@article {10787, title = {The price of mental well-being in later life: the role of financial hardship and debt}, journal = {Aging \& Mental Health}, year = {2020}, note = {PMID: 32426995}, pages = {1-7}, abstract = {Objective: This study investigated the associations between various financial hardship and debt indicators and mental health status among older adults. Methods: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we considered the association between different forms of financial hardship and debt of those who were identified as having high levels of depressive symptoms (N = 7678) and anxiety (N = 8079). Financial hardship indicators: difficulty paying bills, food insecurity, and medication need; debt indicators: credit card and medical debt. Associations were tested using multiple logistic regression analyses and are reported as relative risk (RR) ratios and 95\% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Participants who had difficulty paying bills were more likely to have high levels of depressive symptoms (RR = 2.06, CI = 1.75{\textendash}2.42, p < 0.001) and anxiety (RR = 1.46, CI = 1.02{\textendash}2.05, p < 0.001) compared to those who did not have financial difficulty. Similarly, medical debt was associated with depressive symptoms (RR = 1.43, CI = 1.14{\textendash}1.74, p < 0.01) and anxiety (RR = 1.20, CI = 0.96{\textendash}1.50, p < 0.01). Credit card debt was not significantly associated with either mental health outcome. Conclusion: Indicators of financial hardship and medical debt were associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety in a cohort of older adults. In contrast, the influence of credit card debt appeared to be more complex and vary by individual. These findings indicate that doing without meeting personal salient needs has a particularly adverse effect on psychological well-being.}, keywords = {Anxiety, Debt, depression, Financial hardship, Mental Health}, doi = {10.1080/13607863.2020.1758902}, author = {Gillian L Marshall and Eva Kahana and William T Gallo and Kim L. Stansbury and Stephen M Thielke} } @article {10003, title = {Genetics of human longevity from incomplete data: New findings from the long life family study.}, journal = {Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences \& Medical Sciences}, volume = {73}, year = {2018}, month = {10/2018}, pages = {1472-1481}, abstract = {The special design of the Long Life Family Study provides a unique opportunity to investigate the genetics of human longevity by analyzing data on exceptional lifespans in families. In this article, we performed two series of genome wide association studies of human longevity which differed with respect to whether missing lifespan data were predicted or not predicted. We showed that the use of predicted lifespan is most beneficial when the follow-up period is relatively short. In addition to detection of strong associations of SNPs in APOE, TOMM40, NECTIN2, and APOC1 genes with longevity, we also detected a strong new association with longevity of rs1927465, located between the CYP26A1 and MYOF genes on chromosome 10. The association was confirmed using data from the Health and Retirement Study. We discuss the biological relevance of the detected SNPs to human longevity.}, keywords = {Genetics, Longevity}, issn = {1758-535X}, doi = {10.1093/gerona/gly057}, author = {Anatoliy Yashin and Konstantin G Arbeev and Wu, Deqing and Liubov S Arbeeva and Bagley, Olivia and Stallard, Eric and Alexander M Kulminski and Akushevich, Igor and Fang, Fang and Wojczynski, Mary K and Christensen, Kaare and Anne B Newman and Boudreau, Robert M and Province, Michael A and Stephen M Thielke and Thomas T Perls and An, Ping and Irma Elo and Svetlana Ukraintseva} } @article {8904, title = {Racial and ethnic differences in smoking changes after chronic disease diagnosis among middle-aged and older adults in the United States.}, journal = {BMC Geriatrics}, volume = {17}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Feb 08}, pages = {48}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Middle-aged and older Americans from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds are at risk for greater chronic disease morbidity than their white counterparts. Cigarette smoking increases the severity of chronic illness, worsens physical functioning, and impairs the successful management of symptoms. As a result, it is important to understand whether smoking behaviors change after the onset of a chronic condition. We assessed the racial/ethnic differences in smoking behavior change after onset of chronic diseases among middle-aged and older adults in the US.

METHODS: We use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS 1992-2010) to examine changes in smoking status and quantity of cigarettes smoked after a new heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, or lung disease diagnosis among smokers.

RESULTS: The percentage of middle-aged and older smokers who quit after a new diagnosis varied by racial/ethnic group and disease: for white smokers, the percentage ranged from 14\% after diabetes diagnosis to 32\% after cancer diagnosis; for black smokers, the percentage ranged from 15\% after lung disease diagnosis to 40\% after heart disease diagnosis; the percentage of Latino smokers who quit was only statistically significant after stoke, where 38\% quit. In logistic models, black (OR = 0.43, 95\% CI: 0.19-0.99) and Latino (OR = 0.26, 95\% CI: 0.11-0.65) older adults were less likely to continue smoking relative to white older adults after a stroke, and Latinos were more likely to continue smoking relative to black older adults after heart disease onset (OR = 2.69, 95\% CI [1.05-6.95]). In models evaluating changes in the number of cigarettes smoked after a new diagnosis, black older adults smoked significantly fewer cigarettes than whites after a new diagnosis of diabetes, heart disease, stroke or cancer, and Latino older adults smoked significantly fewer cigarettes compared to white older adults after newly diagnosed diabetes and heart disease. Relative to black older adults, Latinos smoked significantly fewer cigarettes after newly diagnosed diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS: A large majority of middle-aged and older smokers continued to smoke after diagnosis with a major chronic disease. Black participants demonstrated the largest reductions in smoking behavior. These findings have important implications for tailoring secondary prevention efforts for older adults.

}, keywords = {Chronic disease, Health Conditions and Status, Older Adults, Racial/ethnic differences, Smoking}, issn = {1471-2318}, doi = {10.1186/s12877-017-0438-z}, author = {Ana R Qui{\~n}ones and Corey L Nagel and Jason T Newsom and Nathalie Huguet and Sheridan, Paige and Stephen M Thielke} }