Research connects health outcomes to hazard exposures but often neglects the nature of the exposure or repeated events.

We undertook a cross-sectional study (N = 1,094) from a representative sample in the Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area (HMSA). Respondents were recruited using Qualtrics panels, targeting individuals reflecting the population of the HMSA. Physical composite scores (PCS) were calculated using the SF-12v2.

Among the hazards (hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, chemical spills, industrial fires), only chemical spills showed a dose-response: physical health scores declined significantly with repeated exposures. This decline persisted after multiple linear regression. Covariates including sex, race, age, education, and chemical exposure affected PCS, but chemical spill exposure remained the most significant, negatively affecting PCS even after adjusting for other factors (coef =–2.24, 95% CI, –3.33 to –1.15).

Grasping the effects of hazards, especially repeated ones, can guide emergency management in mitigation, recovery, and preparedness efforts.

This study evaluates long-term changes in physical activity and its associations with various predictors after a behavior change program at the Norwegian Healthy Life Centers.

Physical activity is recommended and is part of public health strategies to prevent noncommunicable diseases.

This longitudinal cohort, based on a controlled randomized trial, studies a population of 116 Healthy Life Center participants in South-Western Norway who wore SenseWear Armbands to measure time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary time based on metabolic equivalents. The measurements were obtained at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 24 months after baseline. Linear mixed model analyses were performed to assess predictors for change in physical activity and sedentary time.

High physical activity levels at baseline were maintained during the 24-month study period. Young, male participants with good self-rated health, utilizing local PA facilities were most active, and young participants utilizing local facilities were also less sedentary. The participants with higher levels of education were less active initially but caught up with the difference during follow-up. A high degree of controlled regulation, characterized by bad conscience and external pressure, predicted more sedentary behavior and a trend toward being less physically active. Autonomous motivation was associated with less time spent on sedentary behaviors. People with high self-efficacy for physical activity were more sedentary initially but showed a reduction in their sedentary behavior.

The study supports the importance of attending local training facilities and adopting motivation for behavioral change that is not based on guilt and external rewards. Interventions aimed at improving physical activity among people at risk for noncommunicable diseases benefit from habitual use of local training facilities, strengthening their self-perceived health and the development of internalized motivation. However, it has not been shown to mitigate social health disparities.

To prevent and reduce non-communicable diseases, the Norwegian Directorate of Health encourages Healthy Life Centres (HLCs) in all municipalities.

This study investigates whether the behaviour change interventions at HLCs positively affected participants’ diet and to evaluate predictors for healthy and unhealthy eating. Our data are part of the Norwegian Healthy Life Centre Study, a 6-month, pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT).

Totally, 118 participants ≥18 years old were randomised to an intervention group (n 57), or a waiting list (control group) (n 61). Eighty-six participants met at the 6 months follow-up visit. We merged the participants to one cohort for predictor analyses, using linear regressions.

The RCT of the HLCs’ interventions had no effect on healthy and unhealthy eating 6 months after baseline compared with controls. A short, additional healthy eating education programme produced a modest, statistically significant improvement in healthy eating compared with controls. This did not, however, reduce unhealthy eating. Higher income predicted unhealthier eating over time. Increasing body mass index and impaired physical functioning also led to an increase in unhealthy eating. Healthy eating at 6 months was predicted by self-rated health (SRH), vitality and life satisfaction, and hampered by musculo-skeletal challenges and impaired self-esteem (SE). SRH impacted improvement in healthy eating during the 6 months. The effect of interventions on healthier eating may be improved by an emphasis on developing positive self-concepts like better SRH, vitality, life satisfaction, and SE.

This study examined the relationships between social capital, perceived neighborhood environment, and depressive symptoms among older adults living in rural China, and the moderating effect of self-rated health (SRH) in these relationships.

A quota sampling method was applied to recruit 447 participants aged 60 years and older in rural communities in Jilin province, China in 2019.

Depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to build latent constructs of social capital and test the proposed model. Multiple group analysis was used to test the moderation effects.

Cognitive social capital and structural social capital were both associated with depressive symptoms controlling for participants’ demographics, socioeconomic status, and health status. After adding perceived environment variables in the model, the relationship between cognitive social capital and depressive symptoms became nonsignificant, while structural social capital remained became a significant factor (β = −.168, p < .01). Satisfaction with health care was significantly associated with depressive symptoms among those with poor SRH (β = −.272, p < .01), whereas satisfaction with security and transportation were strongly associated with depressive symptoms among those with good SRH (security: β = −.148, p < .01; transportation: β = −.174, p < .01).

Study findings highlighted the importance of social capital and neighborhood environment as potential protective factors of depressive symptoms in later life. Policy and intervention implications were also discussed.

To describe self-rated health in relation to lifestyle and illnesses and to identify risk factors for ill health such as pressure ulcers, falls and malnutrition among 75-year-old participants in a new clinical routine involving health assessment followed by tailored one-to-one health promotion at preventive clinic visits to a nurse at primary health care centres (PHCC).

There is a rapidly growing ageing population worldwide. It is central to health policy to promote active and healthy ageing. Preventive clinic visits to a nurse in primary health care were introduced as a new clinical intervention in a region in Sweden to improve the quality of health for the older adults.

A quantitative cross-sectional population-based study.

The sample consisted of 306 individuals in six primary health care centres in Sweden aged 75 years who attended preventive clinic visits to a nurse. Data were collected from March 2014 to May 2015 during structured conversations with a nurse based on self-administered questionnaires, clinical examinations, risk assessments and after the clinic visit existing register data were collected by the researcher.

Participants experienced good self-rated health despite being overweight and having chronic illnesses. Daily exercise such as walking and housework was more common than aerobic physical training. The majority had no problems with mobility but reported anxiety, pain and discomfort and had increased risk of falls.

It is important to encourage the older adults to live actively and independently for as long as possible. The healthy older adults may benefit from the clinical intervention described here to support the individual’s ability to maintain control over their health. Such supportive assessments might help the healthy older adult to achieve active ageing, reducing morbidity and preventing functional decline.

To assess community mental health in suburban Dublin in 2018, 5 years after Ireland’s economic recession ended.

A cross-sectional, face-to-face, household survey was conducted in a random cluster sample of 351 households in Tallaght, a deprived suburb of Dublin.

A majority of respondents (61.3%) reported stress over the previous 12 months, with a higher rate in areas of high (66.9%) compared to lower deprivation (55.5%). Deprivation was not related to rates of loneliness (20.2%), feeling depressed (20.2%), loss of interest (19.7%) or anxiety (22.5%). Mean score for positive mental health (59.3/100, with a higher score indicating better mental health) was lower than that reported in a national sample in 2007 (68/100); positive mental health was associated with not living with a person with chronic illness, self-identifying as ‘non-Irish’ and greater age. Mean score for psychological distress (76.7/100, with a higher score indicating less distress) was also lower than that in 2007 (82/100); less psychological distress was associated with not living with a person with chronic illness or disability, greater age and identifying as non-Irish. The rate of ‘probable mental illness’ over the previous 4 weeks (13.1%) was higher than in 2007 (7%).

Our findings emphasise the high prevalence of stress, especially in deprived suburban areas; the centrality of carer burden in determining mental wellbeing; and associations between positive mental health on the one hand and greater age and identifying as non-Irish on the other.

Existing evidence for gene × environment interaction (G × E) in neuroticism largely relies on candidate gene studies, although neuroticism is highly polygenic. This study aimed to investigate the long-term associations between polygenic risk scores for neuroticism (PRSN), objective childhood adversity and their interplay on emotional health aspects such as neuroticism itself, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, loneliness and life satisfaction.

The sample consisted of reared-apart (TRA) and reared-together (TRT) middle- and old age twins (N = 699; median age at separation = 2). PRSN were created under nine p value cut-off thresholds (pT-s) and the pT with the highest degree of neuroticism variance explained was chosen for subsequent analyses. Linear regressions were used to assess the associations between PRSN, childhood adversity (being reared apart) and emotional health. G × E was further investigated using a discordant twin design.

PRSN explained up to 1.7% (pT < 0.01) of phenotypic neuroticism in the total sample. Analyses across two separation groups revealed substantial heterogeneity in the variance explained by PRSN; 4.3% was explained in TRT, but almost no effect was observed in TRA. Similarly, PRSN explained 4% and 1.7% of the variance in depressive symptoms and loneliness, respectively, only in TRT. A significant G × E interaction was identified for depressive symptoms.

By taking advantage of a unique sample of adopted twins, we demonstrated the presence of G × E in neuroticism and emotional health using PRSN and childhood adversity. Our results may indicate that genome-wide association studies are detecting genetic main effects associated with neuroticism, but not those susceptible to early environmental influences.

Previous studies have reported that self-rated health (SRH) predicts subsequent mortality. However, less is known about the association between SRH and functional ability. The aim of this study was to examine whether SRH predicts decline in basic activities of daily living (ADL), even after adjustment for depression, among community-dwelling older adults in Japan.

A three-year prospective cohort study was conducted among 654 residents aged 65 years and older without disability in performing basic ADL at baseline. SRH was assessed using a visual analogue scale (range; 0–100), and dichotomized into low and high groups. Information on functional ability, sociodemographic factors, depressive symptoms, and medical conditions were obtained using a self-administered questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between baseline SRH and functional decline three years later.

One hundred and eight (16.5%) participants reported a decline in basic ADL at the three-year follow-up. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the low SRH group had a higher risk for functional decline compared to the high SRH group, even after controlling for potential confounding factors (odds ratio (OR) = 2.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.3–4.4). Furthermore, a 10-point difference in SRH score was associated with subsequent functional decline (OR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.16–1.61).

SRH was an independent predictor of functional decline. SRH could be a simple assessment tool for predicting the loss or maintenance of functional ability in community-dwelling older adults. Positive self-evaluation might be useful to maintain an active lifestyle and stay healthy.

Gender differences in depression are well established. Whether these differences persist into late life and in the years preceding death is less clear. There is a suggestion that there is no increased likelihood of depression in late life, but that there is an increase in depressive symptomology, particularly with proximity to death. We compared trajectories of probable depression and depressive symptomology between men and women over age and distance-to-death metrics to determine whether reports of depressive symptoms are more strongly related to age or mortality.

Participants (N = 2,852) from the Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project had a mean age of 75 years (SD = 5.68 years) at baseline and were observed for up to 16 years prior to death. Multi-level regression models estimated change in depressive symptomology and probable depression over two time metrics, increasing age, and distance-to-death.

Increases in depressive symptomology were reported over increasing age and in the years approaching death. Only male participants reported increased probable depression in the years preceding death. Models that utilized distance-to-death metrics better represented changes in late-life depression, although any changes in depression appear to be accounted for by co-varying physical health status.

As death approaches, there are increases in the levels of depressive symptomology even after controlling for socio-demographic and health covariates. In line with increases in suicide rates in late life, male participants were at greater risk of reporting increases in depressive symptomology.