Invited Commentary: Is the Polysocial Score Approach Valuable for Advancing Social Determinants of Health Research?

Social determinants of health (SDOH) encompass the social environmental factors and lived experiences that collectively shape an individual's health. Recently, the polysocial score approach has been introduced as an innovative method for capturing the cumulative impact of a broad spectrum of social factors. This approach offers a promising opportunity to complement and enhance conventional methodologies in the advancement of SDOH research. In this issue of the Journal, Jawadekar et al. (Am J Epidemiol. XXXX;XXX(XX):XX-X-XXXX) evaluated the value of the polysocial score for predicting cognitive performance and mortality among middle-aged and older adults. Models built on a smaller set of social determinants, including race, gender, and education, performed comparably to the polysocial score models where a more complex set of social factors were included. In this invited commentary, I welcome the evaluation of the predictive ability of the polysocial score and the discussion of its merits and limitations. I also summarize the practical utility of the polysocial score in predicting health outcomes and its mechanistic significance in unveiling the relationship between genetics, social environment, and lifestyles in shaping an individual's health and elucidate health disparities. Lastly, I propose several avenues for future research.

Association of Childhood Adversity With Frailty and the Mediating Role of Unhealthy Lifestyle: A Lifespan Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Childhood adversity and lifestyle have been associated with frailty in later life, but not much is known about factors that may explain these associations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the association of childhood adversity with frailty, and the mediating role of unhealthy lifestyle in the association. METHODS: This lifespan analysis included 152,914 adults aged 40-69 years old from the UK Biobank. We measured childhood adversity with five items: physical neglect, emotional neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse through online mental health survey. Frailty was measured by the frailty index; an unhealthy lifestyle score (range: 0-5) was calculated based on unhealthy body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet at the baseline survey. Multiple logistic regression and mediation analysis were performed. RESULTS: A total of 10,078 participants (6.6%) were defined as having frailty. Participants with any childhood adversity had higher odds of frailty. For example, in the fully adjusted model, with a one-point increase in cumulative score of childhood adversity, the odds of frailty increased by 38% (odds ratio: 1.38; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.36, 1.40). Unhealthy lifestyle partially mediated the associations of childhood adversity with frailty (mediation proportion: 4.4%-7.0%). The mediation proportions were largest for physical (8.2%) and sexual (8.1%) abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood adversity was positively associated with frailty, and unhealthy lifestyle partially mediated the association. This newly identified pathway highlights the potential of lifestyle intervention strategies among those who experienced childhood adversity (in particular, physical, and sexual abuse) to promote healthy aging.

Diagnostic test accuracy of serum creatinine and cystatin C-based index for sarcopenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is an important prognostic factor, but its optimal screening methods remain challenging. Several new indices developed based on serum creatinine (Cr) and cystatin C (CysC) have been proposed to be diagnostic biomarkers for sarcopenia screening. OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of serum Cr- and CysC-based indices for sarcopenia diagnosis. METHODS: We systematically searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCIE and SCOPUS from inception to 2 April 2023. Methodological quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool. A bivariate random-effects model was used to synthesise the pooled sensitivity, specificity and area under the curves of the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC-AUC). RESULTS: We retrieved 936 publications and included 16 studies with 5,566 participants (mean age ranged: 51.0-78.4 years, 50.2% men). The prevalence of sarcopenia ranged from 7.8 to 69.5%. All included studies presented a moderate to high risk of bias. The serum Cr- and CysC-based indices showed moderate diagnostic accuracy for sarcopenia (pooled sensitivity: 0.67, 95% CI 0.57-0.75; pooled specificity: 076, 95% CI 0.67-0.83; pooled SROC-AUC: 0.78, 95% CI 0.74-0.81). The Cr/CysC ratio is the most widely studied index, followed by the Cr × eGFRcys index. Overall, both indicators had satisfactory and comparable performance in screening sarcopenia. CONCLUSION: Serum Cr- and CysC-based indices showed moderate diagnostic accuracy for sarcopenia. The most studied indices-the Cr/CysC ratio and Cr × eGFRcys index-had comparable diagnostic accuracy for evaluating sarcopenia and may serve as surrogate markers for sarcopenia. However, further validation is required to verify these findings.

The association between sarcopenia and incident of depressive symptoms: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have shown that sarcopenia was associated with depression among older adults. However, most of these investigations used a cross-sectional design, limiting the ability to establish a causal relation, the present study examined whether sarcopenia was associated with incident depressive symptoms. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study with participants from the Western China Health and Aging Trends (WCHAT) study. Participants could complete anthropometric measurements and questionnaires were included. The exposure was sarcopenia, defined according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia in 2019, the outcome was depressive symptoms, evaluated by GDS-15. We excluded depression and depressive symptoms at baseline and calculated the risk of incident depressive symptoms during the follow-up year. RESULTS: A total of 2612 participants (mean age of 62.14 ± 8.08 years) were included, of which 493 with sarcopenia. 78 (15.82%) participants with sarcopenia had onset depressive symptoms within the next year. After multivariable adjustment, sarcopenia increased the risk of depressive symptoms (RR = 1.651, 95%CI = 1.087-2.507, P = 0.0187) in overall participants. Such relationship still exists in gender and sarcopenia severity subgroups. Low muscle mass increased the risk of depressive symptoms (RR = 1.600, 95%CI = 1.150-2.228, P = 0.0053), but low muscle strength had no effect (RR = 1.250, 95%CI = 0.946-1.653, P = 0.117). CONCLUSIONS: Sarcopenia is an independent risk factor for depressive symptoms, Precautions to early detect and targeted intervene for sarcopenia should continue to be employed in adult with sarcopenia to achieve early prevention for depression and reduce the incidence of adverse clinical outcomes.

Associations between healthy lifestyle and mortality across different social environments: a study among adults with frailty from the UK Biobank.

BACKGROUND: Among people living with frailty, adherence to a healthy lifestyle may be a low-cost and effective strategy to decrease frailty-induced health risks across different social environments. METHODS: We included 15 594 frail participants at baseline from the UK Biobank study. We used four lifestyle factors to create a composite healthy lifestyle score and 17 social factors to construct a polysocial score. We classified the lifestyle score into two levels (unhealthy and healthy) and the polysocial score into three levels (low, intermediate and high). We used Cox regression to determine the association of each lifestyle factor and lifestyle score with all-cause mortality, respectively. We also examined the associations across polysocial score categories. We evaluated the joint association of the lifestyle score and the categorical polysocial score with all-cause mortality. RESULTS: During up to 14.41 follow-up years, we documented 3098 all-cause deaths. After multivariable adjustment, we found a significant association between not smoking and adequate physical activity with all-cause mortality across polysocial score categories, respectively. We also found a significant association between a healthy diet and all-cause mortality among frail participants living in an intermediate social environment. A healthy lifestyle was associated with a lower all-cause mortality risk across polysocial score categories, especially among those with a low polysocial score. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to a healthy lifestyle, particularly not smoking, adequate physical activity and a healthy diet, may provide a feasible solution to decreasing mortality risk among frail adults across different social environments, especially for those in the socially disadvantaged group.

The accuracy of screening instruments for sarcopenia: a diagnostic systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to summarise the diagnostic accuracy of screening tools for sarcopenia. