The Hispanic Paradox: Race/Ethnicity and Nativity, Immigrant Enclave Residence and Cognitive Impairment Among Older US Adults

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137472/1/jgs14806.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137472/2/jgs14806_am.pd

When does poor subjective financial position hurt the elderly? Testing the interaction with educational attainment using a national representative longitudinal survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several studies have demonstrated that perceived financial status has a significant impact on health status among the elderly. However, little is known about whether such a subjective perception interacts with objective socioeconomic status (SES) measures such as education that affect the individual's health.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This research used data from the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Middle Age and Elderly in Taiwan (SHLS) conducted by the Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health in Taiwan. Waves 1996, 1999 and 2003 were used. The sample consisted of 2,387 elderly persons. The interactive effects of self-rated satisfaction with financial position and educational attainment were estimated. Self-rated health (SRH), depressive symptom (measured by CES-D) and mortality were used to measure health outcomes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant interaction effect was found for depressive symptoms. Among those who were dissatisfied with their financial position, those who were illiterate had an odds ratio (OR) of 8.3 (95% CI 4.9 to 14.0) for having depressive symptoms compared with those who were very satisfied with their financial position. The corresponding OR for those with college or above was only 2.7 (95% CI 1.0 to 7.3). No significant interaction effect was found for SRH and mortality.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although poor financial satisfaction was found to be related to poorer health, the strongest association for this effect was observed among those with low educational attainment, and this is especially true for depressive symptoms. Subjective financial status among the elderly should be explored in conjunction with traditional measures of SES.</p

Predictors of early sexual initiation among a nationally representative sample of Nigerian adolescents

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early sexual debut among adolescents is associated with considerable negative heath and development outcomes. An understanding of the determinants or predictors of the timing of sexual debut is important for effective intervention, but very few studies to date have addressed this issue in the Nigerian context. The aim of the present study is to examine predictors of adolescent sexual initiation among a nationally representative sample of adolescents in Nigeria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Interviewer-collected data of 2,070 never-married adolescents aged 15–19 years were analysed to determine association between age of sexual debut and demographic, psychosocial and community factors. Using Cox proportional hazards regression multivariate analysis was carried out with two different models – one with and the other without psychosocial factors. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated separately for males and females.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A fifth of respondents (18% males; 22% females) were sexually experienced. In the South 24.3% males and 28.7% females had initiated sex compared to 12.1% of males and 13.1% females in the North (p < 0.001). In the first model, only region was significantly associated with adolescent sexual initiation among both males and females; however, educational attainment and age were also significant among males. In the second (psychosocial) model factors associated with adolescent sexual debut for both genders included more positive attitudes regarding condom efficacy (males: HR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.07–1.53; females: HR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.05–1.46) and more positive attitudes to family planning use (males: HR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.09–1.31; females: HR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.07–1.30). A greater perception of condom access (HR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.14–1.76) and alcohol use (HR = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.38–2.62) among males and positive gender-related attitudes (HR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.04–1.23) among females were also associated with increased likelihood of adolescent sexual initiation. Conversely, personal attitudes in favour of delayed sexual debut were associated with lower sexual debut among both males (males: HR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.25–0.52) and females (HR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.25–0.57). Higher level of religiosity was associated with lower sexual debut rates only among females (HR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.37–0.94).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Given the increased risk for a number of sexually transmitted health problems, understanding the factors that are associated with premarital sexual debut will assist programmes in developing more effective risk prevention interventions.</p

PLoS One

Quantifying the association between lifetime exposures and the risk of developing a chronic disease is a recurrent challenge in epidemiology. Individual exposure trajectories are often heterogeneous and studying their associations with the risk of disease is not straightforward. We propose to use a latent class mixed model (LCMM) to identify profiles (latent classes) of exposure trajectories and estimate their association with the risk of disease. The methodology is applied to study the association between lifetime trajectories of smoking or occupational exposure to asbestos and the risk of lung cancer in males of the ICARE population-based case-control study. Asbestos exposure was assessed using a job exposure matrix. The classes of exposure trajectories were identified using two separate LCMM for smoking and asbestos, and the association between the identified classes and the risk of lung cancer was estimated in a second stage using weighted logistic regression and all subjects. A total of 2026/2610 cases/controls had complete information on both smoking and asbestos exposure, including 1938/1837 cases/controls ever smokers, and 1417/1520 cases/controls ever exposed to asbestos. The LCMM identified four latent classes of smoking trajectories which had different risks of lung cancer, all much stronger than never smokers. The most frequent class had moderate constant intensity over lifetime while the three others had either long-term, distant or recent high intensity. The latter had the strongest risk of lung cancer. We identified five classes of asbestos exposure trajectories which all had higher risk of lung cancer compared to men never occupationally exposed to asbestos, whatever the dose and the timing of exposure. The proposed approach opens new perspectives for the analyses of dose-time-response relationships between protracted exposures and the risk of developing a chronic disease, by providing a complete picture of exposure history in terms of intensity, duration, and timing of exposure

LXPCT_2: Stata module to calculate multistate life expectancies

lxpct_2 calculates multistate life expectancies from age-specific transition probabilities. Like a standard life table, the multi-state, or increment-decrement, life table allows a researcher to calculate expected years of life while adjusting for age-related differences in the composition of various populations.life expectancy, transition probability

Twentieth Century U.S. Racial Inequalities in Mortality: Changes in the Average Age of Death and the Variability in the Age of Death for White and non-White Men and Women, 1900-2002

This paper develops a new theoretical and empirical approach to studying historical trends in social inequalities in mortality. The author describes how within group inequality in mortality (e.g. IQRo) can be used to identify the timing and pace of epidemiological transitions, and she relates differences between population groups in IQRo to theory on social inequalities in mortality. Using data on mortality for U.S. white and non-white men and women over the period 1900-2002 and decomposing the patterns of change in IQRo, she finds that mortality declines have been later, slower, and have involved more irregular age-composition among non-whites than whites. As a result, racial differences in IQRo have dynamically diverged and converged while there has been a century of convergence in eo. These findings show that IQRo provides information about mortality differences that are concealed by eo and they provide insight into the theoretical trends in mortality associated with economic development, diffusion of innovations, institutional changes, and social stratification.mortality and race, health status indicators, life expectancy

Racial, ethnic, and gender differences in smoking cessation associated with employment and joblessness through young adulthood in the US

The dynamics of labor force participation and joblessness during young adulthood influence access to social and material resources and shape exposure to different sources of psychosocial strain. Differences in these dynamics by race, ethnicity, and gender are related to changes in a behavioral determinant of poor health (tobacco use) for young adults aging into midlife. Using discrete-time hazards models, we estimate the relationship between labor force participation in the past year and smoking cessation for US adults (ages 14-21 years in 1979) followed in a population-representative sample until 1998 (i.e. the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth). We assess the unique role of racial, ethnic and gender differences in exposure, vulnerability, and reactivity to employment and joblessness by controlling for social and economic resources obtained through working and by controlling for early life factors that select individuals into certain labor force and smoking trajectories. There are three main findings: (1) joblessness is more strongly associated with persistent daily smoking among women than among men; (2) fewer social and economic resources for women out of the labor force compared to employed women explains their lower cessation rates; and (3) lower cessation among unemployed women compared to employed women can only partially be explained by these resources. These findings illustrate how differential access to work-related social and economic resources is an important mediator of poor health trajectories. Contextual factors such as social norms and psychosocial strains at work and at home may play a unique role among European American men and women in explaining gender differences in smoking.USA Gender inequality Racial and ethnic differences Labor force participation Smoking cessation