Suchergebnisse

Wu B, Guo M, Chi I, Plassman BL. Social network and health: a comparison of Chinese older adults in Shanghai and Chinese elderly immigrants in BostonInt J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: S59–S71 © 2011 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare.The association between social network and health in older Chinese immigrants in the USA and their counterparts in China was examined using data from 177 Chinese immigrants in Boston, USA and 428 respondents in Shanghai, China. The results showed that Chinese immigrants had a significantly better self‐rated health status but also that they reported a greater number of functional limitations. Although the level of the social network differed among respondents in Shanghai and in Boston, the impact of the social network on health status was similar for the two samples. The impact of the social network diminished when covariates such as health behaviors and health problems were added to the models. The conclusion, therefore, is that much of the association between a strong social network and better self‐reported health in later life may be explained by other factors such as socio‐economic status, health behaviors, health status, and access to health care.

AbstractThe National Academy of Sciences — National Research Council (NAS-NRC) twin panel, created nearly 50 years ago, had twin zygosity determined primarily via a similarity questionnaire that has been estimated to correctly classify at least 95% of twins. In the course of a study on the genetics of healthy ageing in the NAS-NRC twins, DNA was collected for genome-wide scanning and zygosity confirmation was examined in 343 participating pairs. The sample was supplemented from two other studies using NAS-NRC twins where one or both co-twins were suspected to have Alzheimer disease or another dementia, or Parkinson's disease. Overall 578 twin pairs with DNA were analyzed. Zygosity assignment for 96.8% (519/536) was confirmed via questionnaire. Among 42 pairs whose questionnaire responses were inconclusive for assigning zygosity, 50% were found to be monozygous (MZ) and 50% were dizygous (DZ). There was some evidence for greater misclassification of presumed DZ pairs in the healthy ageing study where participation favored pairs who were similar in having a favorable health history and willingness to volunteer without any element of perceived risk for a specific disease influencing participation.

AbstractThe National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (NAS-NRC) Twin Registry is one of the oldest, national population-based twin registries in the USA. It comprises 15,924 White male twin pairs born in the years 1917–1927 (N = 31.848), both of whom served in the armed forces, chiefly during World War II. This article updates activities in this registry since the most recent report in Twin Research and Human Genetics (Page, 2006). Records-based data include information from enlistment charts and Veterans Administration data linkages. There have been three major epidemiologic questionnaires and an education and earnings survey. Separate data collection efforts with the NAS-NRC registry include the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) subsample, the Duke Twins Study of Memory in Aging and a clinically based study of Parkinson's disease. Progress has been made on consolidating the various data holdings of the NAS-NRC Twin Registry. Data that had been available through the National Academy of Sciences are now freely available through National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA).

Abstract

Objectives
Subjective health (SH) is not just an indicator of physical health, but also reflects active cognitive processing of information about one's own health and has been associated with emotional health measures, such as neuroticism and depression. Behavior genetic approaches investigate the genetic architecture of SH, that is, genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in SH and associations with potential components such as physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Previous twin analyses have been limited by sex, sample size, age range, and focus on single covariates.


Methods
The current analysis used data from 24,173 adults ranging in age from 40 to 90 years from the international Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies consortium to investigate the genetic architecture of 3 measures of SH: self-rated health, health compared to others, and impact of health on activities. Independent pathways model of SH included physical health, depressive symptoms, and episodic memory, with age, sex, and country included as covariates.


Results
Most or all of the genetic variance for SH measures were shared with physical health, depressive symptoms, and episodic memory. Genetic architecture of SH differed across measures, age groups (40–65, 66–90), and sexes. Age comparisons indicated stronger correlations with all 3 covariates in older adults, often resulting from greater shared genetic variance.


Discussion
The predictive value of SH has been amply demonstrated. The higher genetic contributions to associations between SH and its components in older adults support the increasing conceptualization with age of SH as an intuitive summation of one's vital reserve.