Journal of Aging Research最新文献

Background: The global population of older adults is expanding in developing nations. According to the WHO, elder abuse is defined as "a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person." Such abuse is a global concern. This study aimed to find the prevalence, contributing factors, and impacts to inform effective prevention and intervention strategies.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted via face-to-face interviews with elderly individuals aged 60 years and above. The study was conducted among participants from the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The sample size was 385 with a prevalence of 50.3%. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select the sample. The first household was chosen randomly, and subsequent households were selected using the calculated sampling interval.

Results: Psychological/emotional abuse was the most common (18.7%), followed by financial abuse, physical abuse, and neglect with sexual abuse reported rarely. The most frequently reported health problem was hypertension (21.4%) followed by osteoarthritis/osteoporosis and diabetes. Gender shows a significant association with emotional abuse (p = 0.02), where females (24.4%) experience higher rates compared to males (14.8%). Physical abuse is more common among females (16.7%) than males (10.0%), though the difference is marginally insignificant (p = 0.06).

Conclusions: Elderly abuse has been increasingly recognized as a serious global issue, warranting urgent attention from healthcare systems and national authorities.

Background: Aging is a gradual decline in physiological and functional capacities that leads to an exponentially increasing risk of death. Although aging is universal, the rate of aging differs substantially between individuals. Biomarkers of aging are being developed to improve the prediction of a person's susceptibility to disease onset, disease course, and complications, as well as to estimate lifespan and healthspan.

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to develop and evaluate machine-learning models that estimate chronological age from routinely measured blood biomarkers in a large Central European population. A secondary aim was to characterize the relative contribution of individual biomarkers and to discuss the resulting index as a potential biological age marker.

Methods: We modeled chronological age as a regression problem using four algorithms: a multilayer neural network, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Random Forest, and Ridge Regression. The dataset comprised more than 26 million anonymized laboratory results from over 3 million individuals. Model performance was assessed using mean absolute error (MAE), root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and epsilon-accuracy. We also examined feature importance to identify the most informative biomarkers.

Results: XGBoost achieved the best performance, with an MAE of 8.73 years across all ages. The 10 most influential predictors were alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatinine, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glucose, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), thrombocytes, albumin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), urea, and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). These markers span hepatic, renal, metabolic, and hematological domains.

Conclusion: Using easily accessible blood biomarkers, it is possible to estimate chronological age with an MAE of 8.73 years in a large Central European population. Because the present work does not include validation against clinical outcomes, the resulting index should be regarded as a potential biological age marker. Future studies are needed to test its association with morbidity, mortality, and established biological age measures in independent cohorts.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/jare/1053086.].

Background and objective: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs) are progressive conditions that substantially impact individuals and families. Timely diagnosis and early support are critical for long-term adjustment. However, current dementia care models do not meet needs of patients and families. Dementia care specialists treating individuals with dementia offer unique insight into care needs of diverse groups of patients, families, and healthcare systems that can be used to identify opportunities to improve care. To understand dementia care specialists' impressions of factors impacting ADRD diagnosis and postdiagnosis support, we aimed to identify factors that impact (1) timely and accurate diagnosis, (2) diagnostic disclosure and provision of postdiagnosis support, and (3) patient and care-partner adjustment after diagnosis.

Research design and methods: We recruited dementia care specialists treating persons living with dementia (n = 19) from two academic medical centers. Participants completed 60-min qualitative focus groups or individual interviews. Data were analyzed using a hybrid inductive-deductive approach to thematic analysis.

Results: We identified subthemes within three overarching a priori determined themes. Participants highlighted the presence of delays in referrals, time constraints, specialist discomfort, and lack of training as factors impacting the timeliness and accuracy of diagnosis. They also highlighted information needed in disclosure visits, ways of coordinating care, and identifying early support needs. Finally, participants highlighted factors impacting adjustment including families' insight and acceptance, distress, and available resources.

Discussion and implications: Our study highlights the challenges dementia care specialist specialists face in delivering early support for individuals and families impacted by ADRDs and suggests avenues for revising existing care models.

Background: As global populations age, promoting the health and well-being of older adults has become a public health priority. Green spaces-such as parks, gardens, and forests-offer numerous health benefits, including enhanced physical activity, mental well-being, and social interaction. This study employs a bibliometric analysis to explore global research trends on the relationship between green spaces and older adults' health.

Methods: Data were collected from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and Scopus databases, covering the period from 2004 to 2025. A total of 2066 relevant studies were identified and analyzed in terms of publication trends, geographical contributions, key research themes, and influential works.

Results: Results indicate a growing body of research, with the United States, China, and Australia emerging as leading contributors. Keyword clustering highlights major research themes, including mental health, built environment, aging in place, and urban planning. Despite increasing recognition of the importance of green spaces for older adults, gaps remain in equitable access, longitudinal studies, and intervention-based research.

Conclusion: The findings emphasize the need for policy-driven urban planning that not only prioritizes green space accessibility but also addresses equity and supports healthy aging.

Introduction: As people age, they increasingly face physical and cognitive decline, which can negatively affect their subjective health experience. To improve subjective health experience among older adults, it is crucial to understand its key predictors. Current literature points to frailty and vitality from geriatric research as well as acceptance and control from psychological science as key predictors. However, until now, they have never been incorporated in one composite model. Therefore, this study aims to develop, validate and differentiate a composite model integrating these predictors.

Methods: An online questionnaire covering sample characteristics and instruments on frailty, vitality, acceptance, control and subjective health experience was distributed among a sample of 753 older adults recruited from a research panel. Data were analysed using descriptive, reliability, validity and model statistics.

Results: Frailty shows modest to moderate negative relationships with acceptance, control and subjective health experience and a stronger negative relationship with vitality. Vitality relates moderately positively to control and subjective health experience and modestly to acceptance. Control has a strong positive relationship with acceptance and a modest one with subjective health experience. Acceptance shows a moderate positive relationship with subjective health experience. Frailty has a moderate significant negative indirect relationship with subjective health experience, through several modest but significant pathways involving vitality, acceptance and control combined or alone. Pathways with control alone are modest and nonsignificant. The models explain 41.5%-52.6% of the variance in subjective health experience.

Conclusion: It might be worthwhile to consider deploying the key concepts of the model, such as frailty, vitality, acceptance or control, as starting points for the development of future interventions concerning the subjective health experience of older adults. Such interventions may target frailty and promote vitality through tailored support, while aligning delivery with older adults' needs for control and acceptance.

Background: Thailand has aged fast, becoming a superaging society. Simultaneously, ongoing rapid digital transformation puts older people at risk of being left behind. Research assessing the digital skills of older people and their application of digital technology for health is a literature gap.

Method: This study is an explanatory-sequential design mixed-method study. Community survey of 500 community older adults in Northern Thailand applied London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) digital skills instrument to measure "operational internet skills," "information navigation skills," "social skills," "creative skills," and "mobile skills" and perceived health and technology use for health promotion. Quantitatively, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests identified differences in the digital skills across sociodemographic and internet use characteristics, while multivariable ordinal logistic regressions analyzed types of digital skills associated with health outcomes. Qualitatively, thematic analyses explained the quantitative findings in detail.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 68.36 years, of which 69% were female. Ordinal logistic regression identified that higher "social skills" positively influenced self-rated health (β = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.11-0.52), while 'Information navigation skills' affected internet use to access healthcare (β = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.04-0.36). Older adults with higher levels of 'operational skills' and 'social skills' positively associated with application of technology for health promotion in terms of improving eating habits ('operational skills', β = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.28-0.79; 'social skills', β = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.45-0.83); accessing healthcare ('operational skills,' β = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.23-0.75 'social skills' β = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.55-0.93) and accessing long-term care services ('operational internet skills,' β = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.21-0.73; 'social skills' β = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.47-0.85). Multiple focus-group interviews of older persons revealed how smart phone apps enabled them to stay connected, seek care and help others.

Conclusion: Therefore, it is urgent to enhance digital skills and internet use among older populations to promote healthy aging.

The rapid increase in the global aging population presents significant psychosocial and economic challenges, especially in underdeveloped nations. This study examines the experiences of elderly retired government employees (65+) in Debre Tabor Metropolitan City, Ethiopia, using a qualitative hermeneutical phenomenological approach. Structured interviews with 15 participants revealed key issues affecting their well-being. Findings show severe isolation and loneliness, with many feeling abandoned by their families and society. Emotional distress is common, with some expressing a desire for death due to neglect and a perceived loss of purpose. Financial instability worsens their hardships, as rising inflation and inadequate pensions make necessities unaffordable. Social marginalization and economic struggles lead to declining mental and physical health, increasing vulnerability. Elder abuse is a major concern, with many experiencing neglect, psychological distress, and a lack of respect from younger generations. Malnutrition further impacts their quality of life. The study emphasizes the need for stronger social support, policy reforms, and economic measures to protect elderly individuals. Recommendations include strengthening intergenerational relationships, revising pension policies, improving healthcare access, and implementing social programs to enhance community integration and support.

Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and anaemia of chronic disease are both common causes of morbidity in the elderly population, where they increase hospitalization and mortality. The risk of IDA is increased in gastrointestinal bleeding caused by aspirin at low doses administered daily, which has been widely used to prevent cardiovascular diseases. The current research will compare the occurrence of IDA between patients under 81 mg of low-dose aspirin and nonaspirin users. The electronic medical records were reviewed for a retrospective cohort study in the King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2016-2023). The inclusion criteria were patients aged over 60 years who were taking 81 mg aspirin daily, and 1308 patients were included (654 aspirin users and 654 nonusers). The number of men using aspirin was 378 (56.5), and those not using it were 291 (43.5). The number of women using aspirin was 276 (43.2), and those not using it were 363 (56.8). In the IDA cases, there were 136 (20.8) and 165 (25.2) cases in aspirin and nonaspirin users, respectively. Although this was not a significant difference, the load of haemoglobin in aspirin users was markedly less with a high concentration of ferritin in the bloodstream than in nonusers. Hypertension was a risk factor for IDA. The IDA rates were higher in nonaspirin users in females, old patients and chronic steroid users. Aspirin and nonaspirin users did not differ significantly in terms of IDA incidence. Nonetheless, there were a decreased haemoglobin and an increased ferritin in aspirin users. Potential confounders may include age and BMI, which need to be considered when monitoring low-dose aspirin patients in old age.

Throughout adulthood, the ability to access employment is vital for financial well-being, social inclusion and civic participation. This scoping review explores the factors that facilitate or challenge the abilities of workers age 50 and older to obtain and maintain paid employment. A total of 244 academic and grey literature articles were included in this scoping review. To frame the data extraction and analysis of included literature, we drew on Human Ecology Theory, a multidisciplinary theory that posits that individuals affect and are affected by the contexts they inhabit. Four key contexts were identified that impact older workers' employability (and the relevant codes that comprise each context): individual context (health, income and wealth accumulation, education and skills, employment history, lifestyle preferences and personal characteristics); family context (obligations with intimate partners, obligations to dependent children and caregiving obligations); workplace context (organizational characteristics, workplace policies, job characteristics and workplace relationships) and sociopolitical context (ageism, government labour and pension policies and macroeconomic conditions). We conclude that the employability of older workers is not attributable to a single factor within any of these contexts. Rather, older workers' abilities to maintain their labour force participation are fluid, situational and temporal, including aspects that arise across a person's life course as forms of cumulative advantage or disadvantage. Policies to support older workers' labour force participation require governments and employers to recognize how the dynamic lived experiences and relationships of individuals-within families, workplaces and society-shape their employability in later life.