Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

11 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Subjective length of life of European individuals at older ages: Temporal and gender distinctions.

ABSTRACT: This paper examines how older individuals living in 9 European countries evaluate their chances of survival. We use survey data for the years 2004 and 2015 to construct population-level gender-specific subjective length of life (or subjective life expectancy) in people between 60 and 90 years of age. Using a specially designed statistical approach based on survival analysis, we compare people's estimated subjective life expectancies with those actually observed. We find subjective life expectancies to be lower than actual life expectancies for both genders in 2004. In 2015 men become more realistic in the sense that their subjective life expectancy is close to what was actually observed, while women retain their subjective expectations of a shorter than actual life expectancy. These results help to better understand how people might construct diverse decisions related to their remaining life course.

SUBMITTER: Philipov D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7077847 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Publications

Subjective length of life of European individuals at older ages: Temporal and gender distinctions.

Philipov Dimiter D Scherbov Sergei S

PloS one 20200317 3

This paper examines how older individuals living in 9 European countries evaluate their chances of survival. We use survey data for the years 2004 and 2015 to construct population-level gender-specific subjective length of life (or subjective life expectancy) in people between 60 and 90 years of age. Using a specially designed statistical approach based on survival analysis, we compare people's estimated subjective life expectancies with those actually observed. We find subjective life expectanc ...[more]

PMID: 32182263

Similar Datasets

Gender Difference in the Association Between Subjective Socioeconomic Mobility Across Life Course and Mortality at Older Ages: Results From the JAGES Longitudinal Study.

Project description:BackgroundSocioeconomic mobility affects health throughout the life course. However, it is not known whether there are gender differences in the association between life-course subjective socioeconomic status (SSS) mobility and mortality at older ages.MethodsParticipants were 16,690 community-dwelling adults aged 65-100 years in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES). Baseline information including demographic characteristics, depression, and lifestyle factors were collected in 2010. Participants' vital status was confirmed in 2013 via linkage to death records. We categorized life-course socioeconomic mobility into the following categories: 'persistently high', 'downward mobility', 'upward mobility', and 'persistently low'. Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for all-cause mortality.ResultsMortality HRs for the 'downward' group were 1.37 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-1.74) among men and 1.27 (95% CI, 0.94-1.71) among women in comparison with the 'persistently high' group. Compared to the 'persistently low' group, the HRs for the 'upward' group were 0.54 (95% CI, 0.35-0.83) among women and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.73-1.24) among men. Associations were not changed after adjusting for objective socioeconomic status but were attenuated by depression.Conclusions'Downward' mobility was associated with mortality among men, but not among women. Depression appeared to mediate the association. A protective effect of upward mobility was observed among women but not among men.

| S-EPMC7557171 | biostudies-literature

Are Differences in Disability-Free Life Expectancy by Gender, Race, and Education Widening at Older Ages?

Project description:To examine change from 1991 to 2001 in disability-free life expectancy in the age range 60-90 by gender, race, and education in the United States. Mortality is estimated over two 10-year follow-up periods for persons in the National Health Interview Surveys of 1986/1987 and 1996/1997. Vital status is ascertained through the National Death Index. Disability prevalence is estimated from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys of 1988-1994 and 1999-2002. Disability is defined as ability to perform four activities of daily living without difficulty. Disability-free life expectancy increased only among white men. Disabled life expectancy increased for all groups-black and white men and women. Racial differences in disability-free life expectancy widened among men; gender differences were reduced among whites. Expansion of socioeconomic differentials in disability-free life at older ages occurred among white men and women and black women. The 1990s was a period where the increased years of life between ages 60 and 90 were concentrated in disabled years for most population groups.

| S-EPMC5906056 | biostudies-literature

Gender and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health at Older Ages Across Different European Welfare Clusters: Evidence from SHARE Data, 2004-2015.

Project description:This study takes a comparative approach to assess whether the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health in later life differs by gender in a sample of individuals aged 50 and above living in nine European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland). We apply linear hybrid (between-within) regression models using panel data (50,459 observations from 13,955 respondents) from five waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) between the years 2004-2015. SES measures included education, income, and wealth. A 40- item Frailty Index (FI) of accumulated deficits, an important indicator of health in older populations, was used as dependent variable. Considering between-effects estimates, our results show that the positive impact of education and wealth on health is stronger for women living in countries where the welfare arrangements are less decommodifying and defamilializing. No such interaction is found for income and for fixed-effects estimates. This study could advance the understanding of gender inequalities in health. Also, such findings can guide future policies devoted at reducing gender and socioeconomic inequalities in health in later life.

| S-EPMC6561324 | biostudies-literature

Life Course Socioeconomic Conditions and Frailty at Older Ages.

