Indicators of Preclinical Disability: Women's Experiences of an Aging Body

This paper is derived from a larger multimethod longitudinal study of women's bodily experiences and coping practices before the onset of disability. Twelve women participated in repeated performance measures, in-depth interviews of daily life and physically challenging events, and observations of daily activities conducted over 18 months. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of textual data showed that women's bodies provided multiple indicators or symptoms of preclinical disability. These indicators informed the women that their body was out of synch with their environment; conspicuous during social activities; and vulnerable to becoming dependent on others, technology, or assistive devices to accomplish daily activities. Greater attention to bodily indicators or symptoms may offer a practical method for clinicians to identify preclinical disability.     

Personal Mastery and Psychological Well-Being Among Young Grandmothers

This study examined the association between relationship quality, personal mastery, and psychological well-being among 83 young Black and White American grandmothers in families with teenage mothers. Interviews were conducted during the early stages of adaptation to grandparenthood due to the birth of a baby to a teenage daughter. Findings indicated that the effects of the mother–daughter relationship are mediated through mastery. When grandmothers feel a sense of mastery, the conflict with the teenage mother is not as detrimental to their psychological health. Findings are discussed in the context of developing supportive services for grandmothers in families with teenage mothers.     

Depressive Symptoms of Caregiving Women in Midlife: The Role of Physical Health

ABSTRACT

This research examined the relationships between providing assistance to aging family members, caregivers' age, caregivers' perceptions of their physical health, and caregivers' depressive symptoms. Several alternative hypotheses were examined. Longitudinal data from 1, 898 women from the 1992 and 2000 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were used. Results indicate a reciprocal relationship between depression and physical health. These processes were examined using a path analysis. Although the evidence only supported one of the hypotheses, this study clearly demonstrated the importance of physical health for the psychological well-being of women in midlife.     

Social support at work and its relationship to absenteeism

Abstract

In this study, the impact of psychosocial work characteristics on illness and work absenteeism has been examined. The study group consisted of 133 civil servants (33 men and 100 women) with a mean age of 43 years (range 21-65 years). Psychosocial work characteristics, social support, quality of life, work absenteeism, psychosomatic and gastrointestinal symptoms were assessed by means of questionnaires. Five different work support or functions were identified by factor analysis: appraisal support, belonging support, instrumental support, emotional support and supportive atmosphere. The analysis showed that work absenteeism was associated with lower belonging support and a less supportive atmosphere. Furthermore, psychosomatic symptoms were associated with lack of support at work, measured as belonging support, instrumental support and supportive atmosphere. Gastrointestinal symptoms were associated with lack of belonging support and lack of social integration outside work. A bad general health status was associated with lack of insrumental support. The association between work absenteeism and social support at work was confirmed in multivariate analysis with control for confounding factors. In this analysis, high work strain and low social support were associated with a lower quality of life, which in turn was associated with increased absenteeism. Although there are well-known difficulties in drawing causal conclusions from cross-sectional studies, it seems reasonable to conclude that social support at work is an important factor to take into consideration when analysing illness and absenteeism from work.     

Effects as a function of implementation fidelity of a transdiagnostic prevention program in young school-aged children

Super Skills for Life (SSL) is a transdiagnostic prevention program for school-aged children with internalizing problems. The current study aimed to examine the short- and long-term (12-month follow-up) effectiveness of SSL, depending on implementation fidelity. Participants were 123 Spanish-speaking children aged 6–8 years with internalizing symptoms and their parents. High (n = 41) and low fidelity (n = 26) groups were established and compared with a control group (CG) (n = 56). Compared to CG, the high-fidelity group (HFG) achieved better outcomes than the low-fidelity group (LFG) at short and long term, including symptoms of anxiety, depression, and internalizing problems, and also externalizing problems at long-term. The LFG improved key symptoms at short term (depression) and long term (anxiety and depression). Findings suggest that SSL is beneficial even if not delivered at maximum fidelity, although considering the influence of implementation fidelity is critical because the high-fidelity implementation yielded the greatest effects when compared to the CG. This research provides valuable data, analyzing for the first time the influence of fidelity on SSL outcomes in young school-aged children exhibiting internalizing symptoms, while there is still a lack of studies of these characteristics concerning transdiagnostic prevention programs targeting childhood anxiety and depression.     

A systematic review of the association between lower urinary tract symptoms and falls,injuries, and fractures in community-dwelling older men

Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) have been associated with falls in studies either exclusively or predominantly of women. It is, therefore, less clear if LUTS are risk factors for falls in men.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature on the association between LUTS and falls, injuries, and fractures in community-dwelling older men. Medline, Embase, and Cinahl were searched for any type of observational study that has been published in a peer-reviewed journal in English language. Studies were excluded if they did not report male-specific data or targeted specific patient populations. Results were summarized qualitatively.

