo Nejašmić

2016-08-01

Full Text Available One of the basic demographic characteristics of Croatia is the inherited dispersed population density with a large number of small settlements and the undeveloped system of regional and micro-regional centres. Such settlement structure was entirely inappropriate in the conditions of accelerated and urban-based industrialization after the Second World War. This period was characterised by a mass transition of agricultural population into non-agricultural activities, along with the abandonment of rural settlements. In addition to the strong emigration from rural areas in which younger age groups participated for the most part, there was a continuous reduction in fertility, too. All this has led to the narrowing of young age groups and consequently to the increase in the proportion of the elderly. An important factor of demographic ageing is the reduction in mortality of persons over 30 years of age and longer life respectively. Life expectancy of the Croatian population was 64.8 years in 1960 and 77.2 years in 1972. The average age constantly increased: it was 32.5 years in 1961, 35.4 in 1981 and it reached the high 41.7 years in 2011. The aggression and war against Croatia happened in the 1990s. Dramatic events affected the general social conditions and processes, strongly accelerating negative demographic trends. All this had further affected the socio-demographically eroded rural areas. There was a particularly difficult situation in the regions directly affected by the war; part of these areas had had the features of extreme demographic regression before the war sufferings and the war only further strengthened it. The overall population of Croatia is characterised by decreasing fertility, natural depopulation (negative natural change, total depopulation (since 1990 and intense population ageing. The duration and intensity of these processes clearly testifies to the demographic development of Croatia being very unfavourable. All this also

China: Awakening Giant Developing Solutions to Population Aging

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ning Jackie; Guo, Man; Zheng, Xiaoying

2012-01-01

As the world's most populous country with the largest aging population and a rapidly growing economy, China is receiving increased attention from both the Chinese government and the governments of other countries that face low fertility and aging problems. This unprecedented shift of demographic structure has repercussions for many aspects of…

The challenges of human population ageing

Science.gov (United States)

Sander, Miriam; Oxlund, Bjarke; Jespersen, Astrid; Krasnik, Allan; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Westendorp, Rudi Gerardus Johannes; Rasmussen, Lene Juel

2015-01-01

The 20th century saw an unprecedented increase in average human lifespan as well as a rapid decline in human fertility in many countries of the world. The accompanying worldwide change in demographics of human populations is linked to unanticipated and unprecedented economic, cultural, medical, social, public health and public policy challenges, whose full implications on a societal level are only just beginning to be fully appreciated. Some of these implications are discussed in this commentary, an outcome of Cultures of Health and Ageing, a conference co-sponsored by the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and the Center for Healthy Ageing at UCPH, which took place on 20–21 June 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Questions discussed here include the following: what is driving age-structural change in human populations? how can we create ‘age-friendly’ societies and promote ‘ageing-in-community’? what tools will effectively promote social engagement and prevent social detachment among older individuals? is there a risk that further extension of human lifespan would be a greater burden to the individual and to society than is warranted by the potential benefit of longer life? PMID:25452294

How fast is population ageing in China?

OpenAIRE

Yinhua mai; Xiujian Peng; Wei Chen

2009-01-01

Using adjusted 2000 population census data, this paper conducts China's population projections to 2050. Three fertility and four mortality scenarios yield 12 sets of results. Despite the below-replacement fertility, China's population will continue growing for many years. However, there are substantial differences among the twelve scenarios. The maximum population could range from less than 1.4 billion to more than 1.6 billion. One of the notable trends is the rapid population ageing. By the ...

Third-Person Self-Talk Reduces Ebola Worry and Risk Perception by Enhancing Rational Thinking.

Science.gov (United States)

Kross, Ethan; Vickers, Brian D; Orvell, Ariana; Gainsburg, Izzy; Moran, Tim P; Boyer, Margaret; Jonides, John; Moser, Jason; Ayduk, Ozlem

2017-11-01

During the fall of 2014, the threat of an Ebola outbreak gripped the United States (Poll, 8-12 October 2014; see Harvard School of Public Health & SSRS, 2014), creating a unique opportunity to advance basic knowledge concerning how emotion regulation works in consequential contexts and translate existing research in this area to inform public health and policy. We addressed these issues by examining whether third-person self-talk, a simple technique that promotes emotion regulation, could nudge people into reasoning about Ebola more rationally. In all, 1,257 people from across the United States were asked to write about their feelings about Ebola using their name or I (i.e. third-person self-talk vs. first-person self-talk) as concerns about Ebola swelled (24 October 2014-26 October 2014). Third-person self-talk led participants who scored high on Ebola worry at baseline to generate more fact-based reasons not to worry about Ebola, which predicted reductions in their Ebola worry and risk perception. These findings held when controlling for several theoretically relevant covariates, highlighting their robustness. These results demonstrate how a simple linguistic technique can enhance rational thinking and quell worry about a pressing public health threat. © 2017 The International Association of Applied Psychology.

Worry about racial discrimination: A missing piece of the puzzle of Black-White disparities in preterm birth?

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Paula Braveman

Full Text Available The causes of the large and persistent Black-White disparity in preterm birth (PTB are unknown. It is biologically plausible that chronic stress across a woman's life course could be a contributor. Prior research suggests that chronic worry about experiencing racial discrimination could affect PTB through neuroendocrine, vascular, or immune mechanisms involved in both responses to stress and the initiation of labor. This study aimed to examine the role of chronic worry about racial discrimination in Black-White disparities in PTB.The data source was cross-sectional California statewide-representative surveys of 2,201 Black and 8,122 White, non-Latino, U.S.-born postpartum women with singleton live births during 2011-2014. Chronic worry about racial discrimination (chronic worry was defined as responses of "very often" or "somewhat often" (vs. "not very often" or "never" to the question: "Overall during your life until now, how often have you worried that you might be treated or viewed unfairly because of your race or ethnic group?" Prevalence ratios (PRs with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI were calculated from sequential logistic regression models, before and after adjustment for multiple social/demographic, behavioral, and medical factors, to estimate the magnitude of: (a PTB risks associated with chronic worry among Black women and among White women; and (b Black-White disparities in PTB, before and after adjustment for chronic worry.Among Black and White women respectively, 36.9 (95% CI 32.9-40.9 % and 5.5 (95% CI 4.5-6.5 % reported chronic worry about racial discrimination; rates were highest among Black women of higher income and education levels. Chronic worry was significantly associated with PTB among Black women before (PR 1.73, 95% CI 1.12-2.67 and after (PR 2.00, 95% CI 1.33-3.01 adjustment for covariates. The unadjusted Black-White disparity in PTB (PR 1.59, 95%CI 1.21-2.09 appeared attenuated and became non-significant after

Worry about racial discrimination: A missing piece of the puzzle of Black-White disparities in preterm birth?

Science.gov (United States)

Braveman, Paula; Heck, Katherine; Egerter, Susan; Dominguez, Tyan Parker; Rinki, Christine; Marchi, Kristen S; Curtis, Michael

2017-01-01

The causes of the large and persistent Black-White disparity in preterm birth (PTB) are unknown. It is biologically plausible that chronic stress across a woman's life course could be a contributor. Prior research suggests that chronic worry about experiencing racial discrimination could affect PTB through neuroendocrine, vascular, or immune mechanisms involved in both responses to stress and the initiation of labor. This study aimed to examine the role of chronic worry about racial discrimination in Black-White disparities in PTB. The data source was cross-sectional California statewide-representative surveys of 2,201 Black and 8,122 White, non-Latino, U.S.-born postpartum women with singleton live births during 2011-2014. Chronic worry about racial discrimination (chronic worry) was defined as responses of "very often" or "somewhat often" (vs. "not very often" or "never") to the question: "Overall during your life until now, how often have you worried that you might be treated or viewed unfairly because of your race or ethnic group?" Prevalence ratios (PRs) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) were calculated from sequential logistic regression models, before and after adjustment for multiple social/demographic, behavioral, and medical factors, to estimate the magnitude of: (a) PTB risks associated with chronic worry among Black women and among White women; and (b) Black-White disparities in PTB, before and after adjustment for chronic worry. Among Black and White women respectively, 36.9 (95% CI 32.9-40.9) % and 5.5 (95% CI 4.5-6.5) % reported chronic worry about racial discrimination; rates were highest among Black women of higher income and education levels. Chronic worry was significantly associated with PTB among Black women before (PR 1.73, 95% CI 1.12-2.67) and after (PR 2.00, 95% CI 1.33-3.01) adjustment for covariates. The unadjusted Black-White disparity in PTB (PR 1.59, 95%CI 1.21-2.09) appeared attenuated and became non-significant after adjustment for

Parental Investment in Children with Chronic Disease: The Effect of Child's and Mother's Age

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Sigal Tifferet

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Parents do not invest their resources in their children equally. Three factors which elicit differential parental investment are the parent's reproductive value, the child's reproductive value (RV, and the impact of the investment on the child (II. As the child matures, his RV increases while the II may decrease. This raises a question regarding the favored strategy of investment by child age. It was hypothesized that different categories of parental investment generate different age-based strategies. Emotional investment, such as maternal worrying for the child's health, was hypothesized to increase with the child's age, while direct care was hypothesized to decrease with the child's age. Both categories were hypothesized to increase with the mother's age at childbirth. 137 Israeli mothers of children with chronic neurological conditions reported levels of worrying for their child and levels of change in direct care. Maternal worrying about the child's health was positively associated with the child's age at diagnosis and the severity of his illness, and negatively associated with the time from diagnosis. An increase in direct care was positively associated with maternal age at childbirth and illness severity, and negatively associated with the time from diagnosis, and the duration of the marriage. Contrary to the hypothesis, the child's age had no effect on changes in direct care. It appears that in mothers of children with adverse neurological conditions, child and maternal age effect parental investment differently. While the child's age is related to maternal worrying about his health, the mother's age at childbirth is related to changes in direct care.

Planning for an ageing population: strategic considerations

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Shea, Dr Eamon

2005-01-01

This report presents both the proceedings of the Council’s conference, Planning for an Ageing Population: Strategic Considerations, and the Council’s discussion paper, ‘The Older Population: Information Issues and Deficits’, which was introduced at that conference.\\r\

Measuring the Speed of Aging across Population Subgroups

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

People in different subgroups age at different rates. Surveys containing biomarkers can be used to assess these subgroup differences. We illustrate this using hand-grip strength to produce an easily interpretable, physical-based measure that allows us to compare characteristic-based ages across educational subgroups in the United States. Hand-grip strength has been shown to be a good predictor of future mortality and morbidity, and therefore a useful indicator of population aging. Data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) were used. Two education subgroups were distinguished, those with less than a high school diploma and those with more education. Regressions on hand-grip strength were run for each sex and race using age and education, their interactions and other covariates as independent variables. Ages of identical mean hand-grip strength across education groups were compared for people in the age range 60 to 80. The hand-grip strength of 65 year old white males with less education was the equivalent to that of 69.6 (68.2, 70.9) year old white men with more education, indicating that the more educated men had aged more slowly. This is a constant characteristic age, as defined in the Sanderson and Scherbov article “The characteristics approach to the measurement of population aging” published 2013 in Population and Development Review. Sixty-five year old white females with less education had the same average hand-grip strength as 69.4 (68.2, 70.7) year old white women with more education. African-American women at ages 60 and 65 with more education also aged more slowly than their less educated counterparts. African American men with more education aged at about the same rate as those with less education. This paper expands the toolkit of those interested in population aging by showing how survey data can be used to measure the differential extent of aging across subpopulations. PMID:24806337

General considerations on the population ageing

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Alina Nuta

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This article presents one of the most important issues of the current context, the ageing of the population, with major consequences on the financial stability of the nation. This restructure of the population (that change the shape of the population pyramid , as a result, on the one hand, of the reducing in the fertility rate, on the other hand, increasing in life expectancy and last but not least, due to migration, unbalance national budgets, generating negative effects in economic, financial and social terms.

Quantifying policy tradeoffs to support aging populations

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Sergei Scherbov

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Coping with aging populations is a challenge for most developed countries. Supporting non-working adults can create an unsustainable burden on those working. One way of dealing with this is to raise the normal pension age, but this has proven unpopular. A complementary approach is to raise the average labor force participation rate. These policies are generally more politically palatable because they often remove barriers, allowing people who would like to work to do so. Objective: To conceptualize and estimate the trade-off between pension age and labor force participation rate policies. Methods: We project the populations of European countries and apply different levels of labor force participation rates to the projected populations. We introduce the notion of a relative burden, which is the ratio of the fraction of the income of people in the labor market in 2050 that they transfer to adults out of the labor market to the same fraction in 2009. We use this indicator to investigate the trade-offs between changes in normal pension ages and the general level of labor force participation rates. Results: We show that, in most European countries, a difference in policies that results in an increase in average labor force participation rates by an additional one to two percentage points by 2050 can substitute for a one-year increase in the normal pension age. This is important because, in many European countries, without additional increases in labor force participation rates, normal pension ages would have to be raised well above 68 by 2050 to keep the burden on those working manageable. Conclusions: Because of anticipated increases in life expectancy and health at older ages as well as because of financial necessity, some mix of increases in pension ages and in labor force participation rates will be needed. Pension age changes by themselves will not be sufficient.

The interpretation of low mood and worry by high users of secondary care with medically unexplained symptoms

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Weller David

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Around 1% of adults are repeatedly referred from primary to secondary care with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS; many of these patients have depression and anxiety disorders which are unrecognized or inadequately treated. We aimed to investigate the ways patients with MUS and their General Practitioners (GPs interpret low mood and worry, whether they regard them as depressive or anxiety disorders and how they relate them causally to symptoms. Methods We carried out semi-structured interviews with 27 patients who had been repeatedly referred to specialists for MUS and their GPs and analysed transcripts by qualitative comparison. The analysis examined themes relating to low mood and worry, and their influence on symptoms. It drew on the concept of "otherness", whereby mental phenomena can be located either within the self or as separate entities. Results Both patients and GPs acknowledged the presence of low mood and worry. They viewed low mood as either an individual's personal response to circumstances (including their physical symptoms or as the illness called "depression"; only the latter was amenable to medical intervention. Worry was seen as a trait rather than as a symptom of an anxiety disorder. While low mood and worry were acknowledged to influence physical symptoms, they were considered insufficient to be the main cause by either the patients or their doctors. Conclusions Patients with MUS who are high users of secondary care services interpret low mood and worry in ways which allow them to be discussed with professionals, but not as the cause of their physical symptoms.

An age structured model for obesity prevalence dynamics in populations

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Gilberto González Parra

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Objective. Modeling the correlation of the development of obesity in a population with age and time and predict the dynamics of the correlation of the development of obesity in a population with age and time under different scenarios in Valencia (Spain. Materials and methods. An age structured mathematical model is used to describe the future dynamics of obesity prevalence for different ages in human population with excess weight. Simulation of the model with parameters estimated using the Health Survey of the Region of Valencia 2000 (4.319 interviews and Health Survey of the Region of Valencia 2005 (4.012 interviews. The model considers only overweight and obese populations since these subpopulations are the most relevant on obesity health concern. Results. The model allows predicting and studying the prevalence of obesity for each age. Results showed an increasing trend of obesity in the following years in well accordance with the trend observed in several countries. Conclusions. Based on the numerical simulations it is possible to conclude that the age structured mathematical model is suitable to forecast the obesity epidemic in each age group in different countries. Additionally, this type of models may be applied to study other characteristics of other populations such animal populations.

The relationship between low levels of mindfulness skills and pathological worry: the mediating role of psychological inflexibility

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Francisco J. Ruiz

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Mindfulness-based interventions have recently been proposed for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD. However, the specific nature of the relationship between mindfulness skills and pathological worry is still not very well known. This study analyzes the mediating role of psychological inflexibility-a central construct in the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT model of psychopathology-in the effect of mindfulness skills on pathological worry. A total of 132 nonclinical participants completed questionnaires assessing the constructs of interest: the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire - II (AAQ-II, and the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS. Because the Spanish translation of the KIMS used lacked of a formal validation, its psychometric properties and factor structure were previously evaluated. This process led to a reduced version of the KIMS that showed good internal consistency and factor structure. Mediation analyses revealed that psychological inflexibility fully mediated the effects of mindfulness skills as a set on pathological worry. Regarding specific mindfulness skills, psychological inflexibility was shown to be a mediator and suppressor, respectively, of the relationship between acceptance without judgment and act with awareness on worry. Results are discussed emphasizing the need of using mindfulness exercises to promote psychological flexibility.

Scholars Worry Conflicts over Data Could Hamstring Future Research

Science.gov (United States)

Sparks, Sarah D.

2010-01-01

The recent high-profile data-confidentiality fights in Arizona and Los Angeles have researchers worried that access to educators may become a difficult path. In the course of a decadelong federal lawsuit over English-language-learner programs in Arizona, lawyers for state schools chief Tom Horne subpoenaed the raw data from three studies…

Population aging and future carbon emissions in the United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalton, Michael; O'Neill, Brian; Prskawetz, Alexia; Jiang Leiwen; Pitkin, John

2008-01-01

Changes in the age composition of U.S. households over the next several decades could affect energy use and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, the most important greenhouse gas. This article incorporates population age structure into an energy-economic growth model with multiple dynasties of heterogeneous households. The model is used to estimate and compare effects of population aging and technical change on baseline paths of U.S. energy use, and CO 2 emissions. Results show that population aging reduces long-term emissions, by almost 40% in a low population scenario, and effects of aging on emissions can be as large, or larger than, effects of technical change in some cases. These results are derived under standard assumptions and functional forms that are used in economic growth models. The model also assumes a closed economy, substitution elasticities that are fixed, and identical across age groups, and patterns of labor supply that vary by age group, but are fixed over time

Smoking-Specific Experiential Avoidance is Indirectly Associated with Trait Worry and Smoking Processes among Treatment-Seeking Smokers.

Science.gov (United States)

Farris, Samantha G; Zvolensky, Michael J; Norton, Peter J; Hogan, Julianna; Smith, Angela H; Talkovsky, Alexander M; Garey, Lorra; Schmidt, Norman B

2016-01-01

Limited work has examined worry, or apprehensive anticipation about future negative events, in terms of smoking. One potential explanatory factor is the tendency to respond inflexibly and with avoidance in the presence of smoking-related distress (smoking-specific experiential avoidance). Participants (n = 465) were treatment-seeking daily smokers. Cross-sectional (pre-treatment) self-report data were utilized to assess trait worry, smoking-specific experiential avoidance, and four smoking criterion variables: nicotine dependence, motivational aspects of quitting, perceived barriers to smoking cessation, and severity of problematic symptoms reported in past quit attempts. Trait worry was significantly associated with greater levels of nicotine dependence, motivation to quit smoking, perceived barriers for smoking cessation, and more severe problems while quitting in the past; associations occurred indirectly through higher levels of smoking-specific experiential avoidance. Findings provide initial support for the potential role of smoking-specific experiential avoidance in explaining the association between trait worry and a variety of smoking processes.

Assessment of the Greek worry-related metacognitions: the Greek version of the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30).

Science.gov (United States)

Typaldou, G M; Konstantakopoulos, G; Roxanis, I; Nidos, A; Vaidakis, N; Papadimitriou, G N; Wells, A

2014-01-01

significant differences between genders had been found in the original study. The assumption that the differences in score levels and the gender effect might reflect cultural differences warrants further investigation. The findings of the present study indicate that the Greek version of the MCQ-30 is a comprehensible and psychometrically adequate instrument, as well as a reliable tool in assessing a range of dimensions of worry-related metacognitions in the Greek population. The Greek version of this scale facilitates crosscultural research in metacognition and wider testing of the metacognitive approach to emotional vulnerability, psychological disturbances and mental disorders.

Population structure age of Paraná state between 1970 and 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo de Pintor

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The theory of demographic transition began with an effort of Frank Notestein (1945 to understand the demographic changes that were occurring in Western Europe since the late nineteenth century. The demographic transition is the transition between two scenarios of population growth, which changes the age structure of the population. The aim of the article is to discuss the evolution of population structure age of Paraná state between 1970 and 2010. The changes in the age structure of the Paraná indicate a reduction in the share of young population and increasing aging population, an increase in the relative weight of the elderly population. Public policies on education, health, social security and labor market should consider the current change in the age structure. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the change in the age structure of the population of the state of Paraná. For this we used data Censuses of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE on the age distribution of urban and rural Paraná and its Mesoregions. It was concluded that the change in structure occurs group widespread in all Mesoregions state. However, it occurs unevenly between urban and rural population.

[Acromegaly features in the aging population].

Science.gov (United States)

Anoun, Nadia; El Ouahabi, Hanan

2017-01-01

Somatotroph adenomas are rare in the aging population. Diagnosis of somatotroph adenomas is often long delayed and they are characterized by atypical clinical picture. Their diagnostic criteria are similar to those used for younger patients. Surgery, if possible, is the treatment of choice for acromegaly in the elderly. Somatostatin analogues have shown to be effective in these patients. Prognosis is inversely correlated with patient's age, duration of disease and last GH level under treatment. Beside evolution of disease, age is a major determinant of mortality. We report three cases of elderly patients with acromegaly aged 75, 70 and 66 years respectively with a literature review.

Macroeconomic implications of population ageing and selected policy responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Bloom, David E; Chatterji, Somnath; Kowal, Paul; Lloyd-Sherlock, Peter; McKee, Martin; Rechel, Bernd; Rosenberg, Larry; Smith, James P

2015-02-14

Between now and 2030, every country will experience population ageing-a trend that is both pronounced and historically unprecedented. Over the past six decades, countries of the world had experienced only a slight increase in the share of people aged 60 years and older, from 8% to 10%. But in the next four decades, this group is expected to rise to 22% of the total population-a jump from 800 million to 2 billion people. Evidence suggests that cohorts entering older age now are healthier than previous ones. However, progress has been very uneven, as indicated by the wide gaps in population health (measured by life expectancy) between the worst (Sierra Leone) and best (Japan) performing countries, now standing at a difference of 36 years for life expectancy at birth and 15 years for life expectancy at age 60 years. Population ageing poses challenges for countries' economies, and the health of older populations is of concern. Older people have greater health and long-term care needs than younger people, leading to increased expenditure. They are also less likely to work if they are unhealthy, and could impose an economic burden on families and society. Like everyone else, older people need both physical and economic security, but the burden of providing these securities will be falling on a smaller portion of the population. Pension systems will be stressed and will need reassessment along with retirement policies. Health systems, which have not in the past been oriented toward the myriad health problems and long-term care needs of older people and have not sufficiently emphasised disease prevention, can respond in different ways to the new demographic reality and the associated changes in population health. Along with behavioural adaptations by individuals and businesses, the nature of such policy responses will establish whether population ageing will lead to major macroeconomic difficulties. Copyright © 2015 World Health Organization. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Trans-generational effects on ageing in a wild bird population

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouwhuis, S.; Charmantier, A.; Verhulst, S.; Sheldon, B. C.

Ageing, long thought to be too infrequent to study effectively in natural populations, has recently been shown to be ubiquitous, even in the wild. A major challenge now is to explain variation in the rates of ageing within populations. Here, using 49 years of data from a population of great tits

Population specific biomarkers of human aging: a big data study using South Korean, Canadian and Eastern European patient populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Mamoshina, Polina; Kochetov, Kirill; Putin, Evgeny; Cortese, Franco; Aliper, Alexander; Lee, Won-Suk; Ahn, Sung-Min; Uhn, Lee; Skjodt, Neil; Kovalchuk, Olga; Scheibye-Knudsen, Morten; Zhavoronkov, Alex

2018-01-11

Accurate and physiologically meaningful biomarkers for human aging are key to assessing anti-aging therapies. Given ethnic differences in health, diet, lifestyle, behaviour, environmental exposures and even average rate of biological aging, it stands to reason that aging clocks trained on datasets obtained from specific ethnic populations are more likely to account for these potential confounding factors, resulting in an enhanced capacity to predict chronological age and quantify biological age. Here we present a deep learning-based hematological aging clock modeled using the large combined dataset of Canadian, South Korean and Eastern European population blood samples that show increased predictive accuracy in individual populations compared to population-specific hematologic aging clocks. The performance of models was also evaluated on publicly-available samples of the American population from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In addition, we explored the association between age predicted by both population-specific and combined hematological clocks and all-cause mortality. Overall, this study suggests a) the population-specificity of aging patterns and b) hematologic clocks predicts all-cause mortality. Proposed models added to the freely available Aging.AI system allowing improved ability to assess human aging. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.

The epidemiology of dysphonia in the aging population.

Science.gov (United States)

Marino, Jeffrey P; Johns, Michael M

2014-12-01

The expanding elderly population continues to exert profound effects on the United States healthcare delivery system. This review summarizes the epidemiology of dysphonia in the aging population as well as its impact on quality of life and the emerging challenges of managing elderly patients with voice disorders. Although often underreported, dysphonia is present in as many as one in three elderly patients. The differential diagnosis for dysphonia in an aging patient is broad, and multifactorial causes are common. In the elderly, dysphonia exerts significant adverse effects on quality of life and often occurs against a background of multiple chronic medical conditions, polypharmacy, hearing loss, dysphagia, and neurologic disease. Recent data have demonstrated that elderly patients respond well to both surgical and nonsurgical treatments for voice disorders. Elderly patients and medical providers, as well as families and caregivers, must be educated about the prevalence of dysphonia in the aging population, its psychosocial impact, and available treatment options. Optimizing the care of voice disorders is essential to maximizing quality of life in aging patients.

Social Profile Of The Aged In An Urban Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J A Khan

1997-08-01

Full Text Available Research Problem: What is the socio-demographic profile of urban aged population in Aligarh city.Objectives: i To describe the socio-demographic profile of the aged population in an urban area, ii To describe the attitude of these people.Design:Cross-sectional study.Setting : Urban areas of Aligarh city.Participants : 3951 persons aged 60 years and aboveStudy Variables: Socio-demographic characteristics, attitudes.Statistical Analysis : By proportions.Result: 15% of the total estimated elderly population covering all 10 sectors of Aligarh city was studied. The majority ofthe elderly (72.4% belonged to 60-70 years age group. Most of them (77.2% were illiterate, 61.6% belonged to lower socio-economic classes (IV & V, 78.1 % lived in joint families. 39.6% of the aged felt that they were not being given due respect by family members. Nearly half of them had an indifferent or unhappy attitude towards life.Conclusion: The socio-demographic characteristics of the aged are important and must be kept in mind for developing programs to assist them in living as respectful senior citizens.

Christianity Facing the Ageing of Global Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Sanecka

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The ageing population is a great challenge for the whole world including churches, Christian communities, Christian families and the so-called “Christian countries”. The respect and support for elderly people is almost a common rule of social life in developed countries regardless of religious views. But in the Christian world this obligation has very strong religious justification – obligation enshrined in the Commandments of Old (the fourth/fifth Commandment and New (the second one of The Greatest Commandments of Love Testaments. Therefore between the Christianity – understood as a set of different communities sharing their beliefs in Jesus Christ – and aging population there are many very different connections including among others: honour and respect, privilege, obligations, giving – receiving relations, duty, charity, solidarity, dependency. They are present both in the teaching and the practice of different Christian communities starting with Churches, through NGOs and Christian societies, ending with Christian families. The paper shows some of these connections. It also tries – based on a case of Poland – to answer the question whether the Christianity is ready to face the aging of global population

Population dietary habits and physical activity modification with age.

Science.gov (United States)

Schröder, H; Marrugat, J; Covas, M; Elosua, R; Pena, A; Weinbrenner, T; Fito, M; Vidal, M A; Masia, R

2004-02-01

The aim of the present study was to analyse the relation between age and both dietary habits and leisure-time physical activity, and to determine nutrient inadequacy of aged groups in our population. Cross-sectional study. A random sample of the 25-74-y-old population of Gerona, Spain. A total of 838 men and 910 women were selected from among the general population according to the 1991 census. Analysis of dietary habits, including amount and type of alcohol consumption, and detailed evaluation of leisure-time physical activity. Nutrient densities of carbohydrates, vitamin B(1), vitamin B(12), vitamin C, vitamin E, folate, potassium, iron, magnesium, copper, and dietary fiber increased significantly (Phabits, characterized through a composite dietary score, with age after adjusting for several confounders both in men and women (P<0.001). This score was composed of folate, vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, dietary fibre, cholesterol, saturated fatty acids, and sodium. In all, 29 and 10% of male and female subjects aged 65-74 y, respectively, reported inadequate intakes of six or more of 16 nutrients. Total leisure-time physical activity increased with age in men (P<0.002), and was not different among female age groups. Dietary behaviours and levels of physical activity spent during leisure time indicate a healthy lifestyle of the aged men and women in the present population. Nutrient inadequacy observed in some aged men and women, however, deserves particular intervention of health-care programmes for this growing part of our society.

Age structure changes and extraordinary lifespan in wild medfly populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Carey, James R; Papadopoulos, Nikos T; Müller, Hans-Georg; Katsoyannos, Byron I; Kouloussis, Nikos A; Wang, Jane-Ling; Wachter, Kenneth; Yu, Wei; Liedo, Pablo

2008-06-01

The main purpose of this study was to test the hypotheses that major changes in age structure occur in wild populations of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) and that a substantial fraction of individuals survive to middle age and beyond (> 3-4 weeks). We thus brought reference life tables and deconvolution models to bear on medfly mortality data gathered from a 3-year study of field-captured individuals that were monitored in the laboratory. The average time-to-death of captured females differed between sampling dates by 23.9, 22.7, and 37.0 days in the 2003, 2004, and 2005 field seasons, respectively. These shifts in average times-to-death provided evidence of changes in population age structure. Estimates indicated that middle-aged medflies (> 30 days) were common in the population. A surprise in the study was the extraordinary longevity observed in field-captured medflies. For example, 19 captured females but no reference females survived in the laboratory for 140 days or more, and 6 captured but no reference males survived in the laboratory for 170 days or more. This paper advances the study of aging in the wild by introducing a new method for estimating age structure in insect populations, demonstrating that major changes in age structure occur in field populations of insects, showing that middle-aged individuals are common in the wild, and revealing the extraordinary lifespans of wild-caught individuals due to their early life experience in the field.

Does Population Aging Drive Up Pro-Elderly Social Spending?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vanhuysse, Pieter

-elderly biased. It then points out that population ageing actually cannot explain very much of this pro-elderly bias variance. For instance, countries such as Denmark, Finland and Sweden are demographically old societies, yet they boast among the lowest pro-elderly spending biases in the OECD world, due...... to their greater commitment to family-friendly policies, active labour market policies and similar pro-young policies. The essay reviews a series of similarly counter-intuitive findings about generational politics and policies as published in Ageing Populations in Post-Industrial Democracies (Vanhuysse and Goerres......, 2012) and makes a plea for institutionally and historically richly informed explanations of the political consequences and the policy feedback effects arising from population ageing....

Population Aging and the Generational Economy: A Global ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2011-10-31

Oct 31, 2011 ... ... of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, USA. ... Over coming decades, changes in population age structure will have ... at international agencies such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the UN.

Population Matters Policy Brief: Preparing foran Aging World

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2001-01-01

The world's population is aging at an accelerated rate. Declining fertility rates combined with steady improvements in life expectancy over the latter half of the 20th century have produced dramatic growth in the world's elderly population...

Econometric model for age- and population-dependent radiation exposures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandquist, G.M.; Slaughter, D.M.; Rogers, V.C.

1991-01-01

The economic impact associated with ionizing radiation exposures in a given human population depends on numerous factors including the individual's mean economic status as a function age, the age distribution of the population, the future life expectancy at each age, and the latency period for the occurrence of radiation-induced health effects. A simple mathematical model has been developed that provides an analytical methodology for estimating the societal econometrics associated with radiation effects are to be assessed and compared for economic evaluation

Implications of an ageing population in the Asian context.

Science.gov (United States)

Suyono, H

1999-12-01

Population aging is the increasing number and proportion of old persons aged 60 years and above in the developing countries and 65 years and above in the developed countries that exceeds 10% of the total population. In Asia, the last decade of the 20th century is marked by significant changes in the age structure due to the process of population aging. The implications of this aging population on the life of Asian countries has to be addressed since demographically the current situation is changing rapidly and there lie the future challenges that have to be answered. Due to the growing size of the elderly population, Asia will need better plans to prevent these elderly groups from turning into the socioeconomically vulnerable group of society. However, many governments are not prepared with effective policies, programs, and services that are particularly designed to care for the elderly. The provision of infrastructure and services, including education, employment, health and housing are necessary steps that need to be taken. Some of the suggested measures include: the Social Safety Net Programs; the implementation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Plan of Action on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication; and strengthen volunteerism and the role of private sector in human development. The role of the media in transmitting information concerning policies and programs intended to increase the welfare of the older persons is also very important.

Exploring Sex Differences in Worry with a Cognitive Vulnerability Model

Science.gov (United States)

Zalta, Alyson K.; Chambless, Dianne L.

2008-01-01

A multivariate model was developed to examine the relative contributions of mastery, stress, interpretive bias, and coping to sex differences in worry. Rumination was incorporated as a second outcome variable to test the specificity of these associations. Participants included two samples of undergraduates totaling 302 men and 379 women. A path…

"Doctor, please tell me it's nothing serious": An exploration of patients' worrying and reassuring cognitions using stimulated recall interviews

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E. Giroldi (Esther); W. Veldhuijzen (Wemke); A. Mannaerts (Alexandra); T. van der Weijden (Trudy); F. Bareman (Frits); C.P.M. van der Vleuten (Cees)

2014-01-01

textabstractBackground: Many patients who consult their GP are worried about their health, but there is little empirical data on strategies for effective reassurance. To gain a better understanding of mechanisms for effective patient reassurance, we explored cognitions underlying patients' worries,

"Doctor, please tell me it's nothing serious": an exploration of patients' worrying and reassuring cognitions using stimulated recall interviews

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Giroldi, E.; Veldhuijzen, W.; Mannaerts, A.; Weijden, T.T. van der; Bareman, F.; Vleuten, C.P.M. van der

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Many patients who consult their GP are worried about their health, but there is little empirical data on strategies for effective reassurance. To gain a better understanding of mechanisms for effective patient reassurance, we explored cognitions underlying patients' worries, cognitions

Modeling the brain morphology distribution in the general aging population

Science.gov (United States)

Huizinga, W.; Poot, D. H. J.; Roshchupkin, G.; Bron, E. E.; Ikram, M. A.; Vernooij, M. W.; Rueckert, D.; Niessen, W. J.; Klein, S.

2016-03-01

Both normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease cause morphological changes of the brain. To better distinguish between normal and abnormal cases, it is necessary to model changes in brain morphology owing to normal aging. To this end, we developed a method for analyzing and visualizing these changes for the entire brain morphology distribution in the general aging population. The method is applied to 1000 subjects from a large population imaging study in the elderly, from which 900 were used to train the model and 100 were used for testing. The results of the 100 test subjects show that the model generalizes to subjects outside the model population. Smooth percentile curves showing the brain morphology changes as a function of age and spatiotemporal atlases derived from the model population are publicly available via an interactive web application at agingbrain.bigr.nl.

On random age and remaining lifetime for populations of items

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Finkelstein, M.; Vaupel, J.

2015-01-01

We consider items that are incepted into operation having already a random (initial) age and define the corresponding remaining lifetime. We show that these lifetimes are identically distributed when the age distribution is equal to the equilibrium distribution of the renewal theory. Then we...... develop the population studies approach to the problem and generalize the setting in terms of stationary and stable populations of items. We obtain new stochastic comparisons for the corresponding population ages and remaining lifetimes that can be useful in applications. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley...

Nurses' worry or concern and early recognition of deteriorating patients on general wards in acute care hospitals: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Douw, Gooske; Schoonhoven, Lisette; Holwerda, Tineke; Huisman-de Waal, Getty; van Zanten, Arthur R H; van Achterberg, Theo; van der Hoeven, Johannes G

2015-05-20

Nurses often recognize deterioration in patients through intuition rather than through routine measurement of vital signs. Adding the 'worry or concern' sign to the Rapid Response System provides opportunities for nurses to act upon their intuitive feelings. Identifying what triggers nurses to be worried or concerned might help to put intuition into words, and potentially empower nurses to act upon their intuitive feelings and obtain medical assistance in an early stage of deterioration. The aim of this systematic review is to identify the signs and symptoms that trigger nurses' worry or concern about a patient's condition. We searched the databases PubMed, CINAHL, Psychinfo and Cochrane Library (Clinical Trials) using synonyms related to the three concepts: 'nurses', 'worry/concern' and 'deterioration'. We included studies concerning adult patients on general wards in acute care hospitals. The search was performed from the start of the databases until 14 February 2014. The search resulted in 4,006 records, and 18 studies (five quantitative, nine qualitative and four mixed-methods designs) were included in the review. A total of 37 signs and symptoms reflecting the nature of the criterion worry or concern emerged from the data and were summarized in 10 general indicators. The results showed that worry or concern can be present with or without change in vital signs. The signs and symptoms we found in the literature reflect the nature of nurses' worry or concern, and nurses may incorporate these signs in their assessment of the patient and their decision to call for assistance. The fact that it is present before changes in vital signs suggests potential for improving care in an early stage of deterioration.

Exploring the relationship between parental worry about their children's health and usage of an internet intervention for pediatric encopresis.

Science.gov (United States)

Magee, Joshua C; Ritterband, Lee M; Thorndike, Frances P; Cox, Daniel J; Borowitz, Stephen M

2009-06-01

To investigate whether parental worry about their children's health predicts usage of a pediatric Internet intervention for encopresis. Thirty-nine families with a child diagnosed with encopresis completed a national clinical trial of an Internet-based intervention for encopresis (www.ucanpooptoo.com). Parents rated worry about their children's health, encopresis severity, current parent treatment for depression, and parent comfort with the Internet. Usage indicators were collected while participants utilized the intervention. Regression analyses showed that parents who reported higher baseline levels of worry about their children's health showed greater subsequent intervention use (beta =.52, p =.002), even after accounting for other plausible predictors. Exploratory analyses indicated that this effect may be stronger for families with younger children. Characteristics of individuals using Internet-based treatment programs, such as parental worry about their children's health, can influence intervention usage, and should be considered by developers of Internet interventions.

The role of hand of error and stimulus orientation in the relationship between worry and error-related brain activity: Implications for theory and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yanli; Moran, Tim P; Schroder, Hans S; Moser, Jason S

2015-10-01

Anxious apprehension/worry is associated with exaggerated error monitoring; however, the precise mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. The current study tested the hypothesis that the worry-error monitoring relationship involves left-lateralized linguistic brain activity by examining the relationship between worry and error monitoring, indexed by the error-related negativity (ERN), as a function of hand of error (Experiment 1) and stimulus orientation (Experiment 2). Results revealed that worry was exclusively related to the ERN on right-handed errors committed by the linguistically dominant left hemisphere. Moreover, the right-hand ERN-worry relationship emerged only when stimuli were presented horizontally (known to activate verbal processes) but not vertically. Together, these findings suggest that the worry-ERN relationship involves left hemisphere verbal processing, elucidating a potential mechanism to explain error monitoring abnormalities in anxiety. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Population aging, macroeconomic changes, and global diabetes prevalence, 1990-2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Sudharsanan, Nikkil; Ali, Mohammed K; Mehta, Neil K; Narayan, K M Venkat

2015-01-01

Diabetes is an important contributor to global morbidity and mortality. The contributions of population aging and macroeconomic changes to the growth in diabetes prevalence over the past 20 years are unclear. We used cross-sectional data on age- and sex-specific counts of people with diabetes by country, national population estimates, and country-specific macroeconomic variables for the years 1990, 2000, and 2008. Decomposition analysis was performed to quantify the contribution of population aging to the change in global diabetes prevalence between 1990 and 2008. Next, age-standardization was used to estimate the contribution of age composition to differences in diabetes prevalence between high-income (HIC) and low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs). Finally, we used non-parametric correlation and multivariate first-difference regression estimates to examine the relationship between macroeconomic changes and the change in diabetes prevalence between 1990 and 2008. Globally, diabetes prevalence grew by two percentage points between 1990 (7.4 %) and 2008 (9.4 %). Population aging was responsible for 19 % of the growth, with 81 % attributable to increases in the age-specific prevalences. In both LMICs and HICs, about half the growth in age-specific prevalences was from increasing levels of diabetes between ages 45-65 (51 % in HICs and 46 % in LMICs). After age-standardization, the difference in the prevalence of diabetes between LMICs and HICs was larger (1.9 % point difference in 1990; 1.5 % point difference in 2008). We found no evidence that macroeconomic changes were associated with the growth in diabetes prevalence. Population aging explains a minority of the recent growth in global diabetes prevalence. The increase in global diabetes between 1990 and 2008 was primarily due to an increase in the prevalence of diabetes at ages 45-65. We do not find evidence that basic indicators of economic growth, development, globalization, or urbanization were related

Age structure of the population in Belgium and social security.

Science.gov (United States)

Dooghe, G

1991-01-01

The effects of demographic aging and of various socioeconomic factors on the social security system in Belgium are explored. "Special attention is given to the impact of the ageing of the population on the pension problem. Based on a simple formula a series of percentages of taxation have been calculated as a function of shifts in the proportion of retired vs. active population and in the proportion of the average income vs. the average amount of pension. One of the conclusions is that the progressive ageing of the population will become the most significant factor in the growth of social expenditures." excerpt

Belief in the paranormal and modern health worries

OpenAIRE

Utinans A.; Ancane G.

2014-01-01

It has been found, that despite the improvement of the objective health indicators, people's subjective perception of health is that health indicators are getting worse (Barsky A.J., 1988), which is one of the reasons why a new term “modern health worries” is coming into use in medical literature (Petrie K.J., Wessely S., 2002). People are worried and scared of the effect of new high tech innovations (effect of cell phone radiation, environmental pollution, ozone layer depletion, etc.), chang...

Obesity among Scottish 15 year olds 1987–2006: prevalence and associations with socio-economic status, well-being and worries about weight

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

West Patrick

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Increases in the prevalence of child and adolescent obesity have accelerated since the mid 1980s. Socio-economic status (SES-adiposity relationships appear less clear in adolescence than childhood, and evidence on whether increasing obesity is itself patterned according to SES is inconsistent. Increasing prevalence may have increased the tolerance, and reduced recognition of, or concern about, obesity. The aim of this study is to report the prevalence of obesity and its association with SES, well-being and worries about weight among 15-year olds in 1987, 1999 and 2006. Methods Height and weight data obtained from 15-year olds in 1987 (N = 503, 1999 (N = 2,145 and 2006 (N = 3,019, allowed categorisation of obesity (UK90 criteria. SES was represented by parental occupational class and area deprivation; psychological wellbeing by the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12 and self-esteem; weight worries by 'a lot' of worry about weight. Results Obesity prevalence was 6.7%, 10.6% and 15.9% (males, and 5.4%, 11.5% and 14.9% (females in 1987, 1999 and 2006. Among obese males, BMIs increased over time. There was little evidence of differentials in obesity in respect of either SES measure, and none for increased disparities over time. There was no association between obesity and GHQ-12 'caseness' or (except females in 2006 self-esteem. Weight worries were more prevalent among the obese and increased over time overall, but the obesity-weight worry relationship did not change. At each date, large proportions of the obese did not worry 'a lot' about weight, while among the non-obese, up to 18.8% males and 40.1% females (in 2006 did worry. Conclusion Between 1987 and 2006, prevalence of obesity among Scottish 15 year olds increased around 2.5 times. However, this increasing prevalence did not impact on the obesity-weight-worry relationship. While many obese adolescents appear unconcerned about their weight, a significant minority

Population ageing alongside health care spending growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jakovljević Mihajlo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Silver Tsunami or population ageing has become a globally widespread phenomenon. The purpose of this review is to observe its dynamics and consequences from a local Balkan perspective. The main drivers of this unique demographic evolution are extended longevity, improved early childhood survival, absorption of women into the labor markets, and consequences of sexual revolution leading to falling female fertility. This process lasting well over a century is taking its toll on contemporary societies. Major side effects are shrinking young labor force and growing pool of elderly and retired citizens in many countries. This equation tends to worsen further in the future threatening long-term financial sustainability of public social and health insurance funds. Notable health expenditure growth, accelerating worldwide since the 1960s, is to a large degree attributable to ageing itself. Growing share of senior citizens increases demand for medical services and costs of health care provision. Home-based care provided by the family caregivers presents another important reality putting a huge burden on modern communities. Serbs are no exception in this landscape. Historical demographic evolution of this nation gives a clear evidence of advanced and accelerated ageing, which is well documented in post-World War II era. This synthesis of rich published evidence shows clear upward parallel trend between the pace of population aging and the growth of health expenditure. National authorities shall be forced to consider reform of the current health care financing pattern inherited from the demographic growth era. This might be the only way to smooth out the impact of population ageing on the financial sustainability of the health system and long-term medical care in Serbia. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. OI 175014

Developing and piloting an instrument to prioritize the worries of patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bridges JFP

2018-04-01

Full Text Available John FP Bridges,1 Allison H Oakes,1 Crystal A Reinhart,2 Ernest Voyard,3 Bernadette O’Donoghue3 1Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; 2Center for Prevention Research and Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA; 3The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Rye Brook, NY, USA Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML is a rapidly progressing blood cancer for which new treatments are needed. We sought to promote patient-focused drug development (PFDD for AML by developing and piloting an instrument to prioritize the worries of patients with AML.Patients and methods: An innovative community-centered approach was used to engage expert and community stakeholders in the development, pretesting, pilot testing, and dissemination of a novel best–worst scaling instrument. Patient worries were identified through individual interviews (n=15 and group calls. The instrument was developed through rigorous pretesting (n=13 and then piloted among patients and caregivers engaged in this study (n=25. Priorities were assessed using best–worst scores (spanning from +1 to -1 representing the relative number of times that items were endorsed as the most and the least worrying. All findings were presented at a PFDD meeting at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA that was attended by >80 stakeholders. Results: The final instrument included 13 worries spanning issues such as decision making, treatment delivery, physical impacts, and psychosocial effects. Patients and caregivers most prioritized worries about dying from their disease (best minus worst [BW] score=0.73, long-term side effects (BW=0.28, and time in hospital (BW=0.25.Conclusion: Community-centered approaches are valuable in designing and executing PFDD meetings and associated quantitative surveys to document the experience of patients. Expert and community stakeholders welcomed the opportunity to share

Age and Time Population Differences: Young Adults, Gen Xers, and Millennials

Science.gov (United States)

Menard, Lauren A.

2013-01-01

Age and Time disparities in young adult research populations are common because young adults are defined by varying age spans; members of Generation X and Millennial generations may both be considered young adults; study years vary, affecting populations; and qualitative methods with limited age/year samples are frequently utilized. The current…

Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Allentoft, Morten E.; Sikora, Martin; Sjögren, Karl-Göran

2015-01-01

The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We...... investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic...... structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating...

Faster Increases in Human Life Expectancy Could Lead to Slower Population Aging

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Counterintuitively, faster increases in human life expectancy could lead to slower population aging. The conventional view that faster increases in human life expectancy would lead to faster population aging is based on the assumption that people become old at a fixed chronological age. A preferable alternative is to base measures of aging on people’s time left to death, because this is more closely related to the characteristics that are associated with old age. Using this alternative interpretation, we show that faster increases in life expectancy would lead to slower population aging. Among other things, this finding affects the assessment of the speed at which countries will age. PMID:25876033

Automated Determination of Bone Age in a Modern Chinese Population

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Shao-Yan; Liu, Gang; Ma, Chen-Guo; Han, Yi-San; Shen, Xun-Zhang; Xu, Rui-Long; Thodberg, Hans Henrik

2013-01-01

Rationale and Objective. Large studies have previously been performed to set up a Chinese bone age reference, but it has been difficult to compare the maturation of Chinese children with populations elsewhere due to the potential variability between raters in different parts of the world. We re-analysed the radiographs from a large study of normal Chinese children using an automated bone age rating method to establish a Chinese bone age reference, and to compare the tempo of maturation in the Chinese with other populations. Materials and Methods. X-rays from 2883 boys and 3143 girls aged 2–20 years from five Chinese cities, taken in 2005, were evaluated using the BoneXpert automated method. Results. Chinese children reached full maturity at the same age as previously studied Asian children from Los Angeles, but 0.6 years earlier than Caucasian children in Los Angeles. The Greulich-Pyle bone age method was adapted to the Chinese population creating a new bone age scale BX-China05. The standard deviation between BX-China05 and chronologic age was 1.01 years in boys aged 8–14, and 1.08 years in girls aged 7–12. Conclusion. By eliminating rater variability, the automated method provides a reliable and efficient standard for bone age determination in China

An agent-based computational model for tuberculosis spreading on age-structured populations

Science.gov (United States)

Graciani Rodrigues, C. C.; Espíndola, Aquino L.; Penna, T. J. P.

2015-06-01

In this work we present an agent-based computational model to study the spreading of the tuberculosis (TB) disease on age-structured populations. The model proposed is a merge of two previous models: an agent-based computational model for the spreading of tuberculosis and a bit-string model for biological aging. The combination of TB with the population aging, reproduces the coexistence of health states, as seen in real populations. In addition, the universal exponential behavior of mortalities curves is still preserved. Finally, the population distribution as function of age shows the prevalence of TB mostly in elders, for high efficacy treatments.

Evidence for Transdiagnostic Repetitive Negative Thinking and Its Association with Rumination, Worry, and Depression and Anxiety Symptoms: A Commonality Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel E. Gustavson

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Recent theoretical advances have emphasized the commonality between rumination and worry, often referred to as repetitive negative thinking. Although not studied extensively, repetitive negative thinking may not only account for a substantial overlap between depression and anxiety symptoms but also encapsulate other constructs including one’s tendency to experience unwanted intrusive thoughts or have low levels of mindfulness. In this study, 643 college students completed self-report questionnaire measures of repetitive negative thinking (the Habit Index of Negative Thinking and other relevant constructs including rumination, worry, depression and anxiety symptoms, intrusive thoughts, and mindfulness. To analyze the data, we conducted systematic commonality analyses, which algebraically decomposed shared variances among these measures into various unique components. Results in Study 1 indicated that individual differences in repetitive negative thinking were explained largely by the overlap between rumination and worry, but also by some rumination-specific and worry-specific variance. Moreover, the shared variation in rumination and worry explained the frequencies of depression and anxiety symptoms and their overlap. We also found in Study 2 that repetitive negative thinking was positively related to intrusive thoughts and negatively related to mindfulness. These associations were mostly explained by shared variance with rumination and worry, but there was also some mindfulness-specific variance. These results suggest that repetitive negative thinking may indeed lie at the core of the comorbidity between depression and anxiety symptoms, but that it is also a broader construct that encompasses intrusive thoughts and low levels of mindfulness.

Estimation of age structure of fish populations from length-frequency data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, K.D.; Adams, S.M.

1977-01-01

A probability model is presented to determine the age structure of a fish population from length-frequency data. It is shown that when the age-length key is available, maximum-likelihood estimates of the age structure can be obtained. When the key is not available, approximate estimates of the age structure can be obtained. The model is used for determination of the age structure of populations of channel catfish and white crappie. Practical applications of the model to impact assessment are discussed

An age-structured population balance model for microbial dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duarte M.V.E.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available This work presents an age-structured population balance model (ASPBM for a bioprocess in a continuous stirred-tank fermentor. It relates the macroscopic properties and dynamic behavior of biomass to the operational parameters and microscopic properties of cells. Population dynamics is governed by two time- and age-dependent density functions for living and dead cells, accounting for the influence of substrate and dissolved oxygen concentrations on cell division, aging and death processes. The ASPBM described biomass and substrate oscillations in aerobic continuous cultures as experimentally observed. It is noteworthy that a small data set consisting of nonsegregated measurements was sufficient to adjust a complex segregated mathematical model.

Population ageing and intergenerational conflict: a post-Keynesian view.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, W A

1992-01-01

The author reexamines the relationships among demographic aging, the dependency burden, and intergenerational conflict from a post-Keynesian perspective, in which unemployment and excess capacity are normal to the functioning of capitalist economies, and resources are not generally fully utilized. He "argues that the Keynesian process of national income determination precludes any immediate relationship between population ageing and the 'burden' imposed on income recipients. Below full employment, a rising dependency ratio is not guaranteed to reduce the expenditure share of income recipients or raise their tax rates. An exclusive emphasis on intergenerational conflict can give a misleading impression of the consequences of population ageing." The focus is on developed countries. excerpt

The development of old age human resource under the background of population ageing in china

OpenAIRE

Cheng, Xin; Xu, Jian－pei

2007-01-01

China is the country that has the most population in quantity of the world. Rapidly growing population has brought about enormous pressure on the social and economic development. Thus population control is always one of the population policies focuses in our country. However, China has not succeed in escaping out from the pressure of population control, another challenge-population ageing is coming. This challenge also can bring the great impact on the whole social and economic development. M...

Economic implications of Japan's aging population: a macro-economic demographic modeling approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogawa, N

1982-01-01

This paper utilizes a macroeconomic demographic model to analyze the probable impact of population aging on various public programs in Japan. Rapid fertility decline aided by mortality decline has caused the proportion of the Japanese population aged 65 and over to increase from 4.9% in 1950 to 9.0% in 1980. A population projection based on the 1975 population census assumes a recovery of fertility from a total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.9 in 1976 to 2.16 in 1980 and a gradual decline to 2.1 by 1987, while an alternative projection assumes a continuing fertility decline to a TFR of 1.65 in 2025. According to these assumptions, in 2025 18.12% to 21.29% of the total population would be aged 65 or over and 38.66% to 43.80% of the working age population would be aged 45-64. A macroeconomic neoclassical growth model with some Keynesian features was formulated to evaluate the future impact of population aging on social security programs. Population changes are transmitted to economic variables in the model through the supply of labor, level of savings, public health care plans, and old-age pension schemes. The simulation experiments included the 2 population projections and 2 alternative production functions, 1 with the quality of labor incorporated and 1 without. The results indicated that, regardless of the population projection and production function used, the growth of the economy is likely to slow to 1 or 0% in the beginning of the next century due to decreased growth of the labor force and a change in its quality due to age-compositional variations. Public health insurance schemes and pension plans will require increasing financial resources as a result of accelerated population aging; depending on the choice of benefit levels, the proportion of national income allocated to them is expected to range from 14%-40% in the year 2010. Per capita gross national product will continue to grow despite decreased economic growth, but savings might be adversely affected if the

Population Matters Policy Brief. Preparing for an Aging World

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2001-01-01

The world's population is aging at an accelerated rate. Declining fertility rates combined with steady improvements in life expectancy over the latter half of the 20th century have produced dramatic growth in the world's elderly population...

Population-based Post-crisis Psychological Distress: An Example From the SARS Outbreak in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Eugene Yu-Chang; Lee, Ming-Been; Tsai, Shang-Ta; Yang, Chih-Chien; Morisky, Donald Edward; Tsai, Liang-Ting; Weng, Ya-Ling; Lyu, Shu-Yu

2011-01-01

Background/Purpose As a result of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic, the World Health Organization placed Taiwan on the travel alert list from May 21 to July 5, 2003. The aim of this study was to explore the post-crisis psychological distress among residents in Taiwan after the SARS epidemic. Methods The target population consisted of a nationwide representative sample of residents aged ≥ 18 years. Data were collected using computer assisted telephone interview systems by stratified random sampling according to geographic area. The survey (n = 1278) was conducted in November 2003, about 4 months after resolution of the SARS crisis in Taiwan. The maximum deviation of sampling error at the 95% confidence level was ± 2.74%. Psychological distress was measured by a question related to subject’s changes in perception of life, plus the five-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the correlation of psychological distress. Results About 9.2% of the participants reported that their perceptions of life became more pessimistic following the SARS crisis. The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was 11.7%. Major predictors of higher levels of pessimism after the SARS epidemic included demographic factors, perception of SARS and pre-paredness, knowing people or having personal experiences of SARS-related discrimination, and individual worries and psychiatric morbidity. The correlates of symptomatic cases, as indicated by the five-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale, included age ≥ 50 years, senior high school graduate, and worries about recurrence of SARS. Conclusion Psychological distress was significantly correlated with demographic factors and perception regarding the SARS epidemic. It is suggested that marketing of mental health education should be segmented according to age and education level, which should enhance crisis communication for newly emerging infectious diseases among community populations

WORRIES OF THE CANCER PATIENTS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE EDUCATION CENTER OF THE INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE CANCEROLOGIA

OpenAIRE

Contreras-Cruz Ana Cecilia; Castro-Camargo Gladys Juliette; Puerto-Jiménez Devi Nereira

2015-01-01

Introduction: to know the characteristics and worries of the cancer patients allows imparting an adequate attention to their needs in order to answer the experience of living with cancer. Objective: to identify the main worries of the cancer patients expressed to contact the center. Methods: selection for one year of cancer patients who attended to the education center for the patients and their families of the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INC). Field diaries were ...

Survival Outlook for Middle-Aged Populations in South Mrica

African Journals Online (AJOL)

1974-10-12

Oct 12, 1974 ... death at middle-age and beyond, reduces rather than in- creases ... mate longevity of populations may be genetically pro- ...... concluded that 'the characteristic life span of man and .... Ageing: The Biology of Senescence.

On Constructing Ageing Rural Populations: "Capturing" the Grey Nomad

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Amanda

2011-01-01

The world's population is ageing, with forecasts predicting this ageing is likely to be particularly severe in the rural areas of more developed countries. These forecasts are developed from nationally aggregated census and survey data and assume spatial homogeneity in ageing. They also draw on narrow understandings of older people and construct…

Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia.

Science.gov (United States)

Allentoft, Morten E; Sikora, Martin; Sjögren, Karl-Göran; Rasmussen, Simon; Rasmussen, Morten; Stenderup, Jesper; Damgaard, Peter B; Schroeder, Hannes; Ahlström, Torbjörn; Vinner, Lasse; Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo; Margaryan, Ashot; Higham, Tom; Chivall, David; Lynnerup, Niels; Harvig, Lise; Baron, Justyna; Della Casa, Philippe; Dąbrowski, Paweł; Duffy, Paul R; Ebel, Alexander V; Epimakhov, Andrey; Frei, Karin; Furmanek, Mirosław; Gralak, Tomasz; Gromov, Andrey; Gronkiewicz, Stanisław; Grupe, Gisela; Hajdu, Tamás; Jarysz, Radosław; Khartanovich, Valeri; Khokhlov, Alexandr; Kiss, Viktória; Kolář, Jan; Kriiska, Aivar; Lasak, Irena; Longhi, Cristina; McGlynn, George; Merkevicius, Algimantas; Merkyte, Inga; Metspalu, Mait; Mkrtchyan, Ruzan; Moiseyev, Vyacheslav; Paja, László; Pálfi, György; Pokutta, Dalia; Pospieszny, Łukasz; Price, T Douglas; Saag, Lehti; Sablin, Mikhail; Shishlina, Natalia; Smrčka, Václav; Soenov, Vasilii I; Szeverényi, Vajk; Tóth, Gusztáv; Trifanova, Synaru V; Varul, Liivi; Vicze, Magdolna; Yepiskoposyan, Levon; Zhitenev, Vladislav; Orlando, Ludovic; Sicheritz-Pontén, Thomas; Brunak, Søren; Nielsen, Rasmus; Kristiansen, Kristian; Willerslev, Eske

2015-06-11

The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.

The aging US population and residential energy demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tonn, Bruce; Eisenberg, Joel

2007-01-01

This piece explores the relationships between a rapidly aging U.S. population and the demand for residential energy. Data indicate that elderly persons use more residential energy than younger persons. In this time of steeply rising energy costs, energy is an especially important financial issue for the elderly with low and/or fixed incomes. As the absolute number of elderly as well as their proportion of the total US population both continue to increase, energy and the elderly population looms as another energy policy challenge

Water-loss dehydration and aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Hooper, Lee; Bunn, Diane; Jimoh, Florence O; Fairweather-Tait, Susan J

2014-01-01

This review defines water-loss and salt-loss dehydration. For older people serum osmolality appears the most appropriate gold standard for diagnosis of water-loss dehydration, but clear signs of early dehydration have not been developed. In older adults, lower muscle mass, reduced kidney function, physical and cognitive disabilities, blunted thirst, and polypharmacy all increase dehydration risk. Cross-sectional studies suggest a water-loss dehydration prevalence of 20-30% in this population. Water-loss dehydration is associated with higher mortality, morbidity and disability in older people, but evidence is still needed that this relationship is causal. There are a variety of ways we may be able to help older people reduce their risk of dehydration by recognising that they are not drinking enough, and being helped to drink more. Strategies to increase fluid intake in residential care homes include identifying and overcoming individual and institutional barriers to drinking, such as being worried about not reaching the toilet in time, physical inability to make or to reach drinks, and reduced social drinking and drinking pleasure. Research needs are discussed, some of which will be addressed by the FP7-funded NU-AGE (New dietary strategies addressing the specific needs of elderly population for a healthy ageing in Europe) trial. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Worry, Uncertainty, and Insomnia for Cancer Survivors

Science.gov (United States)

2017-04-04

Anxiety Disorder; Worry; Uncertainty; Sleep Disorders; Insomnia; Fatigue; Pain; Depression; Cognitive-behavioral Therapy; Psychological Intervention; Esophageal Cancer; Pancreatic Cancer; Leukemia; Lung Cancer; Multiple Myeloma; Ovarian Neoplasm; Stage III or IV Cervical or Uterine Cancer; Stage IIIB, IIIC, or IV Breast Cancer; Glioblastoma Multiforme; Relapsed Lymphoma; Stage III or IV Colorectal Cancer; Stage IIIC or IV Melanoma

The Health of America's Aging Prison Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Skarupski, Kimberly A; Gross, Alden; Schrack, Jennifer A; Deal, Jennifer A; Eber, Gabriel B

2018-03-23

Older incarcerated individuals comprise the fastest growing demographic in the US prison system. Unhealthy lifestyles among incarcerated individuals and inadequate health care lead to earlier onset and more rapid progression of many chronic conditions that are prevalent among community-living older adults. There are limited peer-reviewed epidemiologic data in this area; however, there is growing interest in identifying strategies for housing aging incarcerated individuals, delivering appropriate health care in prisons, and coordinating after-release health care. In this systematic review, we summarize the epidemiologic evidence of the health challenges facing the aging US prison population. Our comprehensive literature search focused on health outcomes, including diseases, comorbid conditions, mental health, cognition, and mobility. From 12,486 articles identified from the literature search, we reviewed 21 studies published between 2007 and 2017. All the studies were observational and cross-sectional, and most (n = 17) were based on regional samples. Sample sizes varied widely, ranging from 25 to 14,499 incarcerated people (median, 258). In general, compared with their younger counterparts, older incarcerated individuals reported high rates of diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular conditions, and liver disease. Mental health problems were common, especially anxiety, fear of desire for death or suicide, and depression. Activities of daily living were challenging for up to one-fifth of the population. We found no empirical data on cognition among older incarcerated individuals. The findings of this review reveal few empirical data in this area and highlight the need for new data to drive policy and practice patterns that address critical health issues related to the aging prison population.

The impact of intolerance of uncertainty, worry and irritability on quality of life in persons with epilepsy: irritability as mediator.

Science.gov (United States)

Barahmand, Usha; Haji, Afsar

2014-10-01

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder afflicting many people in the world. The impact of epilepsy on the quality of life of those afflicted with epilepsy is greater than the limitations imposed by the seizures alone. Among the several psychological disorders found to be comorbid with epilepsy are anxiety and depression, both of which impair quality of life in epilepsy. Some studies have reported that the anxiety seen in epilepsy is characterized by worry while the depression seen is characterized by irritability. A concept common to both anxiety and depression is intolerance of uncertainty. Therefore, the study explores the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty, worry and irritability and their association to quality of life in epilepsy. A descriptive-correlational research method was used and the research sample comprised 60 consecutive referrals seeking outpatient neurological services for epilepsy at Alavi Hospital in Ardebil. Data were collected by administering the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale, Irritability Questionnaire and Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficients and multivariate regression analysis. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted. Findings indicated that intolerance of uncertainty, worry and irritability have unique significant effects on quality of life. The implications are that interventions aimed at improving the quality of life of patients with epilepsy should address their feelings of uncertainty, worry and irritability. Furthermore, irritability seems to mediate the impact of both intolerance of uncertainty and worry on quality of life of individuals with epilepsy. No significant moderation effects were noted. Results underscore the important role of irritability in the quality of life of persons with epilepsy. The findings are discussed with reference to the possibility of particular predisposing temperaments and add credence to

Prevalence of perceived stress and associations to symptoms of exhaustion, depression and anxiety in a working age population seeking primary care--an observational study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiegner, Lilian; Hange, Dominique; Björkelund, Cecilia; Ahlborg, Gunnar

2015-03-19

Prolonged stress may lead to mental illness, but the prevalence of stress in a working age population seeking primary health care for whatever reason, is unknown. This paper seeks to examine to what extent this group perceives stress, as well as symptoms of burnout/exhaustion, depression and anxiety. In 2009, 587 primary health care patients aged 18-65 years (377 women, 210 men), with an appointment with a primary health care physician, participated in the study. A screening questionnaire with questions about age, gender, marital status, employment, reason for medical consultation, and the QPS Nordic screening question about stress was distributed:" Stress is defined as a condition where you feel tense, restless, anxious or worried or cannot sleep at night because you think of problems all the time. Do you feel that kind of stress these days? There were five possible answers; "not at all" and "only a little" (level 1),"to some extent" (level 2),"rather much" and "very much" (level 3). In a second step, symptoms of burnout/exhaustion (Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire and the Self-rated Exhaustion Disorder instrument) and anxiety/depression (Hospital Depression and Anxiety scale) were assessed among those with higher levels of perceived stress. 345 (59%) of the study patients indicated stress levels 2 or 3 (237 women and 108 men). Women more often indicated increased levels of stress than men. Two thirds of the participants expressing stress levels 2-3 indicated a high degree of burnout, and approximately half of them indicated Exhaustion Disorder (ED). Among highly stressed patients (level 3), 33% reported symptoms indicating possible depression and 64% possible anxiety. More than half of this working age population perceived more than a little stress, as defined, women to a greater extent than men. Symptoms of burnout and exhaustion were common. A high level of perceived stress was often accompanied by symptoms of depression and/or anxiety.

Acceptance of genetic testing in a general population

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aro, A R; Hakonen, A; Hietala, M

1997-01-01

in favour of mandatory genetic testing than other respondents. Respondents with university education were more critical towards genetic testing and expressed their worry about eugenics more often than other education groups. In conclusion, there are age, education and gender related differences...

Estimating demographic contributions to effective population size in an age-structured wild population experiencing environmental and demographic stochasticity.

Science.gov (United States)

Trask, Amanda E; Bignal, Eric M; McCracken, Davy I; Piertney, Stuart B; Reid, Jane M

2017-09-01

A population's effective size (N e ) is a key parameter that shapes rates of inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity, thereby influencing evolutionary processes and population viability. However, estimating N e , and identifying key demographic mechanisms that underlie the N e to census population size (N) ratio, remains challenging, especially for small populations with overlapping generations and substantial environmental and demographic stochasticity and hence dynamic age-structure. A sophisticated demographic method of estimating N e /N, which uses Fisher's reproductive value to account for dynamic age-structure, has been formulated. However, this method requires detailed individual- and population-level data on sex- and age-specific reproduction and survival, and has rarely been implemented. Here, we use the reproductive value method and detailed demographic data to estimate N e /N for a small and apparently isolated red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) population of high conservation concern. We additionally calculated two single-sample molecular genetic estimates of N e to corroborate the demographic estimate and examine evidence for unobserved immigration and gene flow. The demographic estimate of N e /N was 0.21, reflecting a high total demographic variance (σ2dg) of 0.71. Females and males made similar overall contributions to σ2dg. However, contributions varied among sex-age classes, with greater contributions from 3 year-old females than males, but greater contributions from ≥5 year-old males than females. The demographic estimate of N e was ~30, suggesting that rates of increase of inbreeding and loss of genetic variation per generation will be relatively high. Molecular genetic estimates of N e computed from linkage disequilibrium and approximate Bayesian computation were approximately 50 and 30, respectively, providing no evidence of substantial unobserved immigration which could bias demographic estimates of N e . Our analyses identify

Designing New Meals for an Ageing Population

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Costa, A.I.A.; Jongen, W.M.F.

2010-01-01

Today's ageing population is an ever-increasing, highly diverse group of people wanting to live a healthy and enjoyable life. Seniors increasingly see the importance of eating healthy and delicious food in a pleasant environment in achieving happiness and well-being. Up until now, the food industry

Associations between quality of life, physical activity, worry, depression and insomnia: A cross-sectional designed study in healthy pregnant women.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danielle Mourady

Full Text Available Health-related quality of life (QOL is reported to be reduced during pregnancy. Associations between QOL, physical activity (PA, insomnia, depression and worry are insufficiently investigated among pregnant women. The aim of this study was to evaluate QOL and PA patterns among healthy pregnant women, and to examine how QOL might correlate to PA, sleep, worry and depression. This is an observational cross-sectional study, conducted among a convenient sample of 141 healthy pregnant women using five questionnaires: WHOQOL-brief (WHO quality of life questionnaire, brief version, ISI (Insomnia Severity Index, PSWQ (Penn State Worry Questionnaire, ZSRDS (Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, and Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ. Pre-gestational BMI was inversely correlated to overall health while education was positively correlated to psychological health, social relationships and environment domains. Smoking before and during pregnancy significantly impacted the general health and psychological health. Total and light PA were positively correlated to psychological health and social relationships. Sports/exercise showed positive correlations with several QOL domains. Insomnia and depression were significantly associated with a decrease in all domains of QOL, while worries were associated with a decrease in physical, psychological and environmental domains. There were significant negative correlations between ZSRDS scores and total activity. PA, worries, depression and insomnia affected QOL during pregnancy. Furthermore, pregnant women presenting depression had a reduced total PA. Sleep and mental health as well as encouraging PA during pregnancy are necessary to improve the quality of life of pregnant women.

[Formula: see text]The effect of stereotype threat on older people's clinical cognitive outcomes: investigating the moderating role of dementia worry.

Science.gov (United States)

Fresson, Megan; Dardenne, Benoit; Geurten, Marie; Meulemans, Thierry

2017-11-01

Numerous studies have shown that stereotype threat (ST) reduces older people's cognitive performance, but few have studied its impact on clinical cognitive outcomes. Our study was designed to further examine the impact of ST on the clinical assessment of older subjects' cognitive functioning, as well as the moderating role of fear of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) (or 'dementia worry'). Seventy-two neurologically normal (MMSE > 26) participants aged between 59 and 70 completed a set of neuropsychological tasks in either an ST or a positive condition (condition in which negative stereotypes were invalidated). Regression-based path analyses showed that only participants who expressed moderate or high fear of AD underperformed on executive tasks in the ST condition compared to their counterparts in the positive condition. Moreover, in the ST condition, participants' performance on executive tasks was more impaired (relative to normative data) than in the positive condition. However, ST had no effect on memory and attention performance. Our results showed that ST can cause older people to perform at pathological levels on executive tasks. Results highlight the need for clinicians to be cautious when conducting neuropsychological assessments of older people who express high levels of dementia worry.

AN AGING POPULATION: A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petra Barešová

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on one of the most currently discussed topics, the ageing population. Population aging can be discussed from different perspectives, exploring various challenges associated with it. The authors examined marketing communications from the point of view of a target group, over age 55. The main objective of this study was to find out which marketing communication tools those over age 55 prefer, including selected aspects of printed advertising. At the same time, it was examined whether there is a different gender perspective on this issue. To find out answers to the main question of this study, we conducted quantitative research by using a questionnaire survey among the population over age 55 living in the Czech Republic (Zlín Region. The results of this study were compared with the results of a previous study conducted in 2014, focusing on the marketing communication tools targeted at the 55+ group from the point of view of companies. The research results have shown that the target groups’ most effective (preferred marketing communication tools are printed materials (leaflets and catalogues, sales promotions, competitions, club memberships, gifts, fairs, markets and fairs, and last but not least, newspapers and magazines. Based on the results, it can be said that these tools, in comparison with others, contain sufficient information that the customer can read and think about, save, and eventually return to them. At the same time, they are tools that bring a certain benefit or advantage to the customer, which can then be verified in person. If the results are compared from a gender perspective, different preferences were revealed in the selection of marketing communication tools. There were also different views on some selected aspects of printed materials. These findings can be implemented by companies and organizations in their marketing campaigns, allowing them to better reach the target group of people over age 55

The impact of population ageing on future Danish drug expenditure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kildemoes, Helle Wallach

expenditure among the elderly partly is due the high "costs of dying". Aims The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of the ageing Danish population on future total expenditures on out-of-hospital prescription drugs and to describe the association between age and drug expenditure among survivors......Background Population ageing is likely to place an increasing burden on future health care budgets. Several studies have demonstrated that the impact of ageing on future hospital expenditures will be overestimated when not accounting for proximity to death. This is because greater health care...... compared to that of decedents. Methods Taking expenditure during the last year of life and the changes in mortality rates into account, future drug expenditure was projected by multiplying estimated mean annual drug expenditure according to age, gender and survival status by the predicted future number...

Disaster resilience and population ageing: the 1995 Kobe and 2004 Chuetsu earthquakes in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Haili; Maki, Norio; Hayashi, Haruo

2014-04-01

This paper provides a framework for evaluating the effects of population ageing on disaster resilience. In so doing, it focuses on the 1995 Kobe and 2004 Chuetsu earthquakes, two major disasters that affected Japan before the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. It analyses regional population recovery on the basis of pre-disaster and post-recovery demographic characteristics using defined transition patterns of population ageing. The evaluation framework demonstrates that various recovery measures make different contributions to disaster resilience for each transition pattern of population ageing. With reference to regional population ageing, the framework allows for a prediction of disaster resilience, facilitating place vulnerability assessments and potentially informing policy-making strategies for Japan and other countries with ageing populations. © 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014.

Effectiveness of a smartphone-based worry-reduction training for stress reduction: A randomized-controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Versluis, Anke; Verkuil, Bart; Spinhoven, Philip; F Brosschot, Jos

2018-04-03

Perseverative cognition (e.g. worry) and unconscious stress are suggested to be important mediators in the relation between stressors and physiological health. We examined whether a smartphone-based worry-reduction training improved a physiological marker of stress (i.e. increased heart rate variability [HRV]) and unconscious stress. Randomised-controlled trial was conducted with individuals reporting work stress (n = 136). Participants were randomised to the experimental, control or waitlist condition (resp. EC, CC, WL). The EC and CC registered emotions five times daily for four weeks. The EC additionally received a worry-reduction training with mindfulness exercises. Primary outcome was 24-h assessments of HRV measured at pre-, mid- and post-intervention. Secondary outcomes were implicit affect and stress. Effects on heart rate and other psychological outcomes were explored. A total of 118 participants completed the study. No change from pre- to post-intervention was observed for the primary or secondary outcomes. The change over time was not different between conditions. Findings suggest that the training was ineffective for improving HRV or psychological stress. Future studies may focus on alternative smartphone-based stress interventions, as stress levels are high in society. There is need for easy interventions and smartphones offer possibilities for this.

Generation time, net reproductive rate, and growth in stage-age-structured populations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steiner, Uli; Tuljapurkar, Shripad; Coulson, Tim

2014-01-01

examples to show how reproductive timing Tc and level R0 are shaped by stage dynamics (individual trait changes), selection on the trait, and parent-offspring phenotypic correlation. We also show how population structure can affect dispersion in reproduction among ages and stages. These macroscopic...... to age-structured populations. Here we generalize this result to populations structured by stage and age by providing a new, unique measure of reproductive timing (Tc) that, along with net reproductive rate (R0), has a direct mathematical relationship to and approximates growth rate (r). We use simple...

Trait susceptibility to worry modulates the effects of cognitive load on cognitive control: An ERP study.

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Owens, Max; Derakshan, Nazanin; Richards, Anne

2015-10-01

According to the predictions of attentional control theory (ACT) of anxiety (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007), worry is a central feature of anxiety that interferes with the ability to inhibit distracting information necessary for successful task performance. However, it is unclear how such cognitive control deficits are modulated by task demands and by the emotionality of the distractors. A sample of 31 participants (25 female) completed a novel flanker task with emotional and neutral distractors under low- and high-cognitive-load conditions. The negative-going N2 event-related potential was measured to index participants' level of top-down resource allocation in the inhibition of distractors under high- and low-load conditions. Results showed N2 amplitudes were larger under high- compared with low-load conditions. In addition, under high but not low load, trait worry was associated with greater N2 amplitudes. Our findings support ACT predictions that trait worry adversely affects goal-directed behavior, and is associated with greater recruitment of cognitive resources to inhibit the impact of distracting information under conditions in which cognitive resources are taxed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Generalized worry disorder: a review of DSM-IV generalized anxiety disorder and options for DSM-V.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrews, Gavin; Hobbs, Megan J; Borkovec, Thomas D; Beesdo, Katja; Craske, Michelle G; Heimberg, Richard G; Rapee, Ronald M; Ruscio, Ayelet Meron; Stanley, Melinda A

2010-02-01

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has undergone a series of substantial classificatory changes since its first inclusion in DSM-III. The majority of these revisions have been in response to its poor inter-rater reliability and concerns that it may lack diagnostic validity. This article provides options for the revision of the DSM-IV GAD criteria for DSM-V. First, searches were conducted to identify the evidence that previous DSM Work Groups relied upon when revising the DSM-III-R GAD and the overanxious disorder classifications. Second, the literature pertaining to the DSM-IV criteria for GAD was examined. The review presents a number of options to be considered for DSM-V. One option is for GAD to be re-labeled in DSM-V as generalized worry disorder. This would reflect its hallmark feature. Proposed revisions would result in a disorder that is characterized by excessive anxiety and worry generalized to a number of events or activities for 3 months or more. Worry acts as a cognitive coping strategy that manifests in avoidant behaviors. The reliability and validity of the proposed changes could be investigated in DSM-V validity tests and field trials.

Population age structure and asset returns: an empirical investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Poterba, J M

1998-10-01

"This paper investigates the association between population age structure, particularly the share of the population in the 'prime saving years' 45-60, and the returns on stocks and bonds. The paper is motivated by the claim that the aging of the 'Baby Boom' cohort in the United States is a key factor in explaining the recent rise in asset values. It also addresses the associated claim that asset prices will decline when this large cohort reaches retirement age and begins to reduce its asset holdings. This paper begins by considering household age-asset accumulation profiles. Data from the Survey of Consumer Finances suggest that while cross-sectional age-wealth profiles peak for households in their early 60s, cohort data on the asset ownership of the same households show a much less pronounced peak.... The paper then considers the historical relationship between demographic structure and real returns on Treasury bills, long-term government bonds, and corporate stock. The results do not suggest any robust relationship between demographic structure and asset returns.... The paper concludes by discussing factors such as international capital flows and forward-looking behavior on the part of market participants that could weaken the relationship between age structure and asset returns in a single nation." excerpt

Imbalanced geodemographical structures in Târnave regional system. Case study: population ageing.

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H.-V. CONȚIU

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The demographic prospects of a regional system, the natural dynamics of the population, the potential of manpower resources, planning and forecast of its use, show a high degree of dependence on the demographical structure by age, the identified imbalances involving an increase in the vulnerability of the regional system and therefore an enhancement of geodemographical risks (acceleration of population ageing, decreasing population trend, disappearance of some rural settlements, socio-economic failures etc.. In this study, a special attention is paid to the analysis of ageing index and demographical dependency ratio, and the share of young and old people to the Târnave regional system, taking into account as milestones, the population censuses from 1910, 1992 2002 and 2011.

[Health problems of working-age population in the Russian Federation].

Science.gov (United States)

Izmerov, N F; Tikhonova, G I

2010-01-01

The paper deals with health problems of working-age population in the Russian Federation. According to foreign and domestic experts reduction of the able-bodied population and its fraction in the general population will be accompanied by ageing of labour force in the nearest two decades. Despite the growth of life expectancy in 2006-2007 demonstrated by disability, mortality and life expectancy indices for the age group of interest, its health status is considered to be critical. Mathematical simulation of mortality rates allowed for the assessment of potential years of life lost (PYLL) from leading causes of death among active working population. The data obtained provide a basis for the elaboration of medical and social programs aimed at increasing life expectancy. The most essential role in current negative tendencies in the health of active working population belongs to the deterioration of work conditions and safety at industrial enterprises coupled to low efficiency of occupational health prevention system accounting for the significantly reduced accessibility of health services. Restoration of occupational health system in Russia is of crucial importance. Experts of the Institute of Occupational Health have elaborated a draft National Action Plan designed to improve health protection of labour force in this country; its implementation would help to solve demographic problems and increase the amount and quality of labour force.

Some economic consequences of an ageing and declining population in Denmark.

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Leeson, G W

1983-01-01

Figures for 1981 indicate that Denmark has a fertility level of 1.45 which has been below replacement level since 1968. In that same time period, natural increase has decreased from over 27,000 in 1968 to only 1354 in 1980 and a negative natural increase in 1981 with deaths outnumbering births by 3001. Even during the depression in the 1930's, net population increase was between 6-9/1000 with a fertility level which hovered around replacement level. At that time, the number of females in the childbearing ages was enough to provide population growth, whereas the number is much less today. Population increase is only 0.3/1000. The national population projections for Denmark for 1981-2010 assume an increase in the fertility level from 1.45-1.70 by 1991 after which it remains constant. The number of 20-39 year olds increased steadily until 1945 after which there was a decline as the cohorts from periods with low fertility levels entered this age group, but this was again followed by a steady increase to the present day. The number of females aged 0-39 years is expected to decrease in all age groups to the year 2000. Those aged 40-59 increased in numbers from 1920 to the mid 1960s, since then they have decreased in number, but an increase is forcast for the remainder of the century. The number of elderly females also increased steadily from 1930-80, from about 200,000 to over 550,000; this is expected to continue until 1990 when a short-term decline will set in. Regarding the economic and social consequences of these trends, it is shown that the present decline in fertility has its origins in a period of low unemployment and its negative growth while there was still relatively low unemployment and economic growth. In 1973 the unemployed rate was 0.9% of the work force and this rose to 9.2% in 1981. The Danish population has aged from one with 1/4 million people aged 60 and over at the turn of the century to about 1 million of that age today. Also, the aged themselves

Estimating age composition in Alpine native populations of Austropotamobius pallipes complex

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Daniela Ghia

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Assessing the population structure and understanding growth patterns is crucial to manage freshwater resources and to solve fundamental questions concerning endangered species conservation. Austropotamobius pallipes (Lereboullet, 1858 species complex has been declining on a widespread basis in Europe, including Italy, but detailed data on population structure and growth are lacking. In four mountain streams populated by the species, water temperature data were collected by data-loggers. In July 2012, a total of 746 crayfish were collected at night and their length was measured. Females and males size distributions were analysed separately for each stream using Bhattacharya’s Method. Age was assigned to each length class. The mean values of the age classes were used to evaluate the growth rate of Von Bertalanffy, by the seasonalized equation. Up to six age classes were identified in two populations. Results show that three out of four populations are well-structured, and they confirm that A. pallipes complex is a K-selected species. We stress the need for long-term monitoring and the importance of obtained results in development of conservation plans of endangered crayfish.

Demographic ageing of the population in the County of Šibenik-Knin: grandparent boom

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Snježana Mrđen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses demographic ageing of the population in the County of Šibenik-Knin by using basic demographic indicators based on data collected from population censuses from 1971 to 2011. It analyses spatial differentiation of the ageing process at the level of the County, micro-regions, towns/municipalities and settlements. The research also provides a comparison of population ageing in different counties of the Republic of Croatia, from which it is evident that the County of Šibenik-Knin, as well as the Country of Lika-Senj, has the oldest population in Croatia. Ageing in the County of Šibenik-Knin, which was triggered by extreme rural exodus that was most intensive from the end of 1960s to the early 1970s, as well as by continuous declining fertility rates and by inherited age composition, was recorded at all territorial levels of the County. Although the ageing process started in littoral area (Primorje, hinterland (Zagora experienced a faster and more intensive ageing. Based on numerous indicators of demographic ageing and its intensity, and compared with the point value indicators of ageing, it is evident that the population of the County of Šibenik-Knin is characterized by advanced old age. However, more than half of the observed settlements are characterized by very advanced or extremely advanced old age.

Are negative aspects of social relations predictive of angina pectoris? A 6-year follow-up study of middle-aged Danish women and men

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Rikke; Rod, Naja Hulvej; Christensen, Ulla

2011-01-01

associated with angina pectoris among 4573 middle-aged Danish men and women free of heart disease at baseline in 2000. Results Nine per cent experienced onset of symptoms of angina pectoris. A higher degree of excessive demands or worries from the social relations was associated with increased risk of angina...... after adjustment for age, gender, social class, cohabitation status and depression in a dose-response manner. For example, experiencing excessive demands or worries always/often from different roles in the social relations was associated with an increased risk: partner OR=3.53 (1.68 to 7.43), children......, cohabitation status or depression in terms of angina. Conclusion Excessive demands and serious worries from significant others seem to be important risk factors for development of angina pectoris....

OA18 Population based end of life care - meeting the challenge of the ageing population.

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Thomas, Keri

2015-04-01

The key challenge for most developed countries is meeting the needs of our ageing population, in particular, those nearing the end of their lives - population-based end-of-life care. Building on a public health approach to meet needs of an area-wide population, and a practical approach of enabling generalist frontline staff care for all people in a variety of settings using the GSF Quality Improvement Programmes, we describe progress in a few GSF Cross-Boundary Care Foundation Sites taking a population-based view to meet the challenges of the ageing population. Taking a whole-system view, we explore ways to ensure all people receive quality care towards the final stages of life in line with their needs and wishes in a way that is cost-effective, responsive and compassionate. Expanding concepts of palliative/end-of-life care to include care for people with long-term conditions, dementia, and frailty. We describe practical progress in a number of GSF XBC Sites, enabling generalist frontline staff including: Identifying and prioritising people earlier Reducing 'diagnostic apartheid' Enabling more to live well and die well in the place and manner of their choosing Encouraging integrated person-centred care, reducing inappropriate over-Hospitalisation and prevention of over - medicalising. Use of GSF in various settings to enable generalist frontline staff is described, with key outcome measures and evaluations in the UK, and internationally. As the population ages, population-based end of life care will be one of the most significant developments to meet the challenges for a fit-for-purpose health service of the future. © 2015, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Spatio-temporal variation in age structure and abundance of the endangered snail kite: Pooling across regions masks a declining and aging population

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Reichert, Brian E.; Kendall, William L.; Fletcher, Robert J.; Kitchens, Wiley M.

2016-01-01

While variation in age structure over time and space has long been considered important for population dynamics and conservation, reliable estimates of such spatio-temporal variation in age structure have been elusive for wild vertebrate populations. This limitation has arisen because of problems of imperfect detection, the potential for temporary emigration impacting assessments of age structure, and limited information on age. However, identifying patterns in age structure is important for making reliable predictions of both short- and long-term dynamics of populations of conservation concern. Using a multistate superpopulation estimator, we estimated region-specific abundance and age structure (the proportion of individuals within each age class) of a highly endangered population of snail kites for two separate regions in Florida over 17 years (1997–2013). We find that in the southern region of the snail kite—a region known to be critical for the long-term persistence of the species—the population has declined significantly since 1997, and during this time, it has increasingly become dominated by older snail kites (> 12 years old). In contrast, in the northern region—a region historically thought to serve primarily as drought refugia—the population has increased significantly since 2007 and age structure is more evenly distributed among age classes. Given that snail kites show senescence at approximately 13 years of age, where individuals suffer higher mortality rates and lower breeding rates, these results reveal an alarming trend for the southern region. Our work illustrates the importance of accounting for spatial structure when assessing changes in abundance and age distribution and the need for monitoring of age structure in imperiled species.

What, me worry? Adolescent generalized anxiety disorder symptoms and problemematic interactions in the family

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijsbroek, S.A.M.

2011-01-01

Research has shown that Generalized Anxiety Disorder is one of the most common anxiety disorders found in adolescents today. Its main symptoms are disproportionate fear and anxiety (worrying) about work-related or school-related events or activities and social relations. Adolescents suffering from

The effects of temperature and diet on age grading and population age structure determination in Drosophila.

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Aw, Wen C; Ballard, J William O

2013-10-01

The age structure of natural population is of interest in physiological, life history and ecological studies but it is often difficult to determine. One methodological problem is that samples may need to be invasively sampled preventing subsequent taxonomic curation. A second problem is that it can be very expensive to accurately determine the age structure of given population because large sample sizes are often necessary. In this study, we test the effects of temperature (17 °C, 23 °C and 26 °C) and diet (standard cornmeal and low calorie diet) on the accuracy of the non-invasive, inexpensive and high throughput near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique to determine the age of Drosophila flies. Composite and simplified calibration models were developed for each sex. Independent sets for each temperature and diet treatments with flies not involved in calibration model were then used to validate the accuracy of the calibration models. The composite NIRS calibration model was generated by including flies reared under all temperatures and diets. This approach permits rapid age measurement and age structure determination in large population of flies as less than or equal to 9 days, or more than 9 days old with 85-97% and 64-99% accuracy, respectively. The simplified calibration models were generated by including flies reared at 23 °C on standard diet. Low accuracy rates were observed when simplified calibration models were used to identify (a) Drosophila reared at 17 °C and 26 °C and (b) 23 °C with low calorie diet. These results strongly suggest that appropriate calibration models need to be developed in the laboratory before this technique can be reliably used in field. These calibration models should include the major environmental variables that change across space and time in the particular natural population to be studied. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling tracers of young stellar population age in star-forming galaxies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levesque, Emily M. [CASA, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado 389-UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Leitherer, Claus, E-mail: Emily.Levesque@colorado.edu [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

2013-12-20

The young stellar population of a star-forming galaxy is the primary engine driving its radiative properties. As a result, the age of a galaxy's youngest generation of stars is critical for a detailed understanding of its star formation history, stellar content, and evolutionary state. Here we present predicted equivalent widths for the Hβ, Hα, and Brγ recombination lines as a function of stellar population age. The equivalent widths are produced by the latest generations of stellar evolutionary tracks and the Starburst99 stellar population synthesis code, and are the first to fully account for the combined effects of both nebular emission and continuum absorption produced by the synthetic stellar population. Our grid of model stellar populations spans six metallicities (0.001 < Z < 0.04), two treatments of star formation history (a 10{sup 6} M {sub ☉} instantaneous burst and a continuous star formation rate of 1 M {sub ☉} yr{sup –1}), and two different treatments of initial rotation rate (v {sub rot} = 0.0v {sub crit} and 0.4v {sub crit}). We also investigate the effects of varying the initial mass function. Given constraints on galaxy metallicity, our predicted equivalent widths can be applied to observations of star-forming galaxies to approximate the age of their young stellar populations.

Age, growth and population structure of invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles in northeast Florida using a length-based, age-structured population model

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Eric G. Johnson

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The effective management of invasive species requires detailed understanding of the invader’s life history. This information is essential for modeling population growth and predicting rates of expansion, quantifying ecological impacts and assessing the efficacy of removal and control strategies. Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles have rapidly invaded the western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea with documented negative impacts on native ecosystems. To better understand the life history of this species, we developed and validated a length-based, age-structured model to investigate age, growth and population structure in northeast Florida. The main findings of this study were: (1 lionfish exhibited rapid growth with seasonal variation in growth rates; (2 distinct cohorts were clearly identifiable in the length-frequency data, suggesting that lionfish are recruiting during a relatively short period in summer; and (3 the majority of lionfish were less than two years old with no lionfish older than three years of age, which may be the result of culling efforts as well as ontogenetic habitat shifts to deeper water.

Age, growth and population structure of invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) in northeast Florida using a length-based, age-structured population model.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Eric G; Swenarton, Mary Katherine

2016-01-01

The effective management of invasive species requires detailed understanding of the invader's life history. This information is essential for modeling population growth and predicting rates of expansion, quantifying ecological impacts and assessing the efficacy of removal and control strategies. Indo-Pacific lionfish ( Pterois volitans/miles ) have rapidly invaded the western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea with documented negative impacts on native ecosystems. To better understand the life history of this species, we developed and validated a length-based, age-structured model to investigate age, growth and population structure in northeast Florida. The main findings of this study were: (1) lionfish exhibited rapid growth with seasonal variation in growth rates; (2) distinct cohorts were clearly identifiable in the length-frequency data, suggesting that lionfish are recruiting during a relatively short period in summer; and (3) the majority of lionfish were less than two years old with no lionfish older than three years of age, which may be the result of culling efforts as well as ontogenetic habitat shifts to deeper water.

Smart Cities and the Ageing Population

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skouby, Knud Erik; Kivimäki, Anri; Haukiputo, Lotta

Due to a growing number of elderly people, it is a necessity to create the cities that are aware of the special needs of all their citizens including the needs of aging populations. This paper shows that by combining smart homes with smart cities, we are able to provide an ICT infrastructure...... population to support independent elderly living. Using ICT in a smart city/home context can provide personalized health care, social services and intelligent community services. Homecare systems for elderly people are becoming important due to economic reasons as well as patients’ preferences. The expected...... and 3D virtual world design. In this paper we will discuss how the recent development in ICT, and its particular components, Internet of Things (IoT), Clouds of Things, the Advanced Artificial Intelligence, can become building blocks between elderly people, smart homes and smart cities. Also, we...

Relationships between irritable bowel syndrome, generalized anxiety disorder, and worry-related constructs

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Amanda Drews

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This ex post facto study aimed to replicate previous research demonstrating an association between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS and to extend this work by examining possible relationships between IBS and psychological constructs associated with the development of GAD. A total of 391 undergraduate psychology students completed self-report diagnostic measures of IBS and GAD as well as questionnaire measures of trait anxiety, worry, experiential avoidance, intolerance of uncertainty, and problem-solving confidence. Consistent with previous research, an association between IBS and GAD was found. Compared to participants without IBS, participants endorsing Rome II diagnostic criteria for IBS reported greater trait anxiety, worry, and experiential avoidance. No group differences on measures of intolerance of uncertainty and problem-solving confidence were found. Etiological factors considered specific to the development of GAD (i.e., increased intolerance of uncertainty and deficits in problem-solving confidence do not account for the observed relationships between IBS and general anxiety variables. However, experiential avoidance, or attempts to avoid unwanted bodily sensations, emotions, or other internal events, does appear elevated among IBS individuals. Implications of these findings are discussed within the context of a biopsychosocial model of IBS.

Somatic symptoms and holistic thinking as major dimensions behind modern health worries.

Science.gov (United States)

Köteles, Ferenc; Simor, Péter

2014-01-01

Modern health worries (MHWs) were related to somatic symptoms and to preference of holistic healing methods in previous studies. The study aimed to investigate the contribution of symptom-related and holism-related factors to MHWs. Participants (visitors of an Internet news portal; N = 16152; 64.1 % males) completed a questionnaire assessing MHWs, somatosensory amplification, somatic symptoms, positive and negative affect, spirituality, holistic health beliefs, and various aspects of health care utilization (both conventional and alternative). Exploratory factor analysis with oblique rotation revealed two independent dimensions ("Somatic symptom distress" and "Holism") MHWs were involved with factor loadings of 0.294 and 0.417, respectively. The existence of two factors was supported by the results of confirmatory factor analysis. No practically significant interaction between the two factors was found in binary logistic regression analysis. Positive and negative affect, somatosensory amplification, spirituality, and holistic health beliefs were positively connected, while self-rated health status was negatively connected to MHWs even after controlling for socio-demographic and treatment-related variables. Holistic thinking and symptom-related behavioral and psychological factors are independently associated with MHWs. Modern health worries can be conceptualized as symptom-related by-products of a holistic-spiritual worldview.

Determinants of health and disability in ageing population: the COURAGE in Europe Project (collaborative research on ageing in Europe).

Science.gov (United States)

Leonardi, Matilde; Chatterji, Somnath; Koskinen, Seppo; Ayuso-Mateos, Jose Luis; Haro, Josep Maria; Frisoni, Giovanni; Frattura, Lucilla; Martinuzzi, Andrea; Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Beata; Gmurek, Michal; Serrano, Ramon; Finocchiaro, Carla

2014-01-01

COURAGE in Europe was a 3-year project involving 12 partners from four European countries and the World Health Organization. It was inspired by the pressing need to integrate international studies on disability and ageing in light of an innovative perspective based on a validated data-collection protocol. COURAGE in Europe Project collected data on the determinants of health and disability in an ageing population, with specific tools for the evaluation of the role of the built environment and social networks on health, disability, quality of life and well-being. The main survey was conducted by partners in Finland, Poland and Spain where the survey has been administered to a sample of 10,800 persons, which was completed in March 2012. The newly developed and validated COURAGE Protocol for Ageing Studies has proven to be a valid tool for collecting comparable data in ageing population, and the COURAGE in Europe Project has created valid and reliable scientific evidence, demonstrating cross-country comparability, for disability and ageing research and policy development. It is therefore recommended that future studies exploring determinants of health and disability in ageing use the COURAGE-derived methodology. COURAGE in Europe Project collected data on the determinants of health and disability in an ageing population, with specific tools for the evaluation of the role of built environment and social networks on health, disability quality of life and well-being. The COURAGE Protocol for Ageing Studies has proven to be a valid tool for collecting comparable data in the ageing population. The COURAGE in Europe Consortium recommends that future studies exploring determinants of health and disability in ageing use COURAGE-derived methodology. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Population Aging in Iran and Rising Health Care Costs

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Mohammad Mirzaie

2017-09-01

Conclusion Based on the results of this research, it can be said that people throughout their life cycle always allocate a percentage of their total spending to health care costs, but the percentage of this allocation is different at different ages. In a way the demand for healthcare costs increases with aging, it rises significantly in the old age. At the macro level, due to an increase in the percentage of elderly in the population over the next decade, there will also be an increase in the share of health care costs.

Anisometropia prevalence in a highly astigmatic school-aged population.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobson, Velma; Harvey, Erin M; Miller, Joseph M; Clifford-Donaldson, Candice E

2008-07-01

To describe prevalence of anisometropia, defined in terms of both sphere and cylinder, examined cross-sectionally, in school-aged members of a Native American tribe with a high prevalence of astigmatism. Cycloplegic autorefraction measurements, confirmed by retinoscopy and, when possible, by subjective refraction were obtained from 1041 Tohono O'odham children, 4 to 13 years of age. Astigmatism > or =1.00 diopter (D) was present in one or both eyes of 462 children (44.4%). Anisometropia > or =1.00 D spherical equivalent (SE) was found in 70 children (6.7%), and anisometropia > or =1.00 D cylinder was found in 156 children (15.0%). Prevalence of anisometropia did not vary significantly with age or gender. Overall prevalence of significant anisometropia was 18.1% for a difference between eyes > or =1.00 D SE or cylinder. Vector analysis of between-eye differences showed a prevalence of significant anisometropia of 25.3% for one type of vector notation (difference between eyes > or =1.00 D for M and/or > or =0.50 D for J0 or J45), and 16.2% for a second type of vector notation (between-eye vector dioptric difference > or =1.41). Prevalence of SE anisometropia is similar to that reported for other school-aged populations. However, prevalence of astigmatic anisometropia is higher than that reported for other school-aged populations.

Diversity and convergence of population aging: evidence from China and Canada

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Légaré, Jacques

2004-01-01

Full Text Available EnglishTaking the diversity and the convergence of demographic transitions intoconsideration, it is hypothesized that population aging that occurs in developed countries anddeveloping countries will reflect diversity, but will also show some convergence. In order to testthis hypothesis, the present study compares the population aging experiences of China (1971-2050 andCanada (1911-2050 and places them within the context of the demographic transition. In this paper welearn how, as population ages, these two countries will, through two distinct pathways, arrive atsimilar age structures by the middle of the 21st century. Both the diversity and the convergence ofpopulation aging are shown in this comparative study.FrenchEn constatant la diversité et la convergence des transitions démographiques,nous faisons l'hypothèse que le processus du vieillissement démographiquecomporte également une certaine diversité et montrera une convergence, enparticulier, entre les pays développés et les pays en développement. Afin devérifier cette hypothèse, la présente étude compare les vieillissementsdémographiques en Chine (1971-2050 et au Canada (1911-2050, en lesmettant dans le contexte de la transition démographique. Cet article montre qu’àmesure que vieillit la population, comment ces deux pays arriveront par deuxvoies distinctes à une structure par âge similaire au milieu du XXIème siècle. Ladiversité et la convergence du vieillissement sont toutes deux illustrées danscette étude comparative.

Incorporating spiritual beliefs into a cognitive model of worry.

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Rosmarin, David H; Pirutinsky, Steven; Auerbach, Randy P; Björgvinsson, Thröstur; Bigda-Peyton, Joseph; Andersson, Gerhard; Pargament, Kenneth I; Krumrei, Elizabeth J

2011-07-01

Cognitive theory and research have traditionally highlighted the relevance of the core beliefs about oneself, the world, and the future to human emotions. For some individuals, however, core beliefs may also explicitly involve spiritual themes. In this article, we propose a cognitive model of worry, in which positive/negative beliefs about the Divine affect symptoms through the mechanism of intolerance of uncertainty. Using mediation analyses, we found support for our model across two studies, in particular, with regards to negative spiritual beliefs. These findings highlight the importance of assessing for spiritual alongside secular convictions when creating cognitive-behavioral case formulations in the treatment of religious individuals. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Population aging and the extended family in Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2004-05-01

Full Text Available Population aging produces changes in the availability of kin with uncertain implications for extended living arrangements. We propose a highly stylized model that can be used to analyze and project age-specific proportions of adults living in extended and nuclear households. The model is applied to Taiwan using annual data from 1978-1998. We estimate cohort and age effects showing that more recently born cohorts of seniors are less likely to live in extended households, but that as seniors age the proportion living in extended households increases. The effect of individual aging has diminished over time, however. The proportion of non-senior adults living in extended households has increased steadily because changes in the age structure have increased the availability of older kin. The model is used to project living arrangements and we conclude that the proportion living in extended households will begin to decline gradually for both seniors and non-seniors. The extended family is becoming less important in Taiwan, but it is not on the way out.

Migration and Ageing of the Island Population – Five Stories from Iž

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Sanja Klempić

2002-12-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses population development on the island of Iž during the period from 1857 to 2001, with special focus on the role that migration has on the ageing of the population. The processes that effected the demographic picture of the island during the twentieth century were high war loses in two world wars and continuous migration. Depopulation on Iž began in 1921 and has persisted until today. According to the last census, 557 persons live on the island, which is half the number that was registered in the first census. The dominant demo-reproduction processes are depopulation and ageing. All indicators in regard to the age structure show a very old population. At the same time, there is a strong return migration flow of persons that have received pensions after having worked elsewhere, which further increases the percentage of elderly in the overall population. Apart from analysis of the demographic data, the aim of the paper was also to determine the existing models of return migration, based on the example of several typical migration experiences. The authors attempted to illustrate the effect of migration on the life cycle of the Iž’s older population through five typical island stories, collected in October 2001 while interviewing persons 60 or more years of age. If a major change does not occur in regard to the present trend of emigration of the younger population (creation of jobs, revival of economic activities that have a future on the island etc. and in the behaviour of younger islanders (both those living at present on the island and those living elsewhere who would accept such new programmes, Iž will remain in the group of islands that is threatened by further ageing and depopulation.

Age-related differences in internalizing psychopathology amongst the Australian general population.

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Sunderland, Matthew; Slade, Tim; Carragher, Natacha; Batterham, Philip; Buchan, Heather

2013-11-01

Two methodological criticisms have limited the reliability and validity of findings from previous studies that seek to examine change across the life span in levels of internalizing psychopathology using general population surveys. The first criticism involves the potential influence of cohort effects that confound true age-related changes whereas the second criticism involves the use of a single form of assessment to measure and compare levels of internalizing psychopathology. This study seeks to address these criticisms by modeling age-related change using multiple measures and multiple surveys. Data from 2 epidemiological surveys conducted 10 years apart in the Australian general population were combined and used for the current study. The latent construct of internalizing psychopathology was modeled using a combination of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) depression and anxiety diagnoses as well as items from the Kessler Psychological Distress scale (K10; Kessler et al., 2002). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that a single internalizing dimension provided good model fit to the data. Multigroup CFA indicated that strict measurement invariance of the model can be assumed across survey administrations and age bands, justifying comparisons of mean differences in latent trait levels. Significant changes in mean levels of latent internalizing psychopathology were evident between respondents aged 30-39 years old in 1997 and respondents aged 40-49 years old in 2007, suggesting a minor but significant increase in psychopathology across middle age. By contrast, a minor but significant decrease in psychopathology was noted when transitioning from late middle age (50-59 years old) to old age (60-69 years old). The majority of individuals in the general population will experience constant levels of internalizing psychopathology as they age, suggesting that the construct is relatively

Precision and accuracy of commonly used dental age estimation charts for the New Zealand population.

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Baylis, Stephanie; Bassed, Richard

2017-08-01

Little research has been undertaken for the New Zealand population in the field of dental age estimation. This research to date indicates there are differences in dental developmental rates between the New Zealand population and other global population groups, and within the New Zealand population itself. Dental age estimation methods range from dental development charts to complex biometric analysis. Dental development charts are not the most accurate method of dental age estimation, but are time saving in their use. They are an excellent screening tool, particularly for post-mortem identification purposes, and for assessing variation from population norms in living individuals. The aim of this study was to test the precision and accuracy of three dental development charts (Schour and Massler, Blenkin and Taylor, and the London Atlas), used to estimate dental age of a sample of New Zealand juveniles between the ages of 5 and 18 years old (n=875). Percentage 'best fit' to correct age category and to expected chart stage were calculated to determine which chart was the most precise for the sample. Chronological ages were compared to estimated dental ages using a two-tailed paired t-test (Pcharts tested against the New Zealand population sample, the Blenkin and Taylor Australian charts performed best overall. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of aging on sleep structure throughout adulthood: a population-based study.

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Moraes, Walter; Piovezan, Ronaldo; Poyares, Dalva; Bittencourt, Lia Rita; Santos-Silva, Rogerio; Tufik, Sergio

2014-04-01

Although many studies have shown the evolution of sleep parameters across the lifespan, not many have included a representative sample of the general population. The objective of this study was to describe age-related changes in sleep structure, sleep respiratory parameters and periodic limb movements of the adult population of São Paulo. We selected a representative sample of the city of São Paulo, Brazil that included both genders and an age range of 20-80 years. Pregnant and lactating women, people with physical or mental impairments that prevent self-care and people who work every night were not included. This sample included 1024 individuals who were submitted to polysomnography and structured interviews. We subdivided our sample into five-year age groups. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare age groups. Pearson product-moment was used to evaluate correlation between age and sleep parameters. Total sleep time, sleep efficiency, percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and slow wave sleep showed a significant age-related decrease (Pincrease (Pincreased and oxygen saturation decreased with age. The reduction in the percentage of REM sleep significantly correlated with age in women, whereas the reduction in the percentage of slow wave sleep correlated with age in men. The periodic limb movement (PLM) index increased with age in men and women. Sleep structure and duration underwent significant alterations throughout the aging process in the general population. There was an important correlation between age, sleep respiratory parameters and PLM index. In addition, men and women showed similar trends but with different effect sizes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ageing of a giant: a stochastic population forecast for China, 2006-2060

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Li, Q.; Reuser, M.; Kraus, C.; Alho, J.S.

2009-01-01

This paper presents a stochastic population forecast for China with a special emphasis on population ageing. The so-called scaled model for error was used to quantify the uncertainty attached to the population predictions. Data scarcity was a major problem in the specification of the expected error

Having mentors and campus social networks moderates the impact of worries and video gaming on depressive symptoms: a moderated mediation analysis.

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Lee, Jong-Sun; Jeong, Bumseok

2014-05-05

Easy access to the internet has spawned a wealth of research to investigate the effects of its use on depression. However, one limitation of many previous studies is that they disregard the interactive mechanisms of risk and protective factors. The aim of the present study was to investigate a resilience model in the relationship between worry, daily internet video game playing, daily sleep duration, mentors, social networks and depression, using a moderated mediation analysis. 6068 Korean undergraduate and graduate students participated in this study. The participants completed a web-based mental health screening questionnaire including the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and information about number of worries, number of mentors, number of campus social networks, daily sleep duration, daily amount of internet video game playing and daily amount of internet searching on computer or smartphone. A moderated mediation analysis was carried out using the PROCESS macro which allowed the inclusion of mediators and moderator in the same model. The results showed that the daily amount of internet video game playing and daily sleep duration partially mediated the association between the number of worries and the severity of depression. In addition, the mediating effect of the daily amount of internet video game playing was moderated by both the number of mentors and the number of campus social networks. The current findings indicate that the negative impact of worry on depression through internet video game playing can be buffered when students seek to have a number of mentors and campus social networks. Interventions should therefore target individuals who have higher number of worries but seek only a few mentors or campus social networks. Social support via campus mentorship and social networks ameliorate the severity of depression in university students.

An analysis of the basic population structure of Shanghai Municipality.

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Shen, A

1984-01-01

This paper analyzes the changes in Shanghai's population structure over the last 30 years in the 4 aspects of age structure, sex composition, urban and rural composition, and labor and employment structure. In 1953 those of the 0 to 6 age group accounted for 21.2% of the total population; in 1957 the group represented a proportion of 24.6%. Since the 1960s, especially after the 1970s, the family planning program gradually took effect, and the birthrate of the entire municipality fell drastically. The number of school-age children in 1979 was 1 1/2 times more than the same age group in 1953; there should be no worry that population control may result in a shortage of manpower to meet the needs of the work force and the armed forces either toward the end of this century or at the beginning of the next. The economy in China is underdeveloped, production and technology remain at a low level, average wages for employees are low, and for a long time the low living standard of the people has shown little sign of improvement. The problem is mainly manifest in the following areas: 1) distribution of the work force in heavy and light industries is not sufficiently rational, 2) the distribution of the work force between captial construction and transport and communications on the 1 hand and the national economy on the other is out of proportion, 3) the distribution of the work force between commerce, service trades, and public utilities on the 1 hand and the national economy on the other is disproportionated, and 4) the distribution of the work force between undertakings of culture, education, scientific research, health, and medical care on the 1 hand and economic construction on the other is improper. How to control population growth and adjust parts of the population structure to suit the national economic development poses a problem that calls for further in-depth study and analysis to resolve it step by step.

Development of a Healthy Aging Score in the Population-Based Rotterdam Study: Evaluating Age and Sex Differences.

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Jaspers, Loes; Schoufour, Josje D; Erler, Nicole S; Darweesh, Sirwan K L; Portegies, Marileen L P; Sedaghat, Sanaz; Lahousse, Lies; Brusselle, Guy G; Stricker, Bruno H; Tiemeier, Henning; Ikram, M Arfan; Laven, Joop S E; Franco, Oscar H; Kavousi, Maryam

2017-03-01

To develop a healthy aging score (HAS), to assess age and sex differences in HAS, and to evaluate the association of the HAS with survival. Prospective population-based cohort. Inhabitants of Ommoord, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. A total of 1405 men and 2122 women, mean (standard deviation) age 75.9 (6.4) years. We included 7 domains in the total score of HAS: chronic diseases, mental health, cognitive function, physical function, pain, social support, and quality of life; each scored 0, 1, or 2 in each domain. A total score (range 0-14) was constructed and was assessed continuously and in tertiles (13-14: healthy aging, 11-12: intermediate aging, 0-10: poor aging). Sex-specific change in the mean HAS was computed for the age categories of 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, and ≥85 years. The association between HAS and mortality was assessed with Cox proportional hazards models. Mean follow-up was 8.6 (3.4) years. Men had poorer scores in the chronic disease domain than women. However, women had poorer mental health, worse physical function, more pain, and lower quality of life compared with men. The prevalence of healthy aging was higher in men (n = 396, 28.2%), than in women (n = 526, 24.8%). The mean (standard deviation) HAS was 11.1 (2.2) in men and 10.7 (2.3) in women. Mean HAS was higher in men than in women for all age categories. The β for change in mean HAS across the 5 increasing age categories was -0.55 (-0.65 to -0.45) in men and -0.65 (-0.73 to -0.57) in women. The age-adjusted hazard ratio per unit increase in HAS with mortality was 0.86 (0.83-0.89) in men, and 0.89 (0.87-0.91) in women. Levels of HAS were lower in women compared with men, in all age categories. The HAS declined with increasing age for both sexes, albeit slightly steeper in women. The HAS was strongly associated with mortality in both sexes. A better understanding of population healthy aging and sex differences in this regard could aid to implement strategies for sustainable

Novel Intervention in the Aging Population : A Primary Meningococcal Vaccine Inducing Protective IgM Responses in Middle-Aged Adults

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Heiden, Marieke; Boots, Annemieke M. H.; Marinovic, Axe A. Bonacic; de Rond, Lia G. H.; van Maurik, Marian; Tcherniaeva, Irina; Berbers, Guy A. M.; Buisman, Anne-Marie

2017-01-01

Introduction: Vaccine responses are often reduced in the elderly, leaving part of the elderly population vulnerable to infectious diseases. Timely vaccination may offer a solution for strengthening memory immunity before reaching old age, which classifies middle-aged persons as a target age group

Perspectives on population growth.

Science.gov (United States)

1996-09-01

Assume that everyone has the same information on population growth. There are many different opinions on what that information means and what should be done about it. Some people worry about current rates of growth, especially in the context of growing per capita consumption, and believe that all reasonable steps should be taken to reduce rates and stabilize population size. Others believe that growing populations can be accommodated by reducing consumption in rich countries, that technological progress will supply the new resources needed, that the development needed to support a larger population can be sustained, that large population size fosters prosperity, or that birth rates are falling and current growth is just temporary. These are all valid positions worthy of at least debate. Interest groups commonly acknowledgement population growth as a significant issue, but offer no response to it. Sometimes the issue goes unrecognized because it conflicts with a more highly valued personal agenda item. Finally, some responses come from confusion and anger rather than reasoning or self-interest. The proponents of these latter arguments bring nothing constructive to the debate.

Caregiving-specific worry, affiliate stigma, and perceived social support on psychological distress of caregivers of children with physical disability in Hong Kong.

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Ma, Gloria Y K; Mak, Winnie W S

2016-01-01

The present study tested a model on the relationship between functional status of children with physical disability, caregiving-specific worry, affiliate stigma, and psychological distress among their caregivers. One hundred thirty-one caregivers of children with physical disability in Hong Kong completed a self-report questionnaire. Structural equation modeling showed that the final model had good fit to the data: χ2 = 102.05, (df = 83, p = .08), comparative fit index = .98, nonnormed fit index = .98, standardized root mean square residual = .08, root mean square error of approximation = .04. Caregivers whose children had a lower functional status reported more caregiving-specific worry. Affiliate stigma had significant and positive indirect effect on psychological distress through increasing worry. Results also supported the direct and indirect effects of perceived social support in ameliorating worry, affiliate stigma, and psychological distress. Findings suggested that health care and social service providers should consider the functional impairment of each child when designing stress reduction interventions for their caregivers. Findings implicate the importance of establishing barrier-free environment and public facilities in the society. Caregivers are encouraged to distinguish those worries that are actionable and convert them into problem solving plans and to actively engage in peer support and social activities to reduce their affiliate stigma. To truly promote inclusion and well-being of individuals with disability and their caregivers, the scope and targets of social services and stigma reduction programs by the government should include not only the persons with disabilities, but also their caregivers and family members who play essential roles in the rehabilitation journey. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Novel Intervention in the Aging Population: A Primary Meningococcal Vaccine Inducing Protective IgM Responses in Middle-Aged Adults.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Heiden, Marieke; Boots, Annemieke M H; Bonacic Marinovic, Axel A; de Rond, Lia G H; van Maurik, Marjan; Tcherniaeva, Irina; Berbers, Guy A M; Buisman, Anne-Marie

2017-01-01

Vaccine responses are often reduced in the elderly, leaving part of the elderly population vulnerable to infectious diseases. Timely vaccination may offer a solution for strengthening memory immunity before reaching old age, which classifies middle-aged persons as a target age group for vaccine

Resolving the age bimodality of galaxy stellar populations on kpc scales

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Zibetti, Stefano; Gallazzi, Anna R.; Ascasibar, Y.; Charlot, S.; Galbany, L.; García Benito, R.; Kehrig, C.; de Lorenzo-Cáceres, A.; Lyubenova, M.; Marino, R. A.; Márquez, I.; Sánchez, S. F.; van de Ven, G.; Walcher, C. J.; Wisotzki, L.

2017-01-01

Galaxies in the local Universe are known to follow bimodal distributions in the global stellar population properties. We analyse the distribution of the local average stellar population ages of 654 053 sub-galactic regions resolved on ˜1 kpc scales in a volume-corrected sample of 394 galaxies, drawn

Designing Fit for Purpose Health and Social Services for Ageing Populations

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Jean Woo

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Population ageing is occurring in all countries, regardless of the level of economic development. While the rising burden of chronic diseases and disabilities as a consequence of this demographic transition is well recognized, the increasing prevalence of geriatric syndromes as a public health issue is not as well recognized. Recently the World Health Organization’s World Health and Ageing Report emphasized functional ability as an important outcome for aging populations, highlighting the concept of raising intrinsic capacity throughout the life course. The complementary perspective is the prevention of frailty, which has physical, cognitive, social and psychological dimensions. Therefore, services for older people should encompass medical as well as social components. The need and evolution for a transition in health and social services in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China which has a population with the world’s highest life expectancy, is presented as an example of how one developed economy attempts to meet the challenges of population ageing. There is a need to shift to integrated care in the community instead of specialty dominated hospital care, and to establish regular activities in the community to adopt and maintain a lifestyle that reduces frailty and disability (or promotes intrinsic capacity. A top down approach with financial incentives, together with public education to help drive policy changes, are key drivers of change. It is expected that there will be much heterogeneity between different countries in terms of barriers and facilitators, such that each country needs to document their needs and design appropriate services.

Barriers to Mindfulness: a Path Analytic Model Exploring the Role of Rumination and Worry in Predicting Psychological and Physical Engagement in an Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention.

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Banerjee, Moitree; Cavanagh, Kate; Strauss, Clara

2018-01-01

Little is known about the factors associated with engagement in mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). Moreover, engagement in MBIs is usually defined in terms of class attendance ('physical engagement') only. However, in the psychotherapy literature, there is increasing emphasis on measuring participants' involvement with interventions ('psychological engagement'). This study tests a model that rumination and worry act as barriers to physical and psychological engagement in MBIs and that this in turn impedes learning mindfulness. One hundred and twenty-four participants were given access to a 2-week online mindfulness-based self-help (MBSH) intervention. Self-report measures of mindfulness, rumination, worry, positive beliefs about rumination, positive beliefs about worry and physical and psychological engagement were administered. A path analysis was used to test the linear relationships between the variables. Physical and psychological engagement were identified as two distinct constructs. Findings were that rumination and worry both predicted psychological disengagement in MBSH. Psychological engagement predicted change in the describe, act with awareness, non-judge and non-react facets of mindfulness while physical engagement only predicted changes in the non-react facet of mindfulness. Thus, rumination and worry may increase risk of psychological disengagement from MBSH which may in turn hinder cultivating mindfulness. Future suggestions for practice are discussed.

Impact of temperament on depression and anxiety symptoms and depressive disorder in a population-based birth cohort.

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Nyman, Emma; Miettunen, Jouko; Freimer, Nelson; Joukamaa, Matti; Mäki, Pirjo; Ekelund, Jesper; Peltonen, Leena; Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Veijola, Juha; Paunio, Tiina

2011-06-01

The aim of this study was to characterize at the population level how innate features of temperament relate to experience of depressive mood and anxiety, and whether these symptoms have separable temperamental backgrounds. The study subjects were 4773 members of the population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, a culturally and genetically homogeneous study sample. Temperament was measured at age 31 using the temperament items of the Temperament and Character Inventory and a separate Pessimism score. Depressive mood was assessed based on a previous diagnosis of depressive disorder or symptoms of depression according to the Hopkins Symptom Check List - 25. Anxiety was assessed analogously. High levels of Harm avoidance and Pessimism were related to both depressive mood (effect sizes; d=0.84 and d=1.25, respectively) and depressive disorder (d=0.68 and d=0.68, respectively). Of the dimensions of Harm avoidance, Anticipatory worry and Fatigability had the strongest effects. Symptoms of depression and anxiety showed very similar underlying temperament patterns. Although Harm avoidance and Pessimism appear to be important endophenotype candidates for depression and anxiety, their potential usefulness as endophenotypes, and whether they meet all the suggested criteria for endophenotypes will remain to be confirmed in future studies. Personality characteristics of Pessimism and Harm avoidance, in particular its dimensions Anticipatory worry and Fatigability, are strongly related to symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as to depressive disorder in this population. These temperamental features may be used as dimensional susceptibility factors in etiological studies of depression, which may aid in the development of improved clinical practice. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anxiety disorders and onset of cardiovascular disease: the differential impact of panic, phobias and worry.

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Batelaan, Neeltje M; ten Have, Margreet; van Balkom, Anton J L M; Tuithof, Marlous; de Graaf, Ron

2014-03-01

Anxiety has been linked to onset of cardiovascular disease. This study examines the differential impact of types of anxiety (panic, phobia and worry) on 3-year onset of non-fatal cardiovascular disease (CVD). By investigating anxiety disorders as opposed to anxiety symptoms and by using a reliable diagnostic instrument to assess anxiety, limitations of previous studies are considered. 5149 persons at risk for CVD were interviewed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. The panic-type included panic disorder and panic attacks; the phobic-type included agoraphobia and social phobia, and the worry-type included generalized anxiety disorder. CVD was self-reported and required treatment or monitoring by a doctor. Analyses were adjusted for sociodemographics, behavioral variables, and comorbid somatic and psychiatric disorders. During follow-up, 62 persons (1.2%) developed CVD. Baseline generalized anxiety disorder was strongly associated with onset of CVD (adjusted OR: 3.39). Further research should replicate findings and focus on biological underpinnings of this association. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The basic approach to age-structured population dynamics models, methods and numerics

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Iannelli, Mimmo

2017-01-01

This book provides an introduction to age-structured population modeling which emphasises the connection between mathematical theory and underlying biological assumptions. Through the rigorous development of the linear theory and the nonlinear theory alongside numerics, the authors explore classical equations that describe the dynamics of certain ecological systems. Modeling aspects are discussed to show how relevant problems in the fields of demography, ecology, and epidemiology can be formulated and treated within the theory. In particular, the book presents extensions of age-structured modelling to the spread of diseases and epidemics while also addressing the issue of regularity of solutions, the asymptotic behaviour of solutions, and numerical approximation. With sections on transmission models, non-autonomous models and global dynamics, this book fills a gap in the literature on theoretical population dynamics. The Basic Approach to Age-Structured Population Dynamics will appeal to graduate students an...

Frequency of Dental Caries in Four Historical Populations from the Chalcolithic to the Middle Ages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.-M. Grimoud

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The majority of dental carie studies over the course of historical period underline mainly the prevalence evolution, the role of carbohydrates consumption and the impact of access to dietary resources. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare population samples from two archaeological periods the Chacolithic and Middle Age taking into account the geographical and socio economical situation. The study concerned four archaelogical sites in south west France and population samples an inlander for the Chalcolithic Age, an inlander, an costal and urban for the Middle Age. The materials studied included a total of 127 maxillaries, 103 mandibles and 3316 teeth. Data recorded allowed us to display that the Chalcolithic population sample had the lowest carie percentage and the rural inlander population samples of Middle Age the highest; in all cases molars were teeth most often affected. These ones differences could be explained according to time period, carious lesions were usually less recorded in the Chalcolithic Age than the Middle because of a lesser cultivation of cereals like in les Treilles Chacolithic population sample. In the Middle Age population samples, the rural inland sample Marsan showed the highest frequency of caries and ate more cereal than the coastal Vilarnau and the poor urban St Michel population samples, the first one ate fish and Mediterranean vegetal and fruits and the second one met difficulties to food access, in both cases the consumption of carbohydrates was lesser than Marsan population sample who lived in a geographical land convice to cereals cultivation.

Internal migration and regional differences of population aging: An empirical study of 287 cities in China.

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Chen, Rong; Xu, Ping; Li, Fen; Song, Peipei

2018-04-02

In addition to birth and death, migration is also an important factor that determines the level of population aging in different regions, especially under the current context of low fertility and low mortality in China. Drawing upon data from the fifth and sixth national population census of 287 prefecture-level cities in China, this study explored the spatial patterns of population aging and its trends from 2000 to 2010 in China. We further examined how the large-scale internal migration was related to the spatial differences and the changes of aging by using multivariate quantitative models. Findings showed that the percentage of elder cities (i.e. proportion of individuals aged 65 and above to total population is higher than 7%) increased from 50% to 90% in the total 287 cities within the decade. We also found that regional imbalances of population aging have changed since 2000 in China. The gap of aging level between East zone and the other three zones (i.e. West, Central, and North-east) has considerably narrowed down. In 2000, Eastern region had the greatest number (65) of and the largest proportion (74.7%) of elder cities among all four regions. By 2010, the proportion (87.4%) of elder cities in the eastern region was slightly lower than Central (91.4%), Western (88.2%) and North-east sectors (91.2%). Results from multivariate quantitative models showed that the regional differences of population aging appear to be affected much more by the large-scale internal migration with clear age selectivity and orientation preference than by the impact of fertility and mortality. Population aging is expected to continue in China, which will in turn exacerbate regional imbalances. Policies and implications are discussed to face the challenges that the divergent aging population may present in China.

School Age Populations Research Needs - NCS Dietary Assessment Literature Review

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Drawing conclusions about the validity of available dietary assessment instruments in school age children is hampered by the differences in instruments, research design, reference methods, and populations in the validation literature.

Patient health communication mediating effects between gastrointestinal symptoms and gastrointestinal worry in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

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To investigate the effects of patient health communication regarding their inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to their health care providers and significant others in their daily life as a mediator in the relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms and gastrointestinal worry in pediatric patients. ...

Should excessive worry be required for a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder? Results from the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruscio, Ayelet Meron; Lane, Michael; Roy-Byrne, Peter; Stang, Paul E; Stein, Dan J; Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich; Kessler, Ronald C

2005-12-01

Excessive worry is required by DSM-IV, but not ICD-10, for a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). No large-scale epidemiological study has ever examined the implications of this requirement for estimates of prevalence, severity, or correlates of GAD. Data were analyzed from the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a nationally representative, face-to-face survey of adults in the USA household population that was fielded in 2001-2003. DSM-IV GAD was assessed with Version 3.0 of the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Non-excessive worriers meeting all other DSM-IV criteria for GAD were compared with respondents who met full GAD criteria as well as with other survey respondents to consider the implications of removing the excessiveness requirement. The estimated lifetime prevalence of GAD increases by approximately 40% when the excessiveness requirement is removed. Excessive GAD begins earlier in life, has a more chronic course, and is associated with greater symptom severity and psychiatric co-morbidity than non-excessive GAD. However, non-excessive cases nonetheless evidence substantial persistence and impairment of GAD, high rates of treatment-seeking, and significantly elevated co-morbidity compared with respondents without GAD. Non-excessive cases also have sociodemographic characteristics and familial aggregation of GAD comparable to excessive cases. Individuals who meet all criteria for GAD other than excessiveness have a somewhat milder presentation than those with excessive worry, yet resemble excessive worriers in a number of important ways. These findings challenge the validity of the excessiveness requirement and highlight the need for further research into the optimal definition of GAD.

Population Ageing and Pension Reform in a Small Open Economy with Non-Traded Goods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.J.H. Bettendorf (Leon); B.J. Heijdra (Ben)

2004-01-01

textabstractIn this paper we study the implications of population ageing in an economy with a sizeable non-traded goods sector. To this effect a highly stylized micro-founded macro model is constructed in which the age structure of the population plays a non-trivial role. The model distinguishes

Are Worry and Rumination Specific Pathways Linking Neuroticism and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder and Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder?

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Merino, Hipólito; Senra, Carmen; Ferreiro, Fátima

2016-01-01

This study examines the relationships between neuroticism (higher-order vulnerability factor), the cognitive styles of worry, brooding and reflection (second-order vulnerability factors) and symptoms of anxiety and depression in three groups of patients: patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and with Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder (MADD). One hundred and thirty four patients completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of neuroticism, worry, rumination (brooding and reflection), anxiety and depression. Multiple mediation analyses indicate that worry may act as a mediating mechanism linking neuroticism and anxiety symptoms in the three diagnostic groups, whereas brooding-rumination may play a mediating role between neuroticism and depressive symptoms in patients with MDD and MADD and, with less certainty, in patients with GAD. Overall, our findings suggest that neuroticism may increase the risk of anxious and depressive symptoms via specific links involving either worry or brooding, respectively, and that both worry and brooding may operate in the three groups examined, irrespectively of whether anxiety or depression are the main emotions or whether they coexist without any clear predominance; consequently, we hypothesize the existence of "specific transdiagnostic" mechanisms.

Are Worry and Rumination Specific Pathways Linking Neuroticism and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder and Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder?

Science.gov (United States)

Merino, Hipólito; Ferreiro, Fátima

2016-01-01

This study examines the relationships between neuroticism (higher-order vulnerability factor), the cognitive styles of worry, brooding and reflection (second-order vulnerability factors) and symptoms of anxiety and depression in three groups of patients: patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and with Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder (MADD). One hundred and thirty four patients completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of neuroticism, worry, rumination (brooding and reflection), anxiety and depression. Multiple mediation analyses indicate that worry may act as a mediating mechanism linking neuroticism and anxiety symptoms in the three diagnostic groups, whereas brooding-rumination may play a mediating role between neuroticism and depressive symptoms in patients with MDD and MADD and, with less certainty, in patients with GAD. Overall, our findings suggest that neuroticism may increase the risk of anxious and depressive symptoms via specific links involving either worry or brooding, respectively, and that both worry and brooding may operate in the three groups examined, irrespectively of whether anxiety or depression are the main emotions or whether they coexist without any clear predominance; consequently, we hypothesize the existence of "specific transdiagnostic" mechanisms. PMID:27243462

Are Worry and Rumination Specific Pathways Linking Neuroticism and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder and Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hipólito Merino

Full Text Available This study examines the relationships between neuroticism (higher-order vulnerability factor, the cognitive styles of worry, brooding and reflection (second-order vulnerability factors and symptoms of anxiety and depression in three groups of patients: patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD, with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD and with Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder (MADD. One hundred and thirty four patients completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of neuroticism, worry, rumination (brooding and reflection, anxiety and depression. Multiple mediation analyses indicate that worry may act as a mediating mechanism linking neuroticism and anxiety symptoms in the three diagnostic groups, whereas brooding-rumination may play a mediating role between neuroticism and depressive symptoms in patients with MDD and MADD and, with less certainty, in patients with GAD. Overall, our findings suggest that neuroticism may increase the risk of anxious and depressive symptoms via specific links involving either worry or brooding, respectively, and that both worry and brooding may operate in the three groups examined, irrespectively of whether anxiety or depression are the main emotions or whether they coexist without any clear predominance; consequently, we hypothesize the existence of "specific transdiagnostic" mechanisms.

Cold hardiness increases with age in juvenile Rhododendron populations

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Rajeev eArora

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Winter survival in woody plants is controlled by environmental and genetic factors that affect the plant's ability to cold acclimate. Because woody perennials are long-lived and often have a prolonged juvenile (pre-flowering phase, it is conceivable that both chronological and physiological age factors influence adaptive traits such as stress tolerance. This study investigated annual cold hardiness (CH changes in several hybrid Rhododendron populations based on Tmax, an estimate of the maximum rate of freezing injury (ion leakage in cold-acclimated leaves from juvenile progeny. Data from F2 and backcross populations derived from R. catawbiense and R. fortunei parents indicated significant annual increases in Tmax ranging from 3.7 to to 6.4 C as the seedlings aged from 3 to 5 years old. A similar yearly increase (6.7° C was observed in comparisons of 1- and 2-year-old F1 progenies from a R. catawbiense x R. dichroanthum cross. In contrast, CH of the mature parent plants (> 10 years old did not change significantly over the same evaluation period. In leaf samples from a natural population of R. maximum, CH evaluations over two years resulted in an average Tmax value for juvenile 2- to 3- year- old plants that was 9.2 C lower than the average for mature (~30 years old plants. . A reduction in CH was also observed in three hybrid rhododendron cultivars clonally propagated by rooted cuttings (ramets - Tmax of 4-year-old ramets was significantly lower than the Tmax estimates for the 30- to 40-year-old source plants (ortets. In both the wild R. maximum population and the hybrid cultivar group, higher accumulation of a cold-acclimation responsive 25kDa leaf dehydrin was associated with older plants and higher CH. The feasibility of identifying hardy phenotypes at juvenile period and research implications of age-dependent changes in CH are discussed.

Simulation for competition of languages with an ageing sexual population

OpenAIRE

Schwämmle, Veit

2005-01-01

Recently, individual-based models originally used for biological purposes revealed interesting insights into processes of the competition of languages. Within this new field of population dynamics a model considering sexual populations with ageing is presented. The agents are situated on a lattice and each one speaks one of two languages or both. The stability and quantitative structure of an interface between two regions, initially speaking different languages, is studied. We find that indiv...

Leaving School: A Comparison of the Worries Held by Adolescents with and without Intellectual Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Young, R.; Dagnan, D.; Jahoda, A.

2016-01-01

Background: Leaving school is an important time for adolescents, with increasing autonomy and developing adult identities. The present study sought to shed light on the content and emotional impact of worries amongst adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities (IDs) at this time of change. Methods: Twenty-five adolescents with mild to…

Population ageing and pension reform in a small open economy with non-traded goods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bettendorf, Leon J. H.; Heijdra, Ben J.

2006-01-01

In this paper we study the implications of population ageing in an economy with a sizeable non-traded goods sector. To this effect a highly stylized micro-founded macro model is constructed in which the age structure of the population plays a non-trivial role. The model distinguishes separate birth

Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in an Aging HIV Population

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martin-Iguacel, R; Llibre, J M; Friis-Moller, N

2015-01-01

With more effective and widespread antiretroviral treatment, the overall incidence of AIDS- or HIV-related death has decreased dramatically. Consequently, as patients are aging, cardiovascular disease (CVD) has emerged as an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the HIV population....... The incidence of CVD overall in HIV is relatively low, but it is approximately 1.5-2-fold higher than that seen in age-matched HIV-uninfected individuals. Multiple factors are believed to explain this excess in risk such as overrepresentation of traditional cardiovascular risk factors (particularly smoking...

Population profiling in China by gender and age: implication for HIV incidences.

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Pan, Yuanyi; Wu, Jianhong

2009-11-18

With the world's largest population, HIV spread in China has been closely watched and widely studied by its government and the international community. One important factor that might contribute to the epidemic is China's numerous surplus of men, due to its imbalanced sex ratio in newborns. However, the sex ratio in the human population is often assumed to be 1:1 in most studies of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Here, a mathematical model is proposed to estimate the population size in each gender and within different stages of reproduction and sexual activities. This population profiling by age and gender will assist in more precise prediction of HIV incidences. The total population is divided into 6 subgroups by gender and age. A deterministic compartmental model is developed to describe birth, death, age and the interactions among different subgroups, with a focus on the preference for newborn boys and its impact for the sex ratios. Data from 2003 to 2007 is used to estimate model parameters, and simulations predict short-term and long-term population profiles. The population of China will go to a descending track around 2030. Despite the possible underestimated number of newborns in the last couple of years, model-based simulations show that there will be about 28 million male individuals in 2055 without female partners during their sexually active stages. The birth rate in China must be increased to keep the population viable. But increasing the birth rate without balancing the sex ratio in newborns is problematic, as this will generate a large number of surplus males. Besides other social, economic and psychological issues, the impact of this surplus of males on STD incidences, including HIV infections, must be dealt with as early as possible.

Population profiling in China by gender and age: implication for HIV incidences

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

Background With the world's largest population, HIV spread in China has been closely watched and widely studied by its government and the international community. One important factor that might contribute to the epidemic is China's numerous surplus of men, due to its imbalanced sex ratio in newborns. However, the sex ratio in the human population is often assumed to be 1:1 in most studies of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Here, a mathematical model is proposed to estimate the population size in each gender and within different stages of reproduction and sexual activities. This population profiling by age and gender will assist in more precise prediction of HIV incidences. Method The total population is divided into 6 subgroups by gender and age. A deterministic compartmental model is developed to describe birth, death, age and the interactions among different subgroups, with a focus on the preference for newborn boys and its impact for the sex ratios. Data from 2003 to 2007 is used to estimate model parameters, and simulations predict short-term and long-term population profiles. Results The population of China will go to a descending track around 2030. Despite the possible underestimated number of newborns in the last couple of years, model-based simulations show that there will be about 28 million male individuals in 2055 without female partners during their sexually active stages. Conclusion The birth rate in China must be increased to keep the population viable. But increasing the birth rate without balancing the sex ratio in newborns is problematic, as this will generate a large number of surplus males. Besides other social, economic and psychological issues, the impact of this surplus of males on STD incidences, including HIV infections, must be dealt with as early as possible. PMID:19922693

Employment Policies in an Aging Society: Review of the Experiences of the OECD Countries with Population Aging and Their Policy Responses

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Dong-Heon Kim

2005-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper we review the experiences of OECD countries with population aging and their policy responses, and suggest directions and measures of medium and long-term employment policies to cope with population aging in a comprehensive perspective. Specifically, following the policy objective of sustainable economic growth, we systematically classify policy types to cope with population aging and review possibilities and limitations of each policy type, while also considering Korea-specific situations as well as the experiences of other OECD countries. There are two broad types of employment policies to sustain economic growth in an aging society. One is to increase the quantity of labor force and the other is to enhance the quality of labor force. Policies to increase the quantity of labor force include pro-natalist policies, immigration policies, and policies to fully mobilize the labor resources of women and older people. Policies to enhance the quality of labor force include human resource development and flexicurity policies in the labor market. Our review suggests that direct pro-natalist policies seem to be ineffective. Also immigration policies cannot fundamentally solve the problem caused by population aging. Policies to fully mobilize the labor resources of women and older people seem to be the most effective policy. However, labor productivity should be an engine of economic growth in the long run when labor input reaches the limit of its capacity. In conclusion, in the long run, it is most important to enhance the quality of human capital and improve the functioning of the labor market to cope with the challenges of population aging.

"I Cannot Be Worried": Living with Chagas Disease in Tropical Bolivia.

Science.gov (United States)

Forsyth, Colin J

2017-01-01

Chagas disease (CD) profoundly affects the social and emotional dimensions of patients' lives, and disproportionately impacts poor, marginalized populations in Latin America. Biomedical treatment for CD fails to reach up to 99% of the people affected, and in any case seldom addresses the emotional health or socioeconomic conditions of patients. This study examines patient strategies for coping with CD in the department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. In this ethnographic study, semistructured interviews took place from March-June 2013 with 63 patients who had previously tested positive for CD. During the fieldwork period, participant observation was conducted and patient family members, providers, community members, and public health officials were consulted. Patients often experienced emotional distress when diagnosed with CD, yet were generally unable to find biomedical treatment. Respondents stressed the need to avoid powerful emotions which would worsen the impact of CD symptoms. To manage CD, patients embraced a calm state of mind, described in Spanish as tranquilidad, which partially empowered them to return to a normal existence. In the perceived absence of biomedical treatment options, patients seek their own means of coping with CD diagnosis. Rather than fatalism or resignation, patients' emphasis on maintaining calm and not worrying about CD represents a pragmatic strategy for restoring a sense of normalcy and control to their lives. Programs focused on treatment of CD should remain mindful of the emotional and social impact of the disease on patients.

Influence of Algae Age and Population on the Response to TiO₂ Nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Metzler, David M; Erdem, Ayca; Huang, Chin Pao

2018-03-25

This work shows the influence of algae age (at the time of the exposure) and the initial algae population on the response of green algae Raphidocelis subcapitata to titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs). The different algae age was obtained by changes in flow rate of continually stirred tank reactors prior to NP exposure. Increased algae age led to a decreased growth, variations in chlorophyll content, and an increased lipid peroxidation. Increased initial algae population (0.3-4.2 × 10⁶ cells/mL) at a constant NP concentration (100 mg/L) caused a decline in the growth of algae. With increased initial algae population, the lipid peroxidation and chlorophyll both initially decreased and then increased. Lipid peroxidation had 4× the amount of the control at high and low initial population but, at mid-ranged initial population, had approximately half the control value. Chlorophyll a results also showed a similar trend. These results indicate that the physiological state of the algae is important for the toxicological effect of TiO₂ NPs. The condition of algae and exposure regime must be considered in detail when assessing the toxicological response of NPs to algae.

Labor Activity of the Population of Retirement Age as a Factor in Socio-Economic Development of the Territory

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Vitalii Nikolaevich Barsukov

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The problem of population ageing in Russia is increasingly attracting attention of scientists and politicians. Long ago researchers recognized the irreversibility of the population ageing process in the conditions of narrowed population reproduction, but the measures to mitigate the consequences in our country, unlike Western countries, are not well developed yet. Population ageing with high probability leads to the change in labor market functioning due to the reduction in the share of able-bodied population and children and, consequently, the permanent increase in the proportion of older people in the total number of population. In these conditions the effective realization of resource potential of the older generation becomes one of the most important factors in socio-economic development of the territory. This article is aimed at studying the changes and specifics of labor activity of the population of retirement age on the example of the Vologda Oblast. The first part of the article is devoted to the main aspects of the impact of population ageing on economic development. It considers the prerequisites for the formation of the regressive age structure of population in the country and the region, determines the level of “age” of Russia and the Vologda Oblast. It identifies the features of population ageing of the region and its districts and the underlying factors of transformation of the age structure of the territory. The second part of the article presents the analysis of changes in the economic activity of the population of retirement age in the Vologda Oblast, the structure of employment of the older generation. On the basis of the sociological survey data the author describes the key incentives to continue working in retirement age, the current level of employment of seniors, and the difference between actual and nominal retirement age, etc. The main conclusion of the article is the following: the population of retirement age in

A fully-stochasticized, age-structured population model for population viability analysis of fish: Lower Missouri River endangered pallid sturgeon example

Science.gov (United States)

Wildhaber, Mark L.; Albers, Janice; Green, Nicholas; Moran, Edward H.

2017-01-01

We develop a fully-stochasticized, age-structured population model suitable for population viability analysis (PVA) of fish and demonstrate its use with the endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) of the Lower Missouri River as an example. The model incorporates three levels of variance: parameter variance (uncertainty about the value of a parameter itself) applied at the iteration level, temporal variance (uncertainty caused by random environmental fluctuations over time) applied at the time-step level, and implicit individual variance (uncertainty caused by differences between individuals) applied within the time-step level. We found that population dynamics were most sensitive to survival rates, particularly age-2+ survival, and to fecundity-at-length. The inclusion of variance (unpartitioned or partitioned), stocking, or both generally decreased the influence of individual parameters on population growth rate. The partitioning of variance into parameter and temporal components had a strong influence on the importance of individual parameters, uncertainty of model predictions, and quasiextinction risk (i.e., pallid sturgeon population size falling below 50 age-1+ individuals). Our findings show that appropriately applying variance in PVA is important when evaluating the relative importance of parameters, and reinforce the need for better and more precise estimates of crucial life-history parameters for pallid sturgeon.

Population Aging at Cross-Roads: Diverging Secular Trends in Average Cognitive Functioning and Physical Health in the Older Population of Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Steiber, Nadia

2015-01-01

This paper uses individual-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to model trends in population health in terms of cognition, physical fitness, and mental health between 2006 and 2012. The focus is on the population aged 50–90. We use a repeated population-based cross-sectional design. As outcome measures, we use SF-12 measures of physical and mental health and the Symbol-Digit Test (SDT) that captures cognitive processing speed. In line with previous research we find a highly significant Flynn effect on cognition; i.e., SDT scores are higher among those who were tested more recently (at the same age). This result holds for men and women, all age groups, and across all levels of education. While we observe a secular improvement in terms of cognitive functioning, at the same time, average physical and mental health has declined. The decline in average physical health is shown to be stronger for men than for women and found to be strongest for low-educated, young-old men aged 50–64: the decline over the 6-year interval in average physical health is estimated to amount to about 0.37 SD, whereas average fluid cognition improved by about 0.29 SD. This pattern of results at the population-level (trends in average population health) stands in interesting contrast to the positive association of physical health and cognitive functioning at the individual-level. The findings underscore the multi-dimensionality of health and the aging process. PMID:26323093

Fine resolution mapping of population age-structures for health and development applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Alegana, V A; Atkinson, P M; Pezzulo, C; Sorichetta, A; Weiss, D; Bird, T; Erbach-Schoenberg, E; Tatem, A J

2015-04-06

The age-group composition of populations varies considerably across the world, and obtaining accurate, spatially detailed estimates of numbers of children under 5 years is important in designing vaccination strategies, educational planning or maternal healthcare delivery. Traditionally, such estimates are derived from population censuses, but these can often be unreliable, outdated and of coarse resolution for resource-poor settings. Focusing on Nigeria, we use nationally representative household surveys and their cluster locations to predict the proportion of the under-five population in 1 × 1 km using a Bayesian hierarchical spatio-temporal model. Results showed that land cover, travel time to major settlements, night-time lights and vegetation index were good predictors and that accounting for fine-scale variation, rather than assuming a uniform proportion of under 5 year olds can result in significant differences in health metrics. The largest gaps in estimated bednet and vaccination coverage were in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa. Geolocated household surveys are a valuable resource for providing detailed, contemporary and regularly updated population age-structure data in the absence of recent census data. By combining these with covariate layers, age-structure maps of unprecedented detail can be produced to guide the targeting of interventions in resource-poor settings.

Maternal age and offspring developmental vulnerability at age five: A population-based cohort study of Australian children.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen Falster

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, there has been a shift to later childbearing in high-income countries. There is limited large-scale evidence of the relationship between maternal age and child outcomes beyond the perinatal period. The objective of this study is to quantify a child's risk of developmental vulnerability at age five, according to their mother's age at childbirth.Linkage of population-level perinatal, hospital, and birth registration datasets to data from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC and school enrolments in Australia's most populous state, New South Wales (NSW, enabled us to follow a cohort of 99,530 children from birth to their first year of school in 2009 or 2012. The study outcome was teacher-reported child development on five domains measured by the AEDC, including physical health and well-being, emotional maturity, social competence, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. Developmental vulnerability was defined as domain scores below the 2009 AEDC 10th percentile cut point. The mean maternal age at childbirth was 29.6 years (standard deviation [SD], 5.7, with 4,382 children (4.4% born to mothers aged <20 years and 20,026 children (20.1% born to mothers aged ≥35 years. The proportion vulnerable on ≥1 domains was 21% overall and followed a reverse J-shaped distribution according to maternal age: it was highest in children born to mothers aged ≤15 years, at 40% (95% CI, 32-49, and was lowest in children born to mothers aged between 30 years and ≤35 years, at 17%-18%. For maternal ages 36 years to ≥45 years, the proportion vulnerable on ≥1 domains increased to 17%-24%. Adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics significantly attenuated vulnerability risk in children born to younger mothers, while adjustment for potentially modifiable factors, such as antenatal visits, had little additional impact across all ages. Although the multi-agency linkage yielded a broad range of

Mixing times towards demographic equilibrium in insect populations with temperature variable age structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Damos, Petros

2015-08-01

In this study, we use entropy related mixing rate modules to measure the effects of temperature on insect population stability and demographic breakdown. The uncertainty in the age of the mother of a randomly chosen newborn, and how it is moved after a finite act of time steps, is modeled using a stochastic transformation of the Leslie matrix. Age classes are represented as a cycle graph and its transitions towards the stable age distribution are brought forth as an exact Markov chain. The dynamics of divergence, from a non equilibrium state towards equilibrium, are evaluated using the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy. Moreover, Kullback-Leibler distance is applied as information-theoretic measure to estimate exact mixing times of age transitions probabilities towards equilibrium. Using empirically data, we show that on the initial conditions and simulated projection's trough time, that population entropy can effectively be applied to detect demographic variability towards equilibrium under different temperature conditions. Changes in entropy are correlated with the fluctuations of the insect population decay rates (i.e. demographic stability towards equilibrium). Moreover, shorter mixing times are directly linked to lower entropy rates and vice versa. This may be linked to the properties of the insect model system, which in contrast to warm blooded animals has the ability to greatly change its metabolic and demographic rates. Moreover, population entropy and the related distance measures that are applied, provide a means to measure these rates. The current results and model projections provide clear biological evidence why dynamic population entropy may be useful to measure population stability. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Living with psoriasis: prevalence of shame, anger, worry, and problems in daily activities and social life.

Science.gov (United States)

Sampogna, Francesca; Tabolli, Stefano; Abeni, Damiano

2012-05-01

Psychosocial problems are frequent among patients with psoriasis. The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of some specific psychosocial issues. These were evaluated in 936 patients using the emotions and functioning scales of the Skindex-29 questionnaire. The problems most frequently experienced were: shame, anger, worry, difficulties in daily activities and social life. All problems were associated with the severity of psoriasis and with depression or anxiety. Shame, worry and annoyance were more frequent in women than in men, and shame and anger were associated with a low level of education. Impairment in work/hobbies was significantly higher in patients with palmoplantar psoriasis and those with arthro-pathic psoriasis. In conclusion, clinicians could gain important insights about their patients by looking at the single items of a quality of life instrument, to identify patients with high levels of emotional and social problems, in order to improve quality of care.

Influence of Algae Age and Population on the Response to TiO2 Nanoparticles

OpenAIRE

David M. Metzler; Ayca Erdem; Chin Pao Huang

2018-01-01

This work shows the influence of algae age (at the time of the exposure) and the initial algae population on the response of green algae Raphidocelis subcapitata to titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs). The different algae age was obtained by changes in flow rate of continually stirred tank reactors prior to NP exposure. Increased algae age led to a decreased growth, variations in chlorophyll content, and an increased lipid peroxidation. Increased initial algae population (0.3−4.2 × 106 ...

[Aging of the working population in the European Union].

Science.gov (United States)

Ilmarinen, J; Costa, G

2000-01-01

The working population over 50 years of age will grow considerably during the next 15 years. After 2010, the number of retired people over 65 years of age will be almost double that of 1995, with a strong impact also on working conditions and the labour market. Work ability is a dynamic process that changes, through its components, throughout life and is the result of the interaction between individual resources (including health, functional capacity, education and skills), working conditions, and the surrounding society. Work ability creates the basis for the employability of an individual, which can be supported by a number of actions (e.g. legislation on work and retirement) and social attitudes (e.g. age discrimination). Consequently, the prevalence of limitations in work ability varies significantly according to how it is evaluated and the frequency of work disability can vary considerably in different times, locations and populations. The Work Ability Index, created and used in a Finnish 11-year longitudinal study, has been proved a useful practical tool for the assessment of workers' fitness and a good predictor of work disability. Measures able to restore, maintain or promote work ability depend on the current work status and the needs of the target groups, and must concentrate on work content, physical work environment and the work community. The actions targeted towards the individual, on the other hand, concentrate on strengthening the health status and functional resources of the workers and developing professional expertise and skills. Correctly targeted and integrated measures improve work ability of ageing workers and therefore lead to improved work quality, increased productivity and also improved quality of life and well-being. They also have positive long-term effects on the "third age", when the worker retires.

Decrease of old age population mortality in Yugoslavia: Chance to increase anticipated life expectancy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radivojević Biljana M.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available This study analyzes the level and structure of old age population mortality in Yugoslavia with an aim to determine the intensity of realized changes and to provide an answer to how much they are significant and to approach the positive trends noted in developed countries in the latest period. Although it was insufficiently represented in the demographic analysis, the analysis of mortality in old people is gaining importance in the world. Apart from the reasons which result from the increase in the number of old people and thus their greater participation in the total number of deceased, enviable results have been achieved in decreasing old age mortality, which are more and more in focus of interest. While earlier research reported on the dominant influence of the decrease of younger age mortality to the increase of the expectation of life at birth, recent analysis precisely confirm the importance of decreasing mortality in old people. In mortality conditions from 1997/98, an additional 13.4 years of life in average is expected for men in Yugoslavia, and 15.2 for women. During more than five decades, the anticipated life expectancy for people over the age of 65 increased for only 1.2 years for men and 1.9 years for women. Out of that, the greatest increase was realized in the period 1950/51 - 1960/61 in both sexes. A small decrease in the average life expectancy was marked with men in the period 1960/61 - 1970/71, and with women in the latest period. Otherwise, all up to the eighties, the annual rate of increase was considerably lower than the rate of increase for zero year. It was only in the period 1980/81-1990/91 that faster growth had an anticipated life expectancy for the 65 years old. However, during the nineties unfavorable changes continued with the older, especially, female population. When comparing the values of the average life expectancy for people over 65 in Yugoslavia with corresponding values in developed countries, the lagging in

The relationship between population ageing and the economic growth in Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Brendan, Lo Rick; Sek, Siok Kun

2017-08-01

Asia has witnessed robust economic growth since the 1960s. Today, emerging markets in Asia have managed to maintain rapid growth even when the world's main economies suffer from debt and banking crises. However, declining total fertility rate, increasing life expectancy, continuous change of birth and death patterns, and increasing share of old age population in the age distribution in Asia exert significant pressure on its economies. This paper analyses the relationship between population ageing and economic growth using 2 different panels of countries; one Asian and another the from the oldest countries worldwide between 1970 and 2014. The analysis is based on the Auto Regression Distributed Lag models. The MG (Mean Group) and PMG (Pooled Mean Group) estimations are applied in this analysis. The Hausman Test is conducted to decide between the MG and PMG estimators. We find that ageing will negatively affect the economy in the long run. The growing number of youths will initially have a negative effect on the economy but would eventually lead to a positive growth in the future. The old age dependency ratio has yet to have affect the Asian economy but is expected eventually to impose a negative effect as seen in the oldest nations of the world.

Impact of Population Aging on Asia's Future Growth

OpenAIRE

Park, Donghyun; Shin, Kwanho

2011-01-01

First, the expert contributors argue, Asia must find ways to sustain rapid economic growth in the face of less favorable demographics, which implies slower growth of the workforce. Second, they contend, Asia must find ways to deliver affordable, adequate, and sustainable old-age economic security for its growing elderly population. Underpinned by rigorous analysis, a wide range of concrete policy options for sustaining economic growth while delivering economic security for the elderly are the...

Core Self-Evaluations, Worry, Life Satisfaction, and Psychological Well-Being: An Investigation in the Asian Context

Science.gov (United States)

Rathi, Neerpal; Lee, Kidong

2018-01-01

The concept of core self-evaluations has been extensively investigated in Western and European countries, nonetheless its implications in Asian countries remains relatively unexplored. To void this gap, the current study investigated the association of core self-evaluations with worry, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being among South…

Habitual physical activity and vascular aging in a young to middle-age population at low cardiovascular risk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kozakova, Michaela; Palombo, Carlo; Mhamdi, Leila

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Regular endurance exercise has been shown to reduce the age-related increase in arterial stiffness that is thought to contribute to cardiovascular risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of age and habitual physical activity on carotid artery wall thickness...... physical activity was negatively related to indices of carotid stiffness (r from -0.20 to -0.25, Page...... and physical activity were independently related to carotid stiffness. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides cross-sectional evidence that habitual physical activity is inversely related to the age-dependent increase in carotid wall stiffness in a young to middle-age population at low risk...

HIV/AIDS Interventions in an Aging U.S. Population

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Stephanie A.

2011-01-01

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 25 percent of people living with HIV in the United States in 2006 were age 50 and older. HIV prevention for people over 50 is an important health concern, especially as the U.S. population grows older. Scholarly research has identified the need for HIV/AIDS interventions in the…

Negative aspects of close social relations and 10-year incident ischaemic heart disease hospitalization among middle-aged Danes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Rikke; Rod, Naja Hulvej; Thielen, Karsten

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the association between negative aspects of close social relations and development of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). We aim to address if the experience of worries/demands and conflicts with close social relations are related to risk of first-time hospitalization...... National Patient Registry. Cox regression analysis was used to analyse data and all analyses were adjusted for age, gender, social class, cohabitation, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Worries/demands from and conflicts with children were associated with IHD hospitalization in an exposure-dependent manner...

Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERM: A new choice for postmenopausal women and physicians who worry on cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Baziad

2001-09-01

Full Text Available The postmenopausal state is characterized by the cessation of menstruation, loss of ovarian function, and a dramatic decrease in the level of circulating estrogen. This state of estrogen deficiency contributes to the acceleration of several age-related health problems in women, including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and dementia. Estrogen replacement is clearly effective in the short-term and long-term treatment and prevention of postmenopausal symptoms. However, until now, the amount of HRT user is still very low. Fear of breast cancer and endometrial cancer are the most common concern in using hormone replacement therapy (HRT, although the relationship between long-term HRT and breast cancer remains controversial. For physicians or patients, who worry on cancer, the ideal drug is now available i.e. the selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERM, with the generic name raloxifine. (Med J Indones 2001; 10: 187-90Keywords: HRT, raloxifine, osteoporosis, CVD, tamoxifen

Assessment of living conditions of the Ukranian working-age population

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mazhak, Iryna

2017-01-01

as many women performing the majority of the duties as men. About one-third of the respondents considered their profession to be prestigious, about half - average, a quarter – low prestige. Respondents: the working-age population of Ukraine – males aged 18-65, females aged 18-60. The sample is split up......, a quarter (24%) – performed the majority of the duties themselves, 20% – reported that the majority of the duties were performed by the other family member, 14% - all the duties were performed by the respondent, and only 5% – all the duties were performed by the other family member. There were four times...

Demographic Trends of Adults in New York City Opioid Treatment Programs--An Aging Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Benjamin; Polydorou, Soteri; Ferris, Rosie; Blaum, Caroline S; Ross, Stephen; McNeely, Jennifer

2015-01-01

The population of adults accessing opioid treatment is growing older, but exact estimates vary widely, and little is known about the characteristics of the aging treatment population. Further, there has been little research regarding the epidemiology, healt h status, and functional impairments in this population. To determine the utilization of opioid treatment services by older adults in New York City. This study used administrative data from New York State licensed drug treatment programs to examine overall age trends and characteristics of older adults in opioid treatment programs in New York City from 1996 to 2012. We found significant increases in utilization of opioid treatment programs by older adults in New York City. By 2012, those aged 50-59 made up the largest age group in opioid treatment programs. Among older adults there were notable shifts in demographic background including gender and ethnicity, and an increase in self-reported impairments. More research is needed to fully understand the specific characteristics and needs of older adults with opioid dependence.

Vaslui county in the national context: evolution and effects of mobility of the working age population

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Roxana Florina MUNTEANU

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The following paper shows the transition from internal to external migration and places Vaslui County into a spatial and time frame from the perspective of population mobility. Moreover, the consequences of the downgrading of internal migration by international migration are subject to the evolution of demographical and social indicators on which there are reflected: birth rate, general fertility, the rate of population growth, the index of demographical aging, because the involvement of the young population and young adult population in international migration led to a numerical decrease of the population with ages between 0-14, from 23,7% in 1990 to 15,0% in 2012, the increase of the majority of the old age population, of 65 years old and more, from 10,3% in 1990 to 15,0% in 2012 and of adult the population, 15-64 years old, from 66% in 1990 to 70% in 2012, according to National Institute of Statistics.

Knee complaints vary with age and gender in the adult population. Population-based reference data for the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paradowski, Przemyslaw T; Bergman, Stefan; Sundén-Lundius, Anne

2006-01-01

Self-reported knee complaints may vary with age and gender. Reference data from the adult population would help to better interpret the outcome of interventions due to knee complaints. The objectives of the present study were to describe the variation of self-reported knee pain, function and qual......Self-reported knee complaints may vary with age and gender. Reference data from the adult population would help to better interpret the outcome of interventions due to knee complaints. The objectives of the present study were to describe the variation of self-reported knee pain, function...... and quality of life with age and gender in the adult population and to establish population-based reference data for the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)....

The old age security hypothesis and optimal population growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Bental, B

1989-03-01

The application of the Samuelson-Diamond overlapping generations framework to the old age security hypothesis indicates that government intervention schemes can influence the relationship between population growth and capital accumulation. The most direct means of optimizing population growth is through taxes or subsidies that relate to the intergenerational transfer of wealth. A pay-as-you-go social security scheme, in which payment is predicated on the number of children the receiver has and is financed by taxes levied on the working population, emerges as the most likely intervention to produce the optimal steady state equilibrium. This system is able to correct any distortions the private sector may build into it. In contrast, a child support system, in which the government subsidizes or taxes workers according to their family size, can guarantee the optimal capital:labor ratio but not the optimal population growth rate. Thus, if the government seeks to decrease the population growth rate, the appropriate intervention is to levy a lump-sum social-security tax on workers and transfer the revenues to the old; the direction should be reversed if the goal is to increase population growth. Another alternative, a lump sum social security system, can guarantee optimal population growth but not a desirable capital:labor ratio. Finally, the introduction of money as a valued commodity into an economy with a high capital:labor ratio will also serve to decrease the population growth rate and solve the intergenerational transfer problem through the private sector without any need for government intervention.

Relationship between the population age structure and recreational landscape: an example of Dubrava, Zagreb

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Ivana Crljenko

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The starting point of this article follows a premise that demographic characteristics of a population, which constructs and consumes space on a daily basis, and cultural landscapes are interconnected, i.e. that certain demographics can be read from urban cultural landscapes in a greater or lesser extent. Of all the demographic structures incorporated in Croatian urban landscapes it is easiest to recognize the age, educational, religious, economic and ethnic/national composition, while the racial and gender structures are almost unnoticed. This paper presents the results of the analysis of the relationship between the population age structure and recreational landscapes of the eastern outskirts of Zagreb – Dubrava. By using the statistical analysis in the first part of the article, the author discusses the past and current age composition, as well as the trend of population aging. After that, the author provides descriptive and/or statistical analysis of some elements of recreational landscape in Dubrava, such as green areas, children’s and sports playgrounds, public gardens, sports centers, Grad mladih, and second homes, in order to determine the contemporary situation in the landscape. Considering the dominant process of rapid aging of the Dubrava population, a mismatch between the needs for recreation of the aged population and the real situation in the space was noticed. The lack of recreational facilities is evident not only for those intended for elderly residents, but also for the younger ones; the reasons are usually associated with the lack of financial resources, and in some cases with decision-making processes on a higher level than those of the city districts. Two subtypes of recreational landscapes were differentiated: sports and recreational landscape and second home landscape.

Population ageing in Lebanon: current status, future prospects and implications for policy.

OpenAIRE

Sibai, Abla Mehio; Sen, Kasturi; Baydoun, May; Saxena, Prem

2004-01-01

During the past three decades, fast declines in fertility and mortality in Lebanon have created a compressed demographic transition, a growing trend towards survival into later life, and a larger proportion of elderly people in the population. Projections show that people aged 65 years and over are expected to constitute 10.2% of the population by 2025. Nevertheless, changes to the structure and composition of the population remain unmatched by any corresponding increase in support measures e...

GSD Update: What are invasive species? ... And do we really need to worry about them?

Science.gov (United States)

Catherine Dold

2011-01-01

Invasive species are the focus of the September 2011 issue of GSDUpdate: What Are Invasive Species? And Do We Really Need to Worry About Them? An invasive species is any species - non-native or native to a region - that could cause economic or ecological harm to an area. Invasives can be weeds, shrubs and trees, insects, mollusks, vertebrates and even microorganisms...

Age and growth of two populations of West Coast steenbras ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... density-dependent competition for food, or biochemical genetic variations between the two populations, are possible reasons for the geographic differences found in the growth rates and length-at-age. Slow growth and longevity are characteristics of West Coast steenbras that make it extremely susceptible to overfishing; ...

Polypharmacy and falls in the middle age and elderly population

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G. Ziere; J.P. Dieleman (Jeanne); A. Hofman (Albert); H.A.P. Pols (Huib); T.J.M. van der Cammen (Tischa); B.H.Ch. Stricker (Bruno)

2006-01-01

textabstractAim: Falls in the elderly are common and often serious. We studied the association between multiple drug use (polypharmacy) and falls in the elderly. Methods: This was a population-based cross-sectional study, part of the Rotterdam Study. The participants were 6928 individuals aged ≥55

Demographic transition and population ageing in India: Implications on the elderly of the future

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Shradha Mathur

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Ageing population of India will transform into the elderly in future. The issue of health of the elderly population in India has arrested the attention of health policy makers and the researchers, in the recent past. Demographic structure, quality of life, healthcare services and government planning have serious implications on the ageing population. The objective of the research article is to systematically and critically evaluate the impact of demographic transition, projected demographic indicators and changing population characteristics on the health status of the elderly persons living in India in the coming decades. Analysis and discussions are based on secondary data published by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India. The results indicate that India will be an ageing nation in the coming years and improvements in health, education and government planning are likely to enhance the life expectancy of the elderly, while the share of children will reduce, suggesting an increase in dependency of the older persons on the adult population. The article provides insights into workable solutions and suggests key recommendations to attain faster demographic dividend. India would be competing with the pressure of a dramatic demographic bulge in future.

Influence of Algae Age and Population on the Response to TiO2 Nanoparticles

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David M. Metzler

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This work shows the influence of algae age (at the time of the exposure and the initial algae population on the response of green algae Raphidocelis subcapitata to titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs. The different algae age was obtained by changes in flow rate of continually stirred tank reactors prior to NP exposure. Increased algae age led to a decreased growth, variations in chlorophyll content, and an increased lipid peroxidation. Increased initial algae population (0.3−4.2 × 106 cells/mL at a constant NP concentration (100 mg/L caused a decline in the growth of algae. With increased initial algae population, the lipid peroxidation and chlorophyll both initially decreased and then increased. Lipid peroxidation had 4× the amount of the control at high and low initial population but, at mid-ranged initial population, had approximately half the control value. Chlorophyll a results also showed a similar trend. These results indicate that the physiological state of the algae is important for the toxicological effect of TiO2 NPs. The condition of algae and exposure regime must be considered in detail when assessing the toxicological response of NPs to algae.

Influence of Algae Age and Population on the Response to TiO2 Nanoparticles

Science.gov (United States)

Metzler, David M.; Erdem, Ayca; Huang, Chin Pao

2018-01-01

This work shows the influence of algae age (at the time of the exposure) and the initial algae population on the response of green algae Raphidocelis subcapitata to titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs). The different algae age was obtained by changes in flow rate of continually stirred tank reactors prior to NP exposure. Increased algae age led to a decreased growth, variations in chlorophyll content, and an increased lipid peroxidation. Increased initial algae population (0.3−4.2 × 106 cells/mL) at a constant NP concentration (100 mg/L) caused a decline in the growth of algae. With increased initial algae population, the lipid peroxidation and chlorophyll both initially decreased and then increased. Lipid peroxidation had 4× the amount of the control at high and low initial population but, at mid-ranged initial population, had approximately half the control value. Chlorophyll a results also showed a similar trend. These results indicate that the physiological state of the algae is important for the toxicological effect of TiO2 NPs. The condition of algae and exposure regime must be considered in detail when assessing the toxicological response of NPs to algae. PMID:29587381

Patterns of Mortality in Patients Treated with Dental Implants: A Comparison of Patient Age Groups and Corresponding Reference Populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Jemt, Torsten; Kowar, Jan; Nilsson, Mats; Stenport, Victoria

2015-01-01

Little is known about the relationship between implant patient mortality compared to reference populations. The aim of this study was to report the mortality pattern in patients treated with dental implants up to a 15-year period, and to compare this to mortality in reference populations with regard to age at surgery, sex, and degree of tooth loss. Patient cumulative survival rate (CSR) was calculated for a total of 4,231 treated implant patients from a single clinic. Information was based on surgical registers in the clinic and the National Population Register in Sweden. Patients were arranged into age groups of 10 years, and CSR was compared to that of the reference population of comparable age and reported in relation to age at surgery, sex, and type of jaw/dentition. A similar, consistent, general relationship between CSR of different age groups of implant patients and reference populations could be observed for all parameters studied. Completely edentulous patients presented higher mortality than partially edentulous patients (P age groups showed mortality similar to or higher than reference populations, while older patient age groups showed increasingly lower mortality than comparable reference populations for edentulous and partially edentulous patients (P age groups of patients compared to reference populations was observed, indicating higher patient mortality in younger age groups and lower in older groups. The reported pattern is not assumed to be related to implant treatment per se, but is assumed to reflect the variation in general health of a selected subgroup of treated implant patients compared to the reference population in different age groups.

Mental distress in the general population in Zambia: Impact of HIV and social factors

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Chipimo Peter J

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Population level data on mental health from Africa are limited, but available data indicate mental problems to represent a substantial public health problem. The negative impact of HIV on mental health suggests that this could particularly be the case in high prevalence populations. We examined the prevalence of mental distress, distribution patterns and the ways HIV might influence mental health among men and women in a general population. Methods The relationship between HIV infection and mental distress was explored using a sample of 4466 participants in a population-based HIV survey conducted in selected rural and urban communities in Zambia in 2003. The Self-reporting questionnaire-10 (SRQ-10 was used to assess global mental distress. Weights were assigned to the SRQ-10 responses based on DSM IV criteria for depression and a cut off point set at 7/20 for probable cases of mental distress. A structural equation modeling (SEM was established to assess the structural relationship between HIV infection and mental distress in the model, with maximum likelihood ratio as the method of estimation. Results The HIV prevalence was 13.6% vs. 18% in the rural and urban populations, respectively. The prevalence of mental distress was substantially higher among women than men and among groups with low educational attainment vs. high. The results of the SEM showed a close fit with the data. The final model revealed that self-rated health and self perceived HIV risk and worry of being HIV infected were important mediators between underlying factors, HIV infection and mental distress. The effect of HIV infection on mental distress was both direct and indirect, but was particularly strong through the indirect effects of health ratings and self perceived risk and worry of HIV infection. Conclusion These findings suggest a strong effect of HIV infection on mental distress. In this population where few knew their HIV status, this effect was

The effects of ageing and urbanisation on China's future rural and urban populations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, Quanrun; Dietzenbacher, Erik; Los, Bart

2017-01-01

This paper estimates China's future population and labour force by developing a novel forecasting model for population. It combines information about age-specific parameters on fertility and mortality for both rural and urban areas using information about rural-urban migration and the transformation

Correlation of chronological, skeletal, and dental age in North Indian population

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Madhurima Nanda

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out the correlation between chronological, dental, and skeletal age. Materials and Methods: Lateral cephalograms and orthopantomograms of 100 subjects of age ranging 9–14 years were obtained for the estimation of skeletal and dental age. Dental age was assessed using Demirjian's method; skeletal age was assessed using the new improved version of the cervical vertebral maturation method given by Baccetti, Franchi, and McNamara. Statistical analysis was carried out. Student's t-test and Spearman's coefficient correlation were used to assess the relation between chronological, skeletal, and dental age. Results: The Spearman's correlation coefficient was 0.777 (P < 0.001 between chronological and dental age, 0.516 (P < 0.001 between chronological and skeletal age, and 0.563 (P < 0.001 between dental and skeletal age. Conclusion: There is a good correlation between chronological and dental age in North Indian population which was higher for males as compared to females. A moderate correlation was found between chronological and skeletal age as well as between dental and skeletal age.

The changes of cerebral morphology related to aging in Taiwanese population.

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Hsiao-Lan Sharon Wang

Full Text Available A cross-sectional study with the 3-dimensional (3D MRI reconstruction technique was conducted to investigate cerebral complexity changes related to age differences in native Taiwanese population. In our sample of 85 participants aged between 25 and 81, age was associated with gradual ventricular expansion. A nonlinear quadratic relationship between white matter volume and age was found overall in the brain. Widespread age-related reduction in white matter was detected from late adulthood onwards. However, no significant age-related changes in the cortex and whole brain volume were determined throughout adulthood. These findings provided information in describing brain structural complexity, which might in the future serve as an objective diagnostic index or as a predictive parameter for neurological diseases. Our method then may be used for cross-cultural longitudinal studies to evaluate the effect of disease, environment and aging on the brain.

Peritoneal dialysis in an ageing population: a 10-year experience.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Smyth, Andrew

2012-02-01

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is becoming increasingly prevalent and there are increasing numbers of older patients with advanced CKD. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a potential treatment. This study aims to compare PD outcomes in age-defined populations in the largest PD centre in the Republic of Ireland over 10 years.

THE AGEING OF THE POPULATION OF ROMANIA IN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT

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Maghear Diana

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Demographic ageing appeared in the modern society and designates an important increase in the elderly population segment in the total of the senior population and has implications for all sections of the society. The main cause of this phenomenon is transition from the traditional system of population’s reproduction, with high birth rates, to modern regime, with both low birth rates and mortality. On long term, these new demographic tendencies will affect both the educational system, in the sense of reducing the number of pupils and students, as well as the expansion of the demand for health services and social protection.

Stroke trends in an aging population. The Technology Assessment Methods Project Team.

Science.gov (United States)

Niessen, L W; Barendregt, J J; Bonneux, L; Koudstaal, P J

1993-07-01

Trends in stroke incidence and survival determine changes in stroke morbidity and mortality. This study examines the extent of the incidence decline and survival improvement in the Netherlands from 1979 to 1989. In addition, it projects future changes in stroke morbidity during the period 1985 to 2005, when the country's population will be aging. A state-event transition model is used, which combines Dutch population projections and existing data on stroke epidemiology. Based on the clinical course of stroke, the model describes historical national age- and sex-specific hospital admission and mortality rates for stroke. It extrapolates observed trends and projects future changes in stroke morbidity rates. There is evidence of a continuing incidence decline. The most plausible rate of change is an annual decline of -1.9% (range, -1.7% to -2.1%) for men and -2.4% (range, -2.3% to -2.8%) for women. Projecting a constant mortality decline, the model shows a 35% decrease of the stroke incidence rate for a period of 20 years. Prevalence rates for major stroke will decline among the younger age groups but increase among the oldest because of increased survival in the latter. In absolute numbers this results in an 18% decrease of acute stroke episodes and an 11% increase of major stroke cases. The increase in survival cannot fully explain the observed mortality decline and, therefore, a concomitant incidence decline has to be assumed. Aging of the population partially outweighs the effect of an incidence decline on the total burden of stroke. Increase in cardiovascular survival leads to a further increase in major stroke prevalence among the oldest age groups.

The Influence of Migration on Population Ageing in the Cres-Lošinj Archipelago

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Sonja Podgorelec

1999-12-01

Full Text Available Demographic research in regard to the islands of Cres and Lošinj belongs in the domain of small population studies. Throughout history, and especially after World War II, the islands experienced very strong emigration and later immigration processes. After fifty or more years of continual emigration, immigration began on the island of Lošinj in the 1960s, and on Cres in the 1970s. This reversal from strong depopulation to a significant increase in the size of the population, if the islands are examined as a whole, reveals certain demographic particularities in comparison with other Croatian islands. The long-term reduction of the birth rate and prolonged emigration from settlements in the interior of Cres and from all the islands of the Lošinj archipelago has been the cause of many elderly, single-person and abandoned households. All the analytical indicators pertaining to the age structure are above the threshold which marks the beginning of population ageing. The average age on all the islands has for over thirty years been well above 30, whereas in the Lošinj archipelago it has been above the reproductive age – i.e. about 50. The age coefficient varies between 14.02 for Lošinj and 49.22 for Ilovik. The island of Lošinj itself has the youngest population, and hence the lowest indicators of ageing. The burden on the working-age contingent on each island has changed at a different rate and in a different direction during the last three inter-census periods. The co-efficient of dependency of the young is increasing on all the islands, while the co-efficient of dependency of the elderly age groups is falling on Lošinj, Ilovik, Unije and Cres. The reduction of the birth rate and the negative migration balance caused by high emigration of mainly young, unmarried males has caused a seks ratio imbalance in favour of females. The general co-efficient of females, according to the 1991 census was between 105.7 on Lošinj and 145.5 on Unije. The

The aging population in Brazil

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Fabio Nasri

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Brazil is currently in an advanced stage of both the mortality andfertility transitions, which allows one to confi dently forecast the agedistribution and population size over the next four decades. Whereasthe elderly population with more than 65 years will increase at highrates (2 to 4% per year the young population will decline. Accordingto United Nations projections, the elderly population will increasefrom 3.1% of the population in 1970 to 19% in 2050. The changingage distribution of the Brazilian population brings opportunities andchallenges that could lead to serious social and economic issues ifnot dealt with properly in coming decades.

Psychosocial burden differences between women of reproductive age and menopausal age due to abnormal Pap smear: A pilot study of the East Coast of Malaysia

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Shabbir Ahmad Sheikh

2016-01-01

Conclusion: Psychosocial burden due to abnormal Pap smear results in terms of mental stress, overwhelming beliefs, and feelings of guilt and worry of HPV infection and possibility of cervical cancer were noted more in reproductive age groups as compared to the menopausal age group. Health-care providers should be aware of these psychosocial effects whereby they can refer such patients to a gynecologic oncologist for proper counseling at the proper time so that the negative impact due to this psychosocial burden can be prevented.

Hand Grip Strength: age and gender stratified normative data in a population-based study

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Taylor Anne W

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The North West Adelaide Health Study is a representative longitudinal cohort study of people originally aged 18 years and over. The aim of this study was to describe normative data for hand grip strength in a community-based Australian population. Secondary aims were to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI and hand grip strength, and to compare Australian data with international hand grip strength norms. Methods The sample was randomly selected and recruited by telephone interview. Overall, 3 206 (81% of those recruited participants returned to the clinic during the second stage (2004-2006 which specifically focused on the collection of information relating to musculoskeletal conditions. Results Following the exclusion of 435 participants who had hand pain and/or arthritis, 1366 men and 1312 women participants provided hand grip strength measurement. The study population was relatively young, with 41.5% under 40 years; and their mean BMI was 28.1 kg/m2 (SD 5.5. Higher hand grip strength was weakly related to higher BMI in adults under the age of 30 and over the age of 70, but inversely related to higher BMI between these ages. Australian norms from this sample had amongst the lowest of the hand grip strength of the internationally published norms, except those from underweight populations. Conclusions This population demonstrated higher BMI and lower grip strength in younger participants than much of the international published, population data. A complete exploration of the relationship between BMI and hand grip strength was not fully explored as there were very few participants with BMI in the underweight range. The age and gender grip strength values are lower in younger adults than those reported in international literature.

Anxiety and Depression in Academic Performance: An Exploration of the Mediating Factors of Worry and Working Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, Matthew; Stevenson, Jim; Hadwin, Julie A.; Norgate, Roger

2012-01-01

Anxiety and depression are linked to lower academic performance. It is proposed that academic performance is reduced in young people with high levels of anxiety or depression as a function of increased test-specific worry that impinges on working memory central executive processes. Participants were typically developing children (12 to…

Intake of ruminant trans fatty acids in the Danish population aged 1-80 years

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Marianne Uhre; Bysted, Anette; Andersen, N. L.

2006-01-01

Objective: To estimate the intake of ruminant trans fatty acids (TFA) in the Danish population aged 1 - 80 years. Design: Descriptive study. Subjects: A sex- and age-stratified random sample drawn from the Danish Civil Registration System. A total of 3098 participants (51% female) aged 1 - 80 yea...

Health and quality of life in an aging population – food and beyond

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giacalone, Davide; Wendin, Karin Maria Elisabet; Kremer, Stefanie

2016-01-01

In Europe the percentage of citizens aged 65 and over is increasing at an unprecedented rate, and is expected to account for over 30% of the population by 2050. Coupled with an increase in life expectancy, this massive demographic change calls for a major effort to ensure quality of life in our...... older population. A thorough understanding of the elderly as food consumers, their nutritional needs, their food perception and preferences are increasingly needed. The role of food in healthy aging was a prominent theme at the 6th European Conference on Sensory and Consumer Research, which had quality...

Infection-related and -unrelated malignancies, HIV and the aging population.

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, L; Borges, Áh; Ledergerber, B; Domingo, P; Castagna, A; Rockstroh, J; Knysz, B; Tomazic, J; Karpov, I; Kirk, O; Lundgren, J; Mocroft, A

2016-09-01

HIV-positive people have increased risk of infection-related malignancies (IRMs) and infection-unrelated malignancies (IURMs). The aim of the study was to determine the impact of aging on future IRM and IURM incidence. People enrolled in EuroSIDA and followed from the latest of the first visit or 1 January 2001 until the last visit or death were included in the study. Poisson regression was used to investigate the impact of aging on the incidence of IRMs and IURMs, adjusting for demographic, clinical and laboratory confounders. Linear exponential smoothing models forecasted future incidence. A total of 15 648 people contributed 95 033 person-years of follow-up, of whom 610 developed 643 malignancies [IRMs: 388 (60%); IURMs: 255 (40%)]. After adjustment, a higher IRM incidence was associated with a lower CD4 count [adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) CD4 count IRMs. The incidences of both IURMs and IRMs increased with older age. It was projected that the incidence of IRMs would decrease by 29% over a 5-year period from 3.1 (95% CI 1.5-5.9) per 1000 person-years in 2011, whereas the IURM incidence would increase by 44% from 4.1 (95% CI 2.2-7.2) per 1000 person-years over the same period. Demographic and HIV-related risk factors for IURMs (aging and smoking) and IRMs (immunodeficiency and ongoing viral replication) differ markedly and the contribution from IURMs relative to IRMs will continue to increase as a result of aging of the HIV-infected population, high smoking and lung cancer prevalence and a low prevalence of untreated HIV infection. These findings suggest the need for targeted preventive measures and evaluation of the cost-benefit of screening for IURMs in HIV-infected populations. © 2016 British HIV Association.

Effectiveness of Parental Skills Training on Worry, Anxiety and Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Single-Child and Multi-Child Parents

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A Hajigholami Yazdi

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Each family utilizes specific methods for personal and social education of their children. These methods that are called “Parenting style” are affected by various factors such as biological, cultural, social, political, and economic factors. The present study intends to investigate the effectiveness of parental skills training on worry, anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs of single-child and multi-child parents. Methods: In this experimental study, two private girls' school located in the city of Karaj, were randomly selected as the control and experimental groups. Parents of experimental group’s students (54 couples with a voluntary assignment participated in 8 training sessions. Data were obtained by General Self-efficacy Beliefs Questionnaire, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI, Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ which were then analyzed by t-test and ANOVA. Results: Results showed that there was not any significant difference in the pretest between single-child and multi-child parents. Regarding control and experimental groups, a significant difference has been detected between the pretest and posttest between two groups. Multifactor ANOVA test results also showed that the effect of parental skills training is significant on fear, anxiety and self-efficacy. But the number of children does not have any significant effect on the fear, anxiety and self-efficacy. Conclusion: Findings emphasize the necessity and importance of parental skills training to facilitate children nurture, decrease stress and worry resulting from parenting responsibility.

On the origin of worries about modern health hazards: Experimental evidence for a conjoint influence of media reports and personality traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Witthöft, Michael; Freitag, Ina; Nußbaum, Christiane; Bräscher, Anne-Kathrin; Jasper, Fabian; Bailer, Josef; Rubin, G James

2018-03-01

Worries about health threatening effects of potential health hazards of modern life (e.g. electric devices and pollution) represent a growing phenomenon in Western countries. Yet, little is known about the causes of this growing special case of affective risk perceptions termed Modern Health Worries (MHW). The purpose of this study is to examine a possible role of biased media reports in the formation of MHW. In two experiments, we investigated whether typical television reports affect MHW. In Study 1, 130 participants were randomly assigned to a film on idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) or a control film about cystic fibrosis. In Study 2, 82 participants were randomly assigned to either a film on the dangers of electromagnetic fields or a control condition. Increases in MHW after sensational media reports. In Study 1, only participants high on the personality trait of absorption revealed increased MHW after watching the IEI film. In Study 2, specifically worries about radiation were found to be elevated after watching the film on the dangers of electromagnetic fields compared to the control film. The results of both studies reveal a significant and specific influence of sensational short mass media reports on MHW. The influence of potential moderators such as absorption remains to be clarified.

Age-specific association of migraine with cryptogenic TIA and stroke: Population-based study.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Linxin; Schulz, Ursula G; Kuker, Wilhelm; Rothwell, Peter M

2015-10-27

To determine whether there is an association between previous migraine and cryptogenic TIA or ischemic stroke at older ages. We determined the age-specific associations of history of migraine and Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) subtype of TIA and ischemic stroke in a population-based cohort study (Oxford Vascular Study; 2002-2012). Among 1,810 eligible patients with TIA or ischemic stroke, 668 (36.9%) had cryptogenic events, of whom 187 (28.0%) had previous migraine. Migraine was more commonly associated with cryptogenic events than with those of known etiology (odds ratio [OR] 1.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.38-2.16, p TIA or stratified by sex or vascular territory of event. In this population-based study of stroke etiology stratified by age, migraine was most strongly associated with cryptogenic TIA and ischemic stroke, particularly at older ages, suggesting a causal role or a shared etiology. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

An aging population: relationships between socio-demographics, motivations and participation

Science.gov (United States)

Karen Robinson; Robert C. Burns; Chad D. Pierskalla; Alan Graefe

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the outdoor recreation behavior of Oregon's aging population, including developing a socio-demographic profile and examining the importance of their current motivations with the importance of their expected motivations 10 years from now. A stratified random sample was drawn of Oregon residents, and a mailback questionnaire...

Consumers' willingness to use a medication management service: the effect of medication-related worry and the social influence of the general practitioner.

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Stephen R; Moles, Rebekah J; White, Lesley; Chen, Timothy F

2013-01-01

Some consumers at risk of experiencing medication-related problems have chosen not to use pharmacist-provided medication management services. Previous research has shown that consumers' willingness to use the Australian Home Medicines Review (HMR) service depends on the extent to which they believe that they will receive medication information to assist them with self-management. The aim of this study was to develop and test a model of willingness to use HMR among consumers who were eligible to receive the service but have not yet experienced it. Specifically, this study aimed to determine the effects of consumers' medication-related worry and the social influence of the consumer's general practitioner (GP) over willingness. A cross-sectional postal survey was conducted among 1600 members of Council on the Ageing (NSW, Australia). Respondents were included in the study if they had not experienced an HMR and were taking more than 5 medicines daily or more than 12 doses daily. Measurement scales were developed or were based on previous research. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the reliability and validity of the multi-item scales. Multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to test the model. Surveys received from 390 respondents (24.3%) were analyzed. Respondents held overall low-to-neutral positive outcome expectancy (POE). The SEM analysis revealed that worry had a direct effect on POE (β=0.35, Psocial influence over willingness to use this medication management service. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Can Functional Cardiac Age be Predicted from ECG in a Normal Healthy Population

Science.gov (United States)

Schlegel, Todd; Starc, Vito; Leban, Manja; Sinigoj, Petra; Vrhovec, Milos

2011-01-01

In a normal healthy population, we desired to determine the most age-dependent conventional and advanced ECG parameters. We hypothesized that changes in several ECG parameters might correlate with age and together reliably characterize the functional age of the heart. Methods: An initial study population of 313 apparently healthy subjects was ultimately reduced to 148 subjects (74 men, 84 women, in the range from 10 to 75 years of age) after exclusion criteria. In all subjects, ECG recordings (resting 5-minute 12-lead high frequency ECG) were evaluated via custom software programs to calculate up to 85 different conventional and advanced ECG parameters including beat-to-beat QT and RR variability, waveform complexity, and signal-averaged, high-frequency and spatial/spatiotemporal ECG parameters. The prediction of functional age was evaluated by multiple linear regression analysis using the best 5 univariate predictors. Results: Ignoring what were ultimately small differences between males and females, the functional age was found to be predicted (R2= 0.69, P ECGs, functional cardiac age can be estimated by multiple linear regression analysis of mostly advanced ECG results. Because some parameters in the regression formula, such as QTcorr, high frequency QRS amplitude and P-wave width also change with disease in the same direction as with increased age, increased functional age of the heart may reflect subtle age-related pathologies in cardiac electrical function that are usually hidden on conventional ECG.