Project description:ObjectivesThis article aimed to assess associations of childhood socioeconomic conditions (CSC) with the risk of frailty in old age and whether adulthood socioeconomic conditions (ASC) influence this association.MethodsData from 21,185 individuals aged 50 years and older included in the longitudinal Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe were used. Frailty was operationalized as a sum of presenting weakness, shrinking, exhaustion, slowness, or low activity. Confounder-adjusted multilevel logistic regression models were used to analyze associations of CSC and ASC with frailty.ResultsWhile disadvantaged CSC was associated with higher odds of (pre-)frailty in women and men (odds ratio [OR] = 1.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.34, 2.24; OR = 1.84, 95% CI 1.27, 2.66, respectively), this association was mediated by ASC. Personal factors and demographics, such as birth cohort, chronic conditions, and difficulties with activities of daily living, increased the odds of being (pre-)frail.DiscussionFindings suggest that CSC are associated with frailty at old age. However, when taking into account ASC, this association no longer persists. The results show the importance of improving socioeconomic conditions over the whole life course in order to reduce health inequalities in old age.

| S-EPMC7265806 | biostudies-literature

Help to Family and Friends: Are There Gender Differences at Older Ages?

Project description:This paper uses recent data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 5,220) to explore gender differences in the extent to which adults in their 50s and 60s provide informal help to their adult children, elderly parents and friends We find that both men and women report very high levels of helping kin and nonkin alike, though women do more to assist elderly parents and women provide much more emotional support to others than do men. Men provide more assistance than do women with "housework, yard work and repairs." As they retire from the workforce, married men become significantly more involved in the care of their grandchildren, virtually eliminating any gender difference by the time they are in their 60s.

| S-EPMC3129855 | biostudies-literature

Telomere length and physical performance at older ages: an individual participant meta-analysis.

Project description:BackgroundTelomeres are involved in cellular ageing and shorten with increasing age. If telomere length is a valuable biomarker of ageing, then telomere shortening should be associated with worse physical performance, an ageing trait, but evidence for such an association is lacking. The purpose of this study was to examine whether change in telomere length is associated with physical performance.MethodsUsing data from four UK adult cohorts (ages 53-80 years at baseline), we undertook cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. We analysed each study separately and then used meta-analytic methods to pool the results. Physical performance was measured using walking and chair rise speed, standing balance time and grip strength. Telomere length was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in whole blood at baseline and follow-up (time 1, time 2).ResultsTotal sample sizes in meta-analyses ranged from 1,217 to 3,707. There was little evidence that telomere length was associated with walking speed, balance or grip strength, though weak associations were seen with chair rise speed and grip strength at baseline (p = 0.02 and 0.01 respectively). Faster chair rise speed at follow-up, was associated with a smaller decline in telomere length between time 1 and time 2 (standardised coefficient per SD increase 0.061, 95% CI 0.006, 0.115, p = 0.03) but this was consistent with chance (p =0.08) after further adjustment.ConclusionsWhereas shortening of leukocyte telomeres might be an important measure of cellular ageing, there is little evidence that it is a strong biomarker for physical performance.

| S-EPMC3724915 | biostudies-literature

Gender stereotypes across the ages: On-line processing in school-age children, young and older adults.

Project description:Most research to date on implicit gender stereotyping has been conducted with one age group - young adults. The mechanisms that underlie the on-line processing of stereotypical information in other age groups have received very little attention. This is the first study to investigate real time processing of gender stereotypes at different age levels. We investigated the activation of gender stereotypes in Italian in four groups of participants: third- and fifth-graders, young and older adults. Participants heard a noun that was stereotypically associated with masculine (preside "headmaster") or feminine roles (badante "social care worker"), followed by a male (padre "father") or female kinship term (madre "mother"). The task was to decide if the two words - the role noun and the kinship term - could describe the same person. Across all age groups, participants were significantly faster to respond, and significantly more likely to press 'yes,' when the gender of the target was congruent with the stereotypical gender use of the preceding prime. These findings suggest that information about the stereotypical gender associated with a role noun is incorporated into the mental representation of this word and is activated as soon as the word is heard. In addition, our results show differences between male and female participants of the various age groups, and between male- and female-oriented stereotypes, pointing to important gender asymmetries.

| S-EPMC4585124 | biostudies-other

Temporal variation in phenotypic gender and expected functional gender within and among individuals in an annual plant.