Results: Three prospective cohort studies and six cross-sectional studies were identified. Incontinence, urgency, nocturia, and frequency were consistently shown to have weak to moderate association with falls (the point estimates of odds ratio and relative risk ranged from 1.31 to 1.67) in studies with low risk of bias for confounding. Only frequency was shown to be associated with fractures.

Conclusions: Urinary incontinence and lower urinary tract storage symptoms are associated with falls in community-dwelling older men. The circumstances of falls in men with LUTS need to be investigated to generate hypotheses about what types of interventions may be effective in reducing falls.     

The association between triglyceride high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and benign prostate hyperplasia in non-diabetic patients:a cross-sectional study

Objectives: To assess the association between triglyceride (TG)/high density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio and benign prostate hyperplasia/lower urinary tract symptoms (BPH/LUTS).

Methods: Four hundred patients who were admitted to the Urology Clinic between January and December 2014 with complaints of BPH/LUTS were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Patients were divided into two groups according to their International Prostate Symptom Score and prostate volume (PV). They were compared in terms of age, body mass index (BMI), PV, PSA, post micturional residual volume, uroflowmetry Q max value, fasting blood sugar, TG and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) level and TG/HDL ratio.

Results: Although univariate analyses reveal that age, BMI, waist circumference (WC), FBS, TG, HDL-C level, and TG/HDL ratio were correlated with PV, only age [1.125 OR (1.088–1.164), p?=?.00001], BMI [1.119 OR (1.040–1.204), p?=?.003], TG [(1.043 OR (1.016–1.071), p?=?.002], HDL-C [(0.923 OR (0.860–0.990), p?=?.025], and TG/HDL ratio [(1.224 OR (1.130–1.315), p?=?.014] were statistically significant in multivariate analysis. The calculated area under the curve (AUC) for PV of 30?ml, 40?ml, and 50?ml was 0.668 (0.608–0.727), 0.617 (0.561–0.673), and 0.592 (0.530–0.654), respectively.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that the TG/HDL ratio correlates with enhancement in PV. Further studies are warranted to better evaluate this relationship.     

City size matters: Vietnamese immigrants having depressive symptoms

This cross-national study identified predictive factors contributing to depression among 691 Vietnamese migrated to the United States who responded to a community survey in two American cities. Measured by HSCL-25, the overall depression prevalence was 30.5%, higher in a large (32.3%) than mid-size city (19.8%). Logistic regression showed that immigration issues, residing in a large city, being female, having health concerns, and experiencing family concerns are significantly related to Vietnamese immigrants having depressive symptoms. Over half (51.4%) of the respondents sought help, and 46.3% preferred seeing their physicians to address mental health issues. Pre-migration counseling is recommended to prevent depression.     

中国老年人口抑郁症状分析

抑郁对于老年人的身心健康和生活质量具有非常重要的影响,应引起家庭和社会的高度重视。2006年全国性的调查数据表明,我国老年人抑郁症状的发生率比较高,特别是在农村地区。不同健康、经济以及社会支持状况下老年人群的抑郁症状发生率及抑郁程度存在显著差别。因此,提高对老年人精神卫生工作的认识,尽快建立基层工作机制和干预机制是十分重要的。同时也应加强老年人心理问题的质性研究,以深化对老年人心理问题产生和影响机制的认识。     

The impact of irritative lower urinary tract symptoms on erectile dysfunction in aging Taiwanese males

Objective.?This study assessed the possible associations between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and erectile dysfunction (ED) in aging Taiwanese males and investigated the impact of various aspects of LUTS on ED.

Methods.?A free health screening for aging males (≥40 years old) was conducted in Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital. All the subjects had completed clinical data and answered questionnaires. ED and LUTS were assessed by validated symptom scales: the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) and the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS).

Results.?A total of 339 eligible patients enrolled in this study with a mean age of 60.1 years old. In multiple logistic regression analysis, age and IPSS (p?<?0.001 and p?=?0.013, respectively) were significantly associated with ED after controlling other comorbidities. In a further age-adjusted multiple regression analysis, our results showed that irritative symptoms (p?=?0.042) have a more significant association with ED than the obstructive symptoms (p?=?0.101).

Conclusions.?Our results indicate that age and LUTS are the two most independent risk factors for ED. Aging Taiwanese males with LUTS are at increasing risk for ED, especially for those with significant irritative symptoms.