The Impact of an Aging Population in the Workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Mercedia Stevenson; Burns, Candace; Conlon, Helen Acree

2018-03-01

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of people 65 years of age or older living in the United States is projected to double by 2030 to 72 million adults, representing 20% of the total U.S. Evidence suggests that older Americans are working longer and spending more time on the job than their peers did in previous years. The increased number of older adults working longer is observed not only in the Unites States but also worldwide. There are numerous ramifications associated with the changing demographics and the expanding prevalence of an aging population in the workforce. Dynamics that arise include stereotyping and discrimination, longevity and on-site expert knowledge, variances in workplace behavior, a multigenerational employee pool, chronic disease management, occupational safety, and the application of adaptive strategies to reduce injury occurrences. Occupational health nurses play a pivotal role in implementing best practices for an aging-friendly workplace.

Locations that Support Social Activity Participation of the Aging Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pauline van den Berg

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Social activities are an important aspect of health and quality of life of the aging population. They are key elements in the prevention of loneliness. In order to create living environments that stimulate older adults to engage in social activities, more insight is needed in the social activity patterns of the aging population. This study therefore analyzes the heterogeneity in older adults’ preferences for different social activity location types and the relationship between these preferences and personal and mobility characteristics. This is done using a latent class multinomial logit model based on two-day diary data collected in 2014 in Noord-Limburg in the Netherlands among 213 respondents aged 65 or over. The results show that three latent classes can be identified among the respondents who recorded social activities in the diary: a group that mainly socializes at home, a group that mainly socializes at a community center and a group that is more likely to socialize at public ‘third’ places. The respondents who did not record any interactions during the two days, are considered as a separate segment. Relationships between segment membership and personal and mobility characteristics were tested using cross-tabulations with chi-square tests and analyses of variance. The results suggest that both personal and mobility characteristics play an important role in social activity patterns of older adults.

[Drinking behaviors and patterns among floating population aged 18-59 years old in China, 2012].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yichong; Zhang, Mei; Jiang, Yong; Deng, Qian; Zhao, Yinjun; Huang, Zhengjing; Zeng, Xinying; Wang, Limin

2014-11-01

To understand the drinking behaviors and patterns among floating population in China. Floating population were selected through multistage clustering sampling method, stratified by 6 major industries in 170 counties and districts from 31 provinces/autonomous regions, and Xinjiang Construction Corps, in mainland China. Design-based methods were adopted to analyze the drinking behavior in subpopulations. A total of 48 697 floating population aged 18-59 years were included in the study. The overall prevalence rate of drinking was 51.7% with 71.9% in men and 24.7% in women, in the last 12 months. Among those who ever drank, the weekly drinking prevalence and daily alcohol intake were 53.9% and 18.7 g in males while 16.7% and 4.1 g in females, respectively, among those floating population. Weekly drinking prevalence rates, for both genders, increased along with the increase of age (P population from the construction industry had the highest prevalence rates on items as weekly drinking, daily alcohol intake and prevalence of unhealthy drinking behaviors, except for hazardous drinking behaviors. Drinking behavior was prevalent among floating population in China. Significant difference was seen between genders. Unhealthy drinking behaviors varied greatly among male drinkers at different age groups or education levels as well as among those working in the different industries.

A stochastic step model of replicative senescence explains ROS production rate in ageing cell populations.

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Conor Lawless

Full Text Available Increases in cellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS concentration with age have been observed repeatedly in mammalian tissues. Concomitant increases in the proportion of replicatively senescent cells in ageing mammalian tissues have also been observed. Populations of mitotic human fibroblasts cultured in vitro, undergoing transition from proliferation competence to replicative senescence are useful models of ageing human tissues. Similar exponential increases in ROS with age have been observed in this model system. Tracking individual cells in dividing populations is difficult, and so the vast majority of observations have been cross-sectional, at the population level, rather than longitudinal observations of individual cells.One possible explanation for these observations is an exponential increase in ROS in individual fibroblasts with time (e.g. resulting from a vicious cycle between cellular ROS and damage. However, we demonstrate an alternative, simple hypothesis, equally consistent with these observations which does not depend on any gradual increase in ROS concentration: the Stochastic Step Model of Replicative Senescence (SSMRS. We also demonstrate that, consistent with the SSMRS, neither proliferation-competent human fibroblasts of any age, nor populations of hTERT overexpressing human fibroblasts passaged beyond the Hayflick limit, display high ROS concentrations. We conclude that longitudinal studies of single cells and their lineages are now required for testing hypotheses about roles and mechanisms of ROS increase during replicative senescence.

A stochastic step model of replicative senescence explains ROS production rate in ageing cell populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawless, Conor; Jurk, Diana; Gillespie, Colin S; Shanley, Daryl; Saretzki, Gabriele; von Zglinicki, Thomas; Passos, João F

2012-01-01

Increases in cellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) concentration with age have been observed repeatedly in mammalian tissues. Concomitant increases in the proportion of replicatively senescent cells in ageing mammalian tissues have also been observed. Populations of mitotic human fibroblasts cultured in vitro, undergoing transition from proliferation competence to replicative senescence are useful models of ageing human tissues. Similar exponential increases in ROS with age have been observed in this model system. Tracking individual cells in dividing populations is difficult, and so the vast majority of observations have been cross-sectional, at the population level, rather than longitudinal observations of individual cells.One possible explanation for these observations is an exponential increase in ROS in individual fibroblasts with time (e.g. resulting from a vicious cycle between cellular ROS and damage). However, we demonstrate an alternative, simple hypothesis, equally consistent with these observations which does not depend on any gradual increase in ROS concentration: the Stochastic Step Model of Replicative Senescence (SSMRS). We also demonstrate that, consistent with the SSMRS, neither proliferation-competent human fibroblasts of any age, nor populations of hTERT overexpressing human fibroblasts passaged beyond the Hayflick limit, display high ROS concentrations. We conclude that longitudinal studies of single cells and their lineages are now required for testing hypotheses about roles and mechanisms of ROS increase during replicative senescence.

Dental age estimation from the developmental stage of the third molars in western Chinese population.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Guo; Ren, Jiayin; Zhao, Shuping; Liu, Yuanyuan; Li, Na; Wu, Wanhong; Yuan, Shanshan; Wang, Hu

2012-06-10

The purpose of this study is to provide reference data about estimating dental age from third molars of the western Chinese population for comparing with other populations and being applied to the age estimation of western Chinese juveniles and adolescents. A total of 2078 digital panoramic radiographs of 989 male and 1089 female Chinese subjects aged between 5 and 23 years were examined. The mineralization status of the third molars was assessed using the formation stages described by Demirjian et al. with two modifications. The results showed that the development of third molars in the western Chinese population was likely to begin at age 5 in both males and females. The third molars 28 and 48 showed significantly higher frequency in females than in males. The third molars 18 in the stage 1, 38 in the stages 1, A and G, and 48 in the stage H showed significantly older average age in females than in males. The Demirjian's stages C and D could be used as a reference stage to determine dichotomously whether a western Chinese is more likely to be under or above age 14 or 16, respectively. This study provided reference data for the age estimation of western Chinese juveniles and adolescents by the mineralization stages of the third molar. Apart from forensic age determination in living subjects, the presented reference data can also be used for age estimations of unidentified corpses and skeletons. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Food management for the aging population.

Science.gov (United States)

Militello, J; Coleman, L J; Haran, E

1996-01-01

The older population is becoming more important to our society everyday. These individuals are being studied for their past, present, and potential impact on markets and marketing. Evaluated as a user of products or services in the marketplace or an employee or volunteer within the marketing system, this segment is gaining a visibility and importance. An interview was conducted with five Nutrition Project Directors to obtain an overview of Federally Funded Nutrition Programs for the Elderly. The areas which were highlighted were service delivery, site activities, management styles, barriers to service, clientele composition, food planning and preparation, staffing, USDA funding, coordination, marketing, transportation, and volunteerism. The Second Quarter Service Provider Output Reports for 1991, which are compiled by the Nutrition Projects and submitted to the Area Agency on Aging, were utilized to obtain client profile information (Reports, 1991). The analysis sought to compare the programs offered in the five counties on a number of factors which could be quantified. It was hoped that by looking at the numerical ratios, and depicting them graphically, any trends or unique characteristics of the programs could be identified. In that the percentage of Florida's present elder population (17%) far exceeds the national average (12%) these findings could be utilized by nutrition programs outside of Florida to plan for future funds. Analysis of quantitative information on the five programs yielded information on cost comparisons and on services.

Forging a Frailty-Ready Healthcare System to Meet Population Ageing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Wee Shiong; Wong, Sweet Fun; Leong, Ian; Choo, Philip; Pang, Weng Sun

2017-11-24

The beginning of the 21st century has seen health systems worldwide struggling to deliver quality healthcare amidst challenges posed by ageing populations. The increasing prevalence of frailty with older age and accompanying complexities in physical, cognitive, social and psychological dimensions renders the present modus operandi of fragmented, facility-centric, doctor-based, and illness-centered care delivery as clearly unsustainable. In line with the public health framework for action in the World Health Organization's World Health and Ageing Report, meeting these challenges will require a systemic reform of healthcare delivery that is integrated, patient-centric, team-based, and health-centered. These reforms can be achieved through building partnerships and relationships that engage, empower, and activate patients and their support systems. To meet the challenges of population ageing, Singapore has reorganised its public healthcare into regional healthcare systems (RHSs) aimed at improving population health and the experience of care, and reducing costs. This paper will describe initiatives within the RHS frameworks of the National Health Group (NHG) and the Alexandra Health System (AHS) to forge a frailty-ready healthcare system across the spectrum, which includes the well healthy ("living well"), the well unhealthy ("living with illness"), the unwell unhealthy ("living with frailty"), and the end-of-life (EoL) ("dying well"). For instance, the AHS has adopted a community-centered population health management strategy in older housing estates such as Yishun to build a geographically-based care ecosystem to support the self-management of chronic disease through projects such as "wellness kampungs" and "share-a-pot". A joint initiative by the Lien Foundation and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital aims to launch dementia-friendly communities across the island by building a network comprising community partners, businesses, and members of the public. At the National

Do levels of perceived stress increase with increasing age after age 65? A population-based study.

Science.gov (United States)

Osmanovic-Thunström, Almira; Mossello, Enrico; Åkerstedt, Torbjörn; Fratiglioni, Laura; Wang, Hui-Xin

2015-09-01

psychological and health-related stressors often occur in advanced ages, but little is known about perceived stress in adults aged 65 and over. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that levels of perceived stress increase with increasing age and to detect factors that may account for the association. a dementia-free cohort of 1,656 adults aged 66-97 years living at home or in institutions, participating in the Swedish National Aging and Care study, Kungsholmen (SNAC-K) was assessed for levels of perceived stress using the 10-item perceived stress scale (PSS). prevalence of high stress according to the top tertile of the population (PSS score 20+) was 7.8% in adults aged 81+ years, 7.5% in adults aged 72-78 and 6.2% in adults aged 66 years (P = 0.020). More women than men reported high stress, 8.3 versus 5.4% (P = 0.001). Levels of stress increased with increasing age (P = 0.001) in the linear regression model. This association remained after adjustment for demographic and psychosocial factors, but no longer was present after adjusting for health-related factors. health-related stress is highly prevalent in older adults and seems to play an important role in the association between levels of perceived stress and age in older adults. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluation of exposure to fluoride in child population of North Argentina.

Science.gov (United States)

Rocha, René Antonio; Calatayud, Marta; Devesa, Vicenta; Vélez, Dinoraz

2017-09-01

Fluoride is an important element for humans. It inhibits initiation and progression of dental caries and stimulates bone formation. However, excessive intake may lead to the appearance of dental and/or skeletal fluorosis and a decrease in intellectual coefficient in child populations. This study evaluates exposure to fluoride in the child population of Chaco province (Argentina) by analysis of drinking water, food and its bioaccessible fraction (quantity of fluoride solubilised by gastrointestinal digestion and available for intestinal absorption) and urine as a biomarker of internal dose. The concentration of fluoride in drinking water varied between 0.050 and 4.6 mg L -1 , and 80% of the samples exceeded the WHO drinking-water guideline value (1.5 mg L -1 ). Fluoride concentrations in food ranged between 0.80 and 3.0 mg kg -1 fresh weight (fw), being lower in bioaccessible fraction (0.43-1.9 mg kg -1 , fw). On the basis of the consumption data declared for the young child population, fluoride intake varies between 4.1 and 6.5 mg day -1 , greater than the level recommended for this age group. Moreover, in some cases, concentrations of fluoride found in urine (0.62-8.9 mg L -1 ) exceeded those reported in areas with declared fluorosis. All data obtained show the worrying situation of child population in this area of Argentina.

Population aging from 1950 to 2010 in seventeen transitional countries in the wider region of South Eastern Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihajlo Jakovljevic

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Aim: Population aging has profoundly reshaped demographic landscapes in all South Eastern European (SEE countries. The aim of this study was to provide a thorough comparative inter-country assessment on the speed of population aging in the entire SEE region for the period 1950-2010. Methods: Descriptive observational analysis of long-term trends on core primary and composite indicators of population aging across seventeen countries of the wider SEE region, with panel data sets at a national level. Results: During the past six decades, the entire SEE region has experienced a rapid increase in the median age (from 25.2 years in 1950 to 37.9 years in 2010, with a simultaneous fall of fertility rates for two children per woman (from 3.55 children per each childbearing woman in 1950 to 1.49 in 2010, coupled with significant rise in the population of elderly citizens. The speed of population aging has vastly accelerated (with a 2.5 fold increase over the past three decades. The percentage of individuals over 65 years has doubled from 7% in 1950 to 14% in 2010. Conclusion: Complex national strategies are needed to cope with the shrinking labour force coupled with the growing proportion of the older population. With all likelihood, population aging will further accelerate in the near future. This profound long-term demographic transition will threaten financial sustainability of current health systems in all SEE countries.

Distribution of peak expiratory flow variability by age, gender and smoking habits in a random population sample aged 20-70 yrs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boezen, H M; Schouten, J. P.; Postma, D S; Rijcken, B

1994-01-01

Peak expiratory flow (PEF) variability can be considered as an index of bronchial lability. Population studies on PEF variability are few. The purpose of the current paper is to describe the distribution of PEF variability in a random population sample of adults with a wide age range (20-70 yrs),

Worrying Thoughts Limit Working Memory Capacity in Math Anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Zhan; Liu, Peiru

2016-01-01

Sixty-one high-math-anxious persons and sixty-one low-math-anxious persons completed a modified working memory capacity task, designed to measure working memory capacity under a dysfunctional math-related context and working memory capacity under a valence-neutral context. Participants were required to perform simple tasks with emotionally benign material (i.e., lists of letters) over short intervals while simultaneously reading and making judgments about sentences describing dysfunctional math-related thoughts or sentences describing emotionally-neutral facts about the world. Working memory capacity for letters under the dysfunctional math-related context, relative to working memory capacity performance under the valence-neutral context, was poorer overall in the high-math-anxious group compared with the low-math-anxious group. The findings show a particular difficulty employing working memory in math-related contexts in high-math-anxious participants. Theories that can provide reasonable interpretations for these findings and interventions that can reduce anxiety-induced worrying intrusive thoughts or improve working memory capacity for math anxiety are discussed.

Influence of facial skin ageing characteristics on the perceived age in a Russian female population.

Science.gov (United States)

Merinville, E; Grennan, G Z; Gillbro, J M; Mathieu, J; Mavon, A

2015-10-01

The desire for a youthful look remains a powerful motivator in the purchase of cosmetics by women globally. To develop an anti-ageing solution that targets the need of end consumers, it is critical to understand which signs of ageing really matter to them and which influence their age perception. To date, such research has not been performed in a Russian population. The aim of this work was to identify the signs of ageing that contribute the most to an 'older' or 'younger' look for Russian women aged 40 years old and above. The age of 203 Russian female volunteers was estimated from their standard photographs by a total of 629 female naïve assessors aged 20-65 years old. Perceived age data were related to 23 facial skin features previously measured using linear correlation coefficients. Differences in average severity of the correlating skin ageing features were evaluated between women perceived older and women perceived younger than their chronological age. Volunteers' responses to a ranking question on their key ageing skin concerns previously collected were analysed to provide an additional view on facial ageing from the consumer perspective. Nine facial skin ageing features were found to correlate the most with perceived age out of the 23 measured. Such results showed the importance of wrinkles in the upper part of the face (crow's feet, glabellar, under eye and forehead wrinkles), but also wrinkles in the lower half of the face associated with facial sagging (upper lip, nasolabial fold). Sagging was confirmed of key importance to female volunteers aged 41-65 years old who were mostly concerned by the sagging of their jawline, ahead of under eye and crow's feet wrinkle. The severity of hyperpigmented spots, red and brown, was also found to contribute to perceived age although to a weaker extent. By providing a clear view on the signs of ageing really matter to Russian women who are aged 40 years old and above, this research offers key information for the

Determination of the nutritional status of a population of school-age ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Nutrition assessment in the community is essential for accurate planning and implementation of intervention programmes to reduce the morbidity and mortality that are associated with malnutrition. Objective: This study is aimed at determining the nutritional status of a population of school-age children in ...

Similar patterns of age-specific reproduction in an island and mainland population of great tits Parus major

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouwhuis, S.; Van Noordwijk, A.J.; Sheldon, B.C.; Verhulst, S.; Visser, M.E.

2010-01-01

The process of ageing was long thought to be too infrequent to affect life-histories in natural populations. Long-term studies have, however, recently demonstrated ageing to be ubiquitous even in the wild, although confounding factors, such as emigration instead of mortality, or inter-population

Dynamic of age structure and the number of population in Ozyorsk and affecting factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panchenko, O.; Rtischeva, M.

2001-01-01

In connection with serious social-economic and ecological problems in our country an analysis of demographic processes in cities of atomic industry causes a big of interest. The aim of this work was an evaluation of dynamic of age structure of population of city Ozyorsk, based in connection with creation of nuclear plant 'Mayak' of 'first-born' of atomic industry in Russia. Data received in city's administration, included the information about number of population, its age composition taking into account of natural increase and of migration processes for a period from 1959 to 1997. (authors)

Risk and Aging Vascular in a city population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enrique Ruiz Mori

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Objetive: Cardiovascular diseases that every year have more prevalence in the country, are the product of risky factors, many of them modifiable and preventable. The objective of the present study has been to know and analyze the factors of cardiovascular risk and determine the vascular age in the population of Lima. Material and methods: A descriptive cross sectional study, carried out in March 2016, in the southern, northern and eastern cones of Metropolitan Lima, in people older than 30 and younger than 75 years old. The survey structured for the study collected the following variables: gender, age, arterial hypertension, smoking, diabetes, physical activity and type of diet. Blood presure, weight and tall were recorded. Results: In total, 485 participants were included, 197 men and 288 women. The age was 49,5± 9,9 years old. The more frequent risky factor was the unhealthy diet (47,6%, followed by sedentary lifestyle (42,5%. Arterial hypertension was observed in 20,8%, being more frequent in men. 85.2% did not smoke and overweight was found in 47.2%, being its frequency higher in women. The low risk was determined in 60,4% and it was predominant in women, while higher risk was 18.6% in men. The average cardiovascular age was higher in 1,4 years compared to the chronological age beign more marked in men, in whom the difference was 5,8 years between 50 and 59 years old. Conclusions: The more frecuente cardiovascular risk has been unhealthy diet followed by sedentary lifestyle. The high risk was 18,6% predominating in

Reliability of third molar development for age estimation in Gujarati population: A comparative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gandhi, Neha; Jain, Sandeep; Kumar, Manish; Rupakar, Pratik; Choyal, Kanaram; Prajapati, Seema

2015-01-01

Age assessment may be a crucial step in postmortem profiling leading to confirmative identification. In children, Demirjian's method based on eight developmental stages was developed to determine maturity scores as a function of age and polynomial functions to determine age as a function of score. Of this study was to evaluate the reliability of age estimation using Demirjian's eight teeth method following the French maturity scores and Indian-specific formula from developmental stages of third molar with the help of orthopantomograms using the Demirjian method. Dental panoramic tomograms from 30 subjects each of known chronological age and sex were collected and were evaluated according to Demirjian's criteria. Age calculations were performed using Demirjian's formula and Indian formula. Statistical analysis used was Chi-square test and ANOVA test and the P values obtained were statistically significant. There was an average underestimation of age with both Indian and Demirjian's formulas. The mean absolute error was lower using Indian formula hence it can be applied for age estimation in present Gujarati population. Also, females were ahead of achieving dental maturity than males thus completion of dental development is attained earlier in females. Greater accuracy can be obtained if population-specific formulas considering the ethnic and environmental variation are derived performing the regression analysis.

Fertility, Mortality and Age Composition Effects of Population Transition in China and India: 1950-2015

OpenAIRE

Chaurasia, Aalok Ranjan

2017-01-01

"This paper compares the population transition in China and India during 1950-2015 by decomposing population growth into the growth attributed to the changes in fertility and mortality (intrinsic growth), and the growth attributed to the change in population age composition (momentum growth). The analysis reveals similarities and differences in the population transition path followed by the two countries and suggests that India lags behind China by about 30 years in terms of population transi...

The role of cues, self-efficacy, level of worry, and high-risk behaviors in college student condom use.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahoney, C A

1995-01-01

A sample of 879 undergraduate students were recruited from a public university in western New York state during the 1993-94 academic year in order to study condom use among sexually active young people 18-24 years old. A 104-item questionnaire was administered consisting of 5 instruments and single-item measures of sexual behavior and demographics. The instruments were: the Condom Use Self-Efficacy Scale (CUSES), the Perceived Barriers to Condom Use, the Perceived Susceptibility to HIV/AIDS and other STDs, the Cues to Condom Action Scale, and the Perceived Norms scale. 92% of students reported having had sexual intercourse in the past, while 86.75 reported having sexual intercourse in the previous year. About 61% reported having 1 sex partner in the previous 12 months, whereas 35.2% reported having 3 or more partners. 22.4% reported 2 or more 1-night stands. 54.5% reported worrying about HIV/AIDS occasionally, while 23.1% reported doing so frequently. 17.2% (99) of the students were classified as non-users of condoms, 50.2% (289) as sporadic users, and 32.6% (188) as consistent users. 78 (12%) could not be classified. A multiple discriminant function analysis was also conducted to distinguish among the 3 condom user groups totalling 576 cases. The variables were age, gender, frequency of drunkenness during sexual intercourse, number of sex partners, and number of 1-night stands in the past 12 months, perceived barriers, worrying about HIV/AIDS, perceived susceptibility, condom use self-efficacy, and cues to condom action. Two significant functions emerged. Function 1 clearly separated the sporadic users from the consistent users (p 0.001), while Function 2 clearly separated the sporadic users from the non-users (p 0.001). The discriminating variables correctly classified 64.58% of the respondents into the 3 condom user groups. The variables were most effective at correctly classifying non-users (68.7%), consistent users (67.8%), and sporadic users (61.2%). Sporadic

Determination of the sterile release rate for stopping growing age-structured populations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barclay, Hugh John

2016-01-01

A freely-growing age-structured population was modelled for growth and control by sterile male releases. Equilibrium populations yield critical sterile male release rates that would hold the population at equilibrium. It is shown here that these rates may be different from the release rates required to stop a growing population and bring it to an equilibrium. A computer simulation was constructed of this population and a parameter sensitivity analysis graphed the effects on the required sterile male release rate of fertility, mating delay in adult females, net juvenile survivorship, three adult survivorship curves, the time spent in the juvenile stages, and total life span. The adult survivorship curves had the greatest effect on the required sterile release rate for population elimination. The required release rate was also determined for Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) using survivorship and fertility data from a laboratory strain. The concepts of over-flooding ratio and release ratio were discussed and quantified for the cases above. (author)

Age-Specific Bacteriological Profile of Pediatric Septicemia; A Population- Based Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seyyed Shahin Eftekhari

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Background Septicemia is a life-threatening condition particularly among pediatric population. Early initiating a proper empiric antimicrobial treatment prior to definite isolation of the pathogen through blood culture has pivotal role in reducing further mortality and morbidity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological properties of a distinct Iranian population by patients’ age and gender throughout the year. Materials and Methods As a retrospective study between March 2013 and March 2017, all consecutive patients referred to the Hazrat Masumeh hospital of Qom-Iran with suspicious of septicemia were reviewed. Patients with prior history of antibiotic consumption as well as patients over 6 years of age were excluded; incomplete hospital records were also excluded from further evaluations. Prespecified data-extraction forms were used to collect data including characteristics of patients and the results of antibiogram. Results Total of 378 patients were enrolled in this study and 200 of them were boys (52.91%. Escherichia coli (11.6% and Klebsiella (9.5% were the most common isolated pathogens (Gram-negative after coagulase-negatives. Escherichia coli, Citrobacter (Gram-negative, and Staph. Aureus (Gram-positive were the most common pathogens among age group of 0-1 year. Winter had the greatest outbreak of bacteremia (29.1% and the autumn had the least incidence (21.4%. The least and the most antimicrobial resistance were associated with Imipenem (1.8% and Ampicillin (78.78%, respectively. Conclusion Escherichia coliand Klebsiella were the most common isolated bacteria in patients suspected to bacteremia in our region. Imipenem and Ampicillin had the least and the most antimicrobial resistance in our population, respectively.

Health anxiety and medical utilization: The moderating effect of age among patients in primary care.

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Fergus, Thomas A; Griggs, Jackson O; Cunningham, Scott C; Kelley, Lance P

2017-10-01

Health anxiety is commonly seen in medical clinics and is related to the overutilization of primary care services, but existing studies have not yet considered the possible moderating effect of age. We examined if age moderated the association between health anxiety and medical utilization. A secondary aim was to examine potential racial/ethnic differences in health anxiety. An ethnoracially diverse group of patients (N=533) seeking treatment from a primary care clinic completed a self-report measure of health anxiety. Three indices of medical utilization were assessed using medical records, including the number of: (a) clinic visits over the past two years, (b) current medications, and (c) lab tests over the past two years. Age moderated the effect of health anxiety on multiple indices of medical utilization. Supplemental analyses found that the moderating effect of age was specific to a somatic/body preoccupation, rather than health worry, dimension of health anxiety. Mean-level differences in health anxiety were either not supported (health anxiety composite, somatic/body preoccupation) or were small in magnitude (health worry) among self-identifying Black, Latino, and White participants. Results indicate that assessing for health anxiety could be particularly important for older adult patients who frequently seek out medical services. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kron 3: a fourth intermediate age cluster in the SMC with evidence of multiple populations

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Hollyhead, K.; Lardo, C.; Kacharov, N.; Bastian, N.; Hilker, M.; Rejkuba, M.; Koch, A.; Grebel, E. K.; Georgiev, I.

2018-05-01

We present the results of a spectroscopic study of the intermediate age (≈6.5 Gyr) massive cluster Kron 3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We measure CN and CH band strengths (at ≃3839 and 4300 Å, respectively) using VLT FORS2 spectra of 16 cluster members and find a sub-population of five stars enriched in nitrogen. We conclude that this is evidence for multiple populations in Kron 3, the fourth intermediate age cluster, after Lindsay 1, NGC 416 and NGC 339 (ages 6-8 Gyr), to display this phenomenon originally thought to be a unique characteristic of old globular clusters. At ≈6.5 Gyr this is one of the youngest clusters with multiple populations, indicating that the mechanism responsible for their onset must operate until a redshift of at least 0.75, much later than the peak of globular cluster formation at redshift ˜3.

Population and labour force projections for 27 European countries, 2002-052: impact of international migration on population ageing: Projections de population et de population active pour 27 pays européens 2002-052: impact de la migration internationale sur le vieillissement de la population.

Science.gov (United States)

Bijak, Jakub; Kupiszewska, Dorota; Kupiszewski, Marek; Saczuk, Katarzyna; Kicinger, Anna

2007-03-01

Population and labour force projections are made for 27 selected European countries for 2002-052, focussing on the impact of international migration on population and labour force dynamics. Starting from single scenarios for fertility, mortality and economic activity, three sets of assumptions are explored regarding migration flows, taking into account probable policy developments in Europe following the enlargement of the EU. In addition to age structures, various support ratio indicators are analysed. The results indicate that plausible immigration cannot offset the negative effects of population and labour force ageing.

Why is the age-standardized incidence of low-trauma fractures rising in many elderly populations?

Science.gov (United States)

Kannus, Pekka; Niemi, Seppo; Parkkari, Jari; Palvanen, Mika; Heinonen, Ari; Sievänen, Harri; Järvinen, Teppo; Khan, Karim; Järvinen, Markku

2002-08-01

Low-trauma fractures of elderly people are a major public health burden worldwide, and as the number and mean age of older adults in the population continue to increase, the number of fractures is also likely to increase. Epidemiologically, however, an additional concern is that, for unknown reasons, the age-standardized incidence (average individual risk) of fracture has also risen in many populations during the recent decades. Possible reasons for this rise include a birth cohort effect, deterioration in the average bone strength by time, and increased average risk of (serious) falls. Literature provides evidence that the rise is not due to a birth cohort effect, whereas no study shows whether bone fragility has increased during this relatively short period of time. This osteoporosis hypothesis could, however, be tested if researchers would now repeat the population measurements of bone mass and density that were made in the late 1980s and the 1990s. If such studies proved that women's and men's age-standardized mean values of bone mass and density have declined over time, the osteoporosis hypothesis would receive scientific support. The third explanation is based on the hypothesis that the number and/or severity of falls has risen in elderly populations during the recent decades. Although no study has directly tested this hypothesis, a great deal of indirect epidemiologic evidence supports this contention. For example, the age-standardized incidence of fall-induced severe head injuries, bruises and contusions, and joint distortions and dislocations has increased among elderly people similarly to the low-trauma fractures. The fall hypothesis could also be tested in the coming years because the 1990s saw many research teams reporting age- and sex-specific incidences of falling for elderly populations, and the same could be done now to provide data comparing the current incidence rates of falls with the earlier ones.

Live long and prosper: challenges ahead for an aging population

OpenAIRE

Erica L. Groshen; Thomas Klitgaard

2002-01-01

Over the next thirty years, the percentage of people who are 65 and over will grow rapidly while the percentage of people in their working years will decline. This shift in the age distribution of the population will put enormous pressure on social security systems in the United States, Germany, and Japan as the number of workers whose payroll taxes fund each retiree drops sharply.

Durbolota (weakness), chinta rog (worry illness), and poverty: explanations of white discharge among married adolescent women in an urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Rashid, Sabina Faiz

2007-03-01

I carried out ethnographic fieldwork among 153 married adolescent girls, aged 15-19, in a Dhaka slum from December 2001 to January 2003, including 50 in-depth interviews and eight case studies. I also held discussions with family and community members. In this article, I focus on popular understandings of vaginal discharge being caused by durbolota (weakness) and chinta rog (worry illness), as mentioned by young women. Eighty-eight young women reported that they had experienced white discharge, blaming it on a number of factors such as stress and financial hardships, tensions in the household, marital instability, hunger anxiety, and reproductive burdens. For married adolescent women in the urban slum, white discharge has many levels of meaning linked to the broader social, political, and material inequalities in their everyday lives.

Population biology of intestinal Enterococcus Isolates from hospitalized and nonhospitalized individuals in different age groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tedim, Ana P.; Ruiz-Garbajosa, Patricia; Corander, Jukka; Rodríguez, Concepción M.; Cantón, Rafael; Willems, Rob J.; Baquero, Fernando; Coque, Teresa M.

2015-01-01

The diversity of enterococcal populations from fecal samples from hospitalized (n=133) and nonhospitalized individuals (n= 173) of different age groups (group I, ages 0 to 19 years; group II, ages 20 to 59 years; group III, ages≥60 years) was analyzed. Enterococci were recovered at similar rates

Ages and stages questionnaires: adaptation to an Arabic speaking population and cultural sensitivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Charafeddine, Lama; Sinno, Durriyah; Ammous, Farah; Yassin, Walid; Al-Shaar, Laila; Mikati, Mohamad A

2013-09-01

Early detection of developmental delay is essential to initiate early intervention. The Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) correlate well with physician's assessment and have high predictive value. No such tool exists in Arabic. Translate and test the applicability and reliability of Arabic translated Ages and Stages Questionnaires (A-ASQ) in an Arabic speaking population. 733 healthy children were assessed. ASQ-II for 10 age groups (4-60 months) were translated to Arabic, back translations and cultural adaptation were performed. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were evaluated using Pearson Correlation Coefficient (CC) and Cronbach's alpha (Cα). Mean scores per domain were compared to US normative scores using t-test. A-ASQ, after culturally relevant adaptations, was easily administered for 4-36 months age groups but not for 4-5 year old due to numerous cultural differences in the later. For the 4-36 month age groups Pearson CC ranged from 0.345 to 0.833. The internal consistency coefficients Cα scores ranged from 0.111 to 0.816. Significant differences were found in the mean domain scores of all age groups between Lebanese and US normative sample (p-value internal consistency and reliability in the younger age groups. It proved to be culturally sensitive, which should be taken into consideration when adapting such tool to non-western populations. Copyright © 2013 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cardiovascular risk factors: Is the metabolic syndrome related to aging? Epidemiology in a Portuguese population.

Science.gov (United States)

Ribeiro, Armindo Sousa; Seixas, Rui; Gálvez, Juan Manuel; Climent, Vicente

2018-05-16

The primary objective of our study is to determine the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in the population. The secondary objective is to determine the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, anthropometric alterations and the prevalence of target organ damage and their relationship with aging. The sample for the study was obtained by means of a consecutive population-based demonstration in 803 adults over 18 years of age belonging to the labor force of the company Grupo Delta SA. The study was carried out according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. The individuals included in the study voluntarily participated, once informed of the purpose of the study, giving their prior verbal consent, to the company's human resources department, in the case of Delta Group workers. 23.8% of the population has metabolic syndrome more prevalent in males, no smoking, no significant alcohol consumption, sedentary, with a high Body mass index (BMI). Its prevalence increases with age. We found that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome increases with age and is present in people of working age, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, work-related absences, and socio-economic costs. Copyright © 2018 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modelling Anopheles gambiae s.s. Population Dynamics with Temperature- and Age-Dependent Survival

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Céline Christiansen-Jucht

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Climate change and global warming are emerging as important threats to human health, particularly through the potential increase in vector- and water-borne diseases. Environmental variables are known to affect substantially the population dynamics and abundance of the poikilothermic vectors of disease, but the exact extent of this sensitivity is not well established. Focusing on malaria and its main vector in Africa, Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto, we present a set of novel mathematical models of climate-driven mosquito population dynamics motivated by experimental data suggesting that in An. gambiae, mortality is temperature and age dependent. We compared the performance of these models to that of a “standard” model ignoring age dependence. We used a longitudinal dataset of vector abundance over 36 months in sub-Saharan Africa for comparison between models that incorporate age dependence and one that does not, and observe that age-dependent models consistently fitted the data better than the reference model. This highlights that including age dependence in the vector component of mosquito-borne disease models may be important to predict more reliably disease transmission dynamics. Further data and studies are needed to enable improved fitting, leading to more accurate and informative model predictions for the An. gambiae malaria vector as well as for other disease vectors.

Wheezing, Sleeping, and Worrying: The Hidden Risks of Asthma and Obesity in School-Age Children

Science.gov (United States)

Fiese, Barbara H.; Everhart, Robin S.; Wildenger, Leah

2009-01-01

The present study investigated the co-occurrence of asthma and obesity in a sample of 193 children (mean age = 7.76 years). Specifically, this study was interested in delineating the associated comorbidities of internalizing symptoms and sleep disruptions among younger (younger than 7 years) and older elementary age children with asthma who were…

Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the Middle-age Population: A Priority for the Health System.

Science.gov (United States)

Khabazkhoob, Mehdi; Emamian, Mohammad Hassan; Hashemi, Hassan; Shariati, Mohammad; Fotouhi, Akbar

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity and their associated factors in the middle-aged population of Shahroud, North of Iran. In a population-based cross-sectional study with random cluster sampling, 300 clusters of Shahroud (north of Iran) were randomly selected from the 40-64 yr old population of the city, during 2009 and 2010. Upon enrollment, participants were weighed on digital scales and their heights were measured under standard conditions. Overweight and obesity were defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25-29.9 kg/m 2 and a BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 , respectively. Of the 6311 selected people, 5190 people (82.2%) participated in the study. Their mean age was 50.9±6.2 yr, and 2977 of them were women (57.4%). Age and gender standardized mean BMI in the study population were 28.1 kg/m 2 (95% CI: 27.9-28.2). Age and gender-standardized prevalence of BMI≥25 was 74.4% (95% CI: 73.0-75.8); 43.4% (95% CI 44.8-42.0) were overweight and 31.0% (95% CI 32.5-29.6) were obese. Overweight, Obesity and a BMI ≥25 prevalence's were significantly higher in women ( P <0.001). In the multiple logistic regression models, female gender and higher economic status were significantly correlated with BMI≥25. In addition, people over the age of 54 yr were more likely to have BMI≥25 than those in the 40-44 yr age range ( P <0.001). The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the present study, especially in women, was higher than that reported from previous studies in Iran. Considering prevention, programs for overweight and obesity-related are suggested as a priority for the health system in this population.

The third molar maturity index in indicating the legal adult age in Kosovar population.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelmendi, Jeta; Cameriere, Roberto; Koçani, Ferit; Galić, Ivan; Mehmeti, Blerim; Vodanović, Marin

2017-12-16

The third molar tooth, known as the "wisdom tooth," is the only tooth that can be used to determine legal adult age. This study aimed to test the accuracy of Cameriere's third molar maturity index (I 3M ) in assessing the legal adult age of 18 years in the Kosovar population. Orthopantomographs (OPTs) of 1221 healthy living Kosovar individuals, aged between 12 and 23 years and with no congenital or developmental anomalies, were analyzed. Intra-class correlation coefficients were 0.858 (95% CI, 0.786 to 0.906) and 0.852 (95% CI, 0.779 to 0.903) for intra-rater and for inter-rater agreement, respectively. The sample was divided into training dataset (800 OPTs) and test dataset (421 OPTs). The training dataset was used to generate the logistic regression model, while the test dataset was used to study the performance of the model. I 3M and gender as independent variables and adult age (≥ 18 years) or minor age (age. The results showed that only I 3M statistically significantly contributed to discriminating adults and minors. ROC analysis showed that the cut-off value of I 3M  age gradually increased. The performance of the cut-off value of I 3M  age in a Kosovar population.

Perception of aging and ageism among women in Qatar.

Science.gov (United States)

Musaiger, Abdulrahman O; D'Souza, Reshma; Al-Roomi, Khaldoon

2013-01-01

The objective of this study was to find out the perceptions of age and aging among women in Qatar. Respondents consisted of 250 women aged between 20 and 70 years, selected from those attending the health centers in Doha city, the capital of Qatar. They were interviewed using a pretested validated questionnaire, and data were collected through direct face-to-face interviews using the incidental sampling method. It was found that physical appearance and mental alertness were the most important criteria for defining aging in men and women. A statistically significant association was found between age of respondents and physical criteria for aging such as hair color (p age of women studied. Both positive (socializing factors, independence, housework, retirement, and geriatric care) and negative stereotyping (care for self, learning capabilities, irritability, and worries) with regard to aging were evident among the Qatari women. In general, Qatari women had several positive attitudes toward aging. Such attitudes could be utilized in any health promotion for elderly people.

Dyslipidemia and its risk factors among urban middle-aged Iranians: A population-based study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebrahimi, Hossein; Emamian, Mohammad Hassan; Hashemi, Hassan; Fotouhi, Akbar

2016-01-01

Dyslipidemia is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is a leading cause of mortality in developed and developing countries. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of dyslipidemia and its risk factors in an urban group of Iranian adult population. In this study, based on the criteria set by the National Cholesterol Education Program, the prevalence of dyslipidemia was evaluated in a population of 4737 people aged 45-69 years who participated in the second phase of an ophthalmology cohort study in Shahroud. Dyslipidemia prevalence was determined by age, sex, and risk factors of the disease; the findings were tested by using simple and multiple logistic regression. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was 66.5% (CI 95%: 64.4-68.6) in males, 61.3% (CI 95%: 59.5-63.2) in females, and 63.4% (CI 95%: 62.0-64.9%) in both sexes. The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, low HDL-C, and high LDL-C, respectively, was 28.8%, 13.4%, 42.3%, and 13.4%, respectively. In multivariate logistic regression model, increase of age (for females), abdominal obesity, overweight and obesity, hypertension, and diabetes were associated with an increased odd of dyslipidemia. The prevalence of dyslipidemia in middle-aged urban population in Iran is high, and with increasing age there is an increased risk of dyslipidemia. Hence, considering the growing trend of aging in Iran, there is need for taking special measures to deal with dyslipidemia as a health priority. Furthermore, the need for planning in order to reduce the risk of dyslipidemia and prevent its complications is greater than ever. Copyright © 2016 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Capturing early signs of deterioration: the dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score and its value in the Rapid Response System

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Douw, G.; Huisman-de Waal, G.J.; Zanten, A.R. van; Hoeven, J.G. van der; Schoonhoven, L.

2017-01-01

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To determine the predictive value of individual and combined dutch-early-nurse-worry-indicator-score indicators at various Early Warning Score levels, differentiating between Early Warning Scores reaching the trigger threshold to call a rapid response team and Early Warning

Spain: promoting the welfare of older adults in the context of population aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Serrano, Juan P; Latorre, José M; Gatz, Margaret

2014-10-01

Spain is one of the European countries with the most significant societal changes in the 21st century contributing to an aging population, in particular, high life expectancy coupled with low fertility, which will result in a doubling of the old-age dependency ratio. Demographic aging implies important challenges that affect the lives of people, families, the economy, public finances, and the reorganization of the health and social systems. Currently, the older population has become particularly vulnerable due to the economic crisis taking place in Spain, which has brought about the need for new policies and systems to protect older persons. The pension system is under the greatest threat in conjunction with possible changes in the national health care system. This report presents a general view of the main factors that surround and affect older adults in Spain, as well as policies developed by the government in response to the current and future situation. We highlight demographic predictions for the coming decades, quality-of-life indicators, situations of dependency, active aging policies, and the main research programs related to gerontology in Spain. © Crown copyright 2014.

The implications of increased survivorship for mortality variation in aging populations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Engelman, Michal; Canudas-Romo, Vladimir; Agree, Emily M

2010-01-01

The remarkable growth in life expectancy during the twentieth century inspired predictions of a future in which all people, not just a fortunate few, will live long lives ending at or near the maximum human life span. We show that increased longevity has been accompanied by less variation in ages...... at death, but survivors to the oldest ages have grown increasingly heterogeneous in their mortality risks. These trends are consistent across countries, and apply even to populations with record-low variability in the length of life. We argue that as a result of continuing improvements in survival, delayed...

Ensuring living condition for ageing population by public–private partnership (PPP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konjar Miha

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Lack of financial resources has become one of the main issues in fulfilling social and physical needs in urban development. The declining levels of public resources make the collaboration between public and private investors necessary. When facing the challenges of ageing population, shared investment may contribute to the appropriate development of sheltered housing to meet the goals of spatial planning as well as certain standards at the level of urban design. By ensuring appropriate living conditions for all generations such urban PPP projects may contribute to the fulfilment of the public interest. The paper presents practice of PPP implementation in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where local authority with the collaboration of private partners ensured more than 400 sheltered apartments in the last years. Examples show the extension of the idea from the 70s onwards in finding new models of housing for the aging population. The development of new models can be a good example of strengthening the cooperation between public and private partners in the field of urban development practice.

Ensuring living condition for ageing population by public-private partnership (PPP)

Science.gov (United States)

Konjar, Miha; Nikšič, Matej; Grom, Janez Peter; Mujkić, Sabina; Fikfak, Alenka

2018-03-01

Lack of financial resources has become one of the main issues in fulfilling social and physical needs in urban development. The declining levels of public resources make the collaboration between public and private investors necessary. When facing the challenges of ageing population, shared investment may contribute to the appropriate development of sheltered housing to meet the goals of spatial planning as well as certain standards at the level of urban design. By ensuring appropriate living conditions for all generations such urban PPP projects may contribute to the fulfilment of the public interest. The paper presents practice of PPP implementation in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where local authority with the collaboration of private partners ensured more than 400 sheltered apartments in the last years. Examples show the extension of the idea from the 70s onwards in finding new models of housing for the aging population. The development of new models can be a good example of strengthening the cooperation between public and private partners in the field of urban development practice.

Cross-population validation of statistical distance as a measure of physiological dysregulation during aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Alan A; Milot, Emmanuel; Li, Qing; Legault, Véronique; Fried, Linda P; Ferrucci, Luigi

2014-09-01

Measuring physiological dysregulation during aging could be a key tool both to understand underlying aging mechanisms and to predict clinical outcomes in patients. However, most existing indices are either circular or hard to interpret biologically. Recently, we showed that statistical distance of 14 common blood biomarkers (a measure of how strange an individual's biomarker profile is) was associated with age and mortality in the WHAS II data set, validating its use as a measure of physiological dysregulation. Here, we extend the analyses to other data sets (WHAS I and InCHIANTI) to assess the stability of the measure across populations. We found that the statistical criteria used to determine the original 14 biomarkers produced diverging results across populations; in other words, had we started with a different data set, we would have chosen a different set of markers. Nonetheless, the same 14 markers (or the subset of 12 available for InCHIANTI) produced highly similar predictions of age and mortality. We include analyses of all combinatorial subsets of the markers and show that results do not depend much on biomarker choice or data set, but that more markers produce a stronger signal. We conclude that statistical distance as a measure of physiological dysregulation is stable across populations in Europe and North America. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age estimation using the radiographic visibility of the periodontal ligament in lower third molars in a Portuguese population.

Science.gov (United States)

Sequeira, Catarina-Dourado; Teixeira, Alexandra; Caldas, Inês-Morais; Afonso, Américo; Pérez-Mongiovi, Daniel

2014-12-01

The mineralization of third molars has been used repeatedly as a method of forensic age estimation. However, this procedure is of little use beyond age 18, especially to determinate if an individual is older than 21 years of age; thus, the development of new approaches is essential. The visibility of the periodontal ligament has been suggested for this purpose. The aim of this work was to determine the usefulness of this methodology in a Portuguese population. Periodontal ligament visibility was assessed in the lower third molars, using a sample of 487 orthopantomograms, 228 of which belonging to females and 259 to males, from a Portuguese population aged 17 to 31 years. A classification of four stages based on the visual phenomenon of disappearance of the periodontal ligament of fully mineralized third molars was used. For each stage, median, variance, minimal and maximal age were assessed. The relationship between age and stage of periodontal ligament had a statistical significance for both sexes. In this population, stage 3 can be used to state that a male person is over 21 years-old; for females, another marker should be used. This technique can be useful for determining age over 21, particularly in males. Differences between studies are evident, suggesting that specific population standards should be used when applying this technique. Key words:Forensic sciences, forensic odontology, age estimation, third molar, periodontal ligament.

Changes of population by age and gender structure of Regions in the Republic of Macedonia

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Resul Hamiti

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the changes of population by age and the gender structure in the regions of the Republic of Macedonia. Age and gender is very important not only for the development of demographic process but also for the development of regions. They play an important role in planning the health care needs and other services with the socio-economic and cultural character. In this sense they affect the performance of demographic processes (births, deaths, marriages, etc. and are a result of bilateral relations fertility, mortality, migration movements and other social processes. The main objective of this paper is to identify the aging phenomenon of population in state level and regions. This paper also dedicates special importance to the changes of age and sex structure, during the period between1981-2014 in the regions of the republic of Macedonia.

Age-Sex Structure of the Population and Demographic Processes in Environmentally Challenged Mining Region (on the example of Kemerovo region)

Science.gov (United States)

Leshukov, Timofey; Brel, Olga; Zaytseva, Anna; Kaizer, Philipp; Makarov, Kirill

2017-11-01

The main goal of the article is to show the influence of the age-sex structure of the population on the basic demographic processes in the Kemerovo region. During research the authors have established correlation links between the sex-age structure of the population and the main demographic indicators (birth and mortality rate, morbidity rate, migration and others) based on the analysis of official statistical data. The direct influence of internal and external factors on the age-sex structure of the population is revealed. Conclusions about the impact of demographic processes on the sex-age structure of the population of the Kemerovo region are drawn.

Ethnicity, Effort, Self-Efficacy, Worry, and Statistics Achievement in Malaysia: A Construct Validation of the State-Trait Motivation Model

Science.gov (United States)

Awang-Hashim, Rosa; O'Neil, Harold F., Jr.; Hocevar, Dennis

2002-01-01

The relations between motivational constructs, effort, self-efficacy and worry, and statistics achievement were investigated in a sample of 360 undergraduates in Malaysia. Both trait (cross-situational) and state (task-specific) measures of each construct were used to test a mediational trait (r) state (r) performance (TSP) model. As hypothesized,…

Worrying Thoughts Limit Working Memory Capacity in Math Anxiety.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhan Shi

Full Text Available Sixty-one high-math-anxious persons and sixty-one low-math-anxious persons completed a modified working memory capacity task, designed to measure working memory capacity under a dysfunctional math-related context and working memory capacity under a valence-neutral context. Participants were required to perform simple tasks with emotionally benign material (i.e., lists of letters over short intervals while simultaneously reading and making judgments about sentences describing dysfunctional math-related thoughts or sentences describing emotionally-neutral facts about the world. Working memory capacity for letters under the dysfunctional math-related context, relative to working memory capacity performance under the valence-neutral context, was poorer overall in the high-math-anxious group compared with the low-math-anxious group. The findings show a particular difficulty employing working memory in math-related contexts in high-math-anxious participants. Theories that can provide reasonable interpretations for these findings and interventions that can reduce anxiety-induced worrying intrusive thoughts or improve working memory capacity for math anxiety are discussed.

Relative risks for stroke by age, sex, and population based on follow-up of 18 European populations in the MORGAM Project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asplund, Kjell; Karvanen, Juha; Giampaoli, Simona

2009-01-01

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Within the framework of the MOnica Risk, Genetics, Archiving and Monograph (MORGAM) Project, the variations in impact of classical risk factors of stroke by population, sex, and age were analyzed. METHODS: Follow-up data were collected in 43 cohorts in 18 populations in 8...... European countries surveyed for cardiovascular risk factors. In 93 695 persons aged 19 to 77 years and free of major cardiovascular disease at baseline, total observation years were 1 234 252 and the number of stroke events analyzed was 3142. Hazard ratios were calculated by Cox regression analyses....... RESULTS: Each year of age increased the risk of stroke (fatal and nonfatal together) by 9% (95% CI, 9% to 10%) in men and by 10% (9% to 10%) in women. A 10-mm Hg increase in systolic blood pressure involved a similar increase in risk in men (28%; 24% to 32%) and women (25%; 20% to 29%). Smoking conferred...

Health-Related Quality of Life in Cervical Cancer Survivors: A Population-Based Survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korfage, Ida J.; Essink-Bot, Marie-Louise; Mols, Floortje; Poll-Franse, Lonneke van de; Kruitwagen, Roy; Ballegooijen, Marjolein van

2009-01-01

Purpose: In a population-based sample of cervical cancer survivors, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed 2-10 years postdiagnosis. Methods and Materials: All patients given a diagnosis of cervical cancer in 1995-2003 in the Eindhoven region, The Netherlands, and alive after Jan 2006 were identified through the cancer registry. Generic HRQoL (36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, EQ-5D), cervical cancer-specific HRQoL (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life questionnaire cervical cancer module), and anxiety (6-item State Trait Anxiety Inventory) were assessed and compared with a reference population (n = 349). Data for tumor characteristics at diagnosis and disease progression were available. Results: A total of 291 women responded (69%), with a mean age of 53 ± 13 (SD) years (range, 31-88 years). Treatment had consisted of surgery (n = 195) or a combination of therapies (n = 75); one woman had not been treated. Of all women, 85% were clinically disease free, 2% had a recurrence/metastasis, and in 13%, this was unknown. After controlling for background characteristics (age, education, job and marital status, having children, and country of birth), generic HRQoL scale scores were similar to the reference population, except for worse mental health in survivors. The most frequent symptoms were crampy pain in the abdomen or belly (17%), urinary leakage (15%), menopausal symptoms (18%), and problems with sexual activity. Compared with the 6-10-year survivors, more sexual worry and worse body image were reported by the 2-5-year survivors. Compared with surgery only, especially primary radiotherapy was associated with an increased frequency of treatment-related side effects, also after controlling for age and disease stage at diagnosis and follow-up. Conclusions: Most cervical cancer survivors were coping well, although their mental health was worse than in the reference population. Even after 2-10 years, radiotherapy was

Substance Use Disorders and Related Health Problems in an Aging Offender Population.

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Gates, Madison L; Staples-Horne, Michelle; Walker, Veronica; Turney, Asher

2017-01-01

Substance use disorders (SUD), including alcohol and tobacco, have been associated with chronic, infectious diseases, and mental health disorders. Few studies have examined associations between SUD and health issues for aging offenders (≥ 45 years old), who may have been long-term users. This study investigated associations between SUD and health problems in a prison population (men and women). We included 10,988 offenders, of whom 26.8% were aging. Aging offenders were more likely than younger peers to have health problems, such as cardiovascular diseases and hypertension, (80.8% compared with 63.6%). We found that aging African Americans with SUD had greater odds for being diagnosed with chronic conditions than White peers (p <.0001). Controlling for SUD, cardiovascular disease emerged as the most significant and frequently associated health problem for aging offenders. Results suggest a need to focus on the health of aging offenders with a history of SUD, particularly African Americans.

Are modern health worries, environmental concerns, or paranormal beliefs associated with perceptions of the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine?

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Jeswani, Mamta; Furnham, Adrian

2010-09-01

To investigate to what extent paranormal beliefs, modern health worries (MHWs), and environmental concerns were related to beliefs about, and behaviour associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Of the participants, 150 completed a four-part questionnaire measuring use and perception of CAM, MHWs, paranormal beliefs, and environmental concerns. A factor analysis on the CAM questions revealed three clear components, labelled efficacy of CAM, attitudes to CAM, and safety of CAM. Age, total MHWs, paranormal beliefs, and environmental concerns were used as predictor variables in regression analyses with efficacy as criterion variable. Age was found to be a significantly related to efficacy of CAM. When total MHW score, paranormal belief score, and environmental concern score were added to the model, the r(2) increased by 29%. Environmental concern did not significantly relate to efficacy but spiritualism beliefs did. A factor analysis of the MHW scale items revealed nine factors. Out of these, radiation, doctors playing God, disasters, and epidemics, as well as harmful rays and air contaminants significantly predict belief in the efficacy of CAM. Overall, older people, with more MHWs, and who believe in the paranormal are more likely to believe that CAM works, possibly because of a more intuitive, 'holistic', thinking style. Limitations of the study are considered.

New concept of age(ing: Prospective age

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Devedžić Mirjana

2012-01-01

Full Text Available While the last century was the century of world population growth, according to demographers, the XXI century will be century of population aging. Statistics undoubtedly show that number of elderly will continue it’s growth in the future. If old age is seen as period of life with reduced physical and mental capabilities and increased disability, and demographic aging as increase of dependent population, trends are quite disturbing, at least in certain societal segments. In developed countries, this population category is no longer treated as passive or as a "burden of society" and efforts are made for better social inclusion of older people. In contrast to growing interest in this phenomenon, the concepts that define the aging of the population remained stagnant. The aim of this paper is to introduce into domestic literature the term "prospective age" as a dynamic category which is more affected with socio-historical conditions, not only with biological as traditional definition of aging suggested. Papers written by Sanderson and Scherbov offer new methodological options for study of population aging, because it takes into account the biometric rather than chronological approach. Calculation of prospective years is a simple operation that requires pair of the same number of remained life expectancy from life tables for two different periods (the year of concern is index, and the one we are comparing with is standard year, so that phrase "40s is the new 30s" or "70s the new 60s" gets scientific foundation. Average remaining years of life represent a realistic indicator suggesting increased capacity, activity and vitality of individuals, which is due to accepted demographic parameters still considered old. „Prospective threshold“ is defined as the age when life expectancy falls below 15 years (it is subjective choice made by Sanderson and Scherbov, which is also used in this paper and during the elaboration of these ideas three demographic

Familial aggregation of age-related macular degeneration in the Utah population.

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Luo, Ling; Harmon, Jennifer; Yang, Xian; Chen, Haoyu; Patel, Shrena; Mineau, Geraldine; Yang, Zhenglin; Constantine, Ryan; Buehler, Jeanette; Kaminoh, Yuuki; Ma, Xiang; Wong, Tien Y; Zhang, Maonian; Zhang, Kang

2008-02-01

We examined familial aggregation and risk of age-related macular degeneration in the Utah population using a population-based case-control study. Over one million unique patient records were searched within the University of Utah Health Sciences Center and the Utah Population Database (UPDB), identifying 4764 patients with AMD. Specialized kinship analysis software was used to test for familial aggregation of disease, estimate the magnitude of familial risks, and identify families at high risk for disease. The population-attributable risk (PAR) for AMD was calculated to be 0.34. Recurrence risks in relatives indicate increased relative risks in siblings (2.95), first cousins (1.29), second cousins (1.13), and parents (5.66) of affected cases. There were 16 extended large families with AMD identified for potential use in genetic studies. Each family had five or more living affected members. The familial aggregation of AMD shown in this study exemplifies the merit of the UPDB and supports recent research demonstrating significant genetic contribution to disease development and progression.

AGES OF 70 DWARFS OF THREE POPULATIONS IN THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD: CONSIDERING O AND C ABUNDANCES IN STELLAR MODELS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ge, Z. S.; Bi, S. L.; Liu, K.; Wu, Y. Q. [Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Chen, Y. Q.; Zhao, J. K. [Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China); Li, T. D. [Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA), School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 (Australia); Ferguson, J. W. [Department of Physics, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67260-0032 (United States)

2016-12-20

Oxygen and carbon are important elements in stellar populations. Their behavior refers to the formation history of the stellar populations. C and O abundances would also obviously influence stellar opacities and the overall metal abundance Z . With observed high-quality spectroscopic properties, we construct stellar models with C and O elements to give more accurate ages for 70 metal-poor dwarfs, which have been determined to be high- α halo, low- α halo, and thick-disk stars. Our results show that high- α halo stars are somewhat older than low- α halo stars by around 2.0 Gyr. The thick-disk population has an age range in between the two halo populations. The age distribution profiles indicate that high- α halo and low- α halo stars match the in situ accretion simulation by Zolotov et al., and the thick-disk stars might be formed in a relatively quiescent and long-lasting process. We also note that stellar ages are very sensitive to O abundance, since the ages clearly increase with increasing [O/Fe] values. Additionally, we obtain several stars with peculiar ages, including 2 young thick-disk stars and 12 stars older than the universe age.

Aging and decreased glomerular filtration rate: An elderly population-based study.

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Regina C R M Abdulkader

Full Text Available Although a reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR in old people has been attributed to physiologic aging, it may be associated with kidney disease or superimposed comorbidities. This study aims to assess the prevalence of decreased GFR in a geriatric population in a developing country and its prevalence in the absence of simultaneous diseases.This is a cross-sectional study of data from the Saúde, Bem-Estar e Envelhecimento cohort study (SABE study[Health, Well-Being and Aging], a multiple cohorts study. A multistage cluster sample composed of 1,253 individuals representative of 1,249,388 inhabitants of São Paulo city aged ≥60 years in 2010 was analyzed. The participants answered a survey on socio-demographic factors and health, had blood pressure measured and urine and blood samples collected. GFR was estimated and defined as decreased when 0.20 g/g.The prevalence of GFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2 was 19.3%. Individuals with GFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2 were older (75±1 versus 69±1 years, p<0.001, had lower schooling (18 versus 30% with complete 8-year basic cycle, p = 0.010, and higher prevalence of hypertension (82 versus 63%, p<0.001, diabetes (34 versus 26%, p = 0.021, cardiovascular disease (43 versus 24%, p<0.001 and kidney damage (35% versus 15%, p<0.001. Only 0.7% of the entire studied population had GFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2 without simultaneous diseases or kidney damage. Among the individuals with GFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2, 3.5% had neither renal damage nor associated comorbidities, whereas among those with GFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73m2, 11.0% had none of these conditions. Logistic regression showed that older age, cardiovascular disease and hypertension were associated with GFR<60 mL/min/1.73m2.Decreased GFR was highly prevalent among the geriatric population in a megalopolis of a developing country. It was rarely present without simultaneous chronic comorbidities or kidney damage.

Age-Related Diseases and Clinical and Public Health Implications for the 85 Years Old and Over Population

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Efraim Jaul

2017-12-01

Full Text Available By 2050, the American 85 years old and over population will triple. Clinicians and the public health community need to develop a culture of sensitivity to the needs of this population and its subgroups. Sensory changes, cognitive changes, and weakness may be subtle or may be severe in the heterogeneous population of people over age 85. Falls, cardiovascular disease, and difficulty with activities of daily living are common but not universal. This paper reviews relevant changes of normal aging, diseases, and syndromes common in people over age 85, cognitive and psychological changes, social and environmental changes, and then reviews common discussions which clinicians routinely have with these patients and their families. Some hearing and vision loss are a part of normal aging as is decline in immune function. Cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis and dementia are common chronic conditions at age 85. Osteoarthritis, diabetes, and related mobility disability will increase in prevalence as the population ages and becomes more overweight. These population changes have considerable public health importance. Caregiver support, services in the home, assistive technologies, and promotion of home exercise programs as well as consideration of transportation and housing policies are recommended. For clinicians, judicious prescribing and ordering of tests includes a consideration of life expectancy, lag time to benefit, and patient goals. Furthermore, healthy behaviors starting in early childhood can optimize quality of life among the oldest-old.

Aging women with schizophrenia.