Project description:Background and aimsAdaptive explanations for variation in sex allocation centre on variation in resource status and variation in the mating environment. The latter can occur when dichogamy causes siring opportunity to vary across the flowering season. In this study, it is hypothesized that the widespread tendency towards declining fruit-set from first to last flowers on plants can similarly lead to a varying mating environment by causing a temporal shift in the quality (not quantity) of siring opportunities.MethodsA numerical model was developed to examine the effects of declining fruit-set on the expected male versus female reproductive success (functional gender) of first and last flowers on plants, and of early- and late-flowering plants. Within- and among-plant temporal variation in pollen production, ovule production and fruit-set in 70 Brassica rapa plants was then characterized to determine if trends in male and female investment mirror expected trends in functional gender.Key resultsUnder a wide range of model conditions, functional femaleness decreased sharply in the last flowers on plants, and increased from early- to late-flowering plants in the population. In B. rapa, pollen production decreased more rapidly than ovule production from first to last flowers, leading to a within-plant increase in phenotypic femaleness. Among plants, ovule production decreased from early- to late-flowering plants, causing a temporal decrease in phenotypic femaleness.ConclusionsThe numerical model confirmed that declining fruit-set can drive temporal variation in functional gender, especially among plants. The discrepancy between observed trends in phenotypic gender in B. rapa and expected functional gender predicted by the numerical model does not rule out the possibility that male reproductive success decreases with later flowering onset. If so, plants may experience selection for early flowering through male fitness.

| S-EPMC4071105 | biostudies-literature

Body size reference norms and subjective weight status: A gender and life course approach.

Project description:This paper uses data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to describe county-level variation in norms regarding physical weight among adolescents in the United States. We demonstrate that regardless of one's physical size, those residing in counties with a heavier weight norm are significantly less likely to see themselves as overweight than those residing in counties with a light weight norm. We further show that the local weight norm during adolescence (Wave 1) is associated with individuals' weight perceptions through adolescence and into young adulthood (Wave 4), though these associations attenuate in strength as respondents age. Our results suggest that weight norms have a stronger influence on weight perceptions among women compared to men and that the role of gender is particularly important during adolescence. We encourage life course researchers to consider the normative health environment during adolescence as an important context for understanding disparities in health and health lifestyles as people age.

| S-EPMC5905672 | biostudies-literature

Characterizing Cognition in Everyday Life of Older Adults With Subjective Cognitive Decline.

Project description:Subjective cognitive decline (SCD), the subjective experience of worsening cognition with no objective cognitive impairment, poses a heightened risk for dementia. This study aimed to characterize cognition in the everyday life of people with SCD, is crucial for understanding and preventing further functional and cognitive decline. One hundred and thirty-five older adults (age 70.7±6.7) with SCD were assessed using functional-cognition measures: Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ), Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult version (BRIEF-A), and Multiple Errands Test (MET). The resulted showed that older adults with SCD reported lower memory satisfaction (Hedges's g = 0.41) on the MMQ, and worse metacognition on the BRIEF-A (Hedges's g = 0.63) compared with published normative data. They completed an average of only 6/12 required tasks on the MET. The findings show functional difficulties related to SCD and inform the development of occupational therapy intervention for this population.

| S-EPMC9459355 | biostudies-literature

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

OmicsDI is an Elixir interoperability service. Learn more ›

Tweets

OmicsDI Databases

PRIDE
PeptideAtlas
MassIVE
JPOST Repository
Physiome Model Repository

EGA
EVA
ENA
LINCS
PAXDB
Cell Collective

MetaboLights
Metabolomics Workbench
MetabolomeExpress
GNPS
BioModels
FAIRDOMHub

ArrayExpress
dbGaP
ExpressionAtlas
GEO
NODE

Information

Databases
Help
API
Contact us
Code on GitHub
Terms of use
Submit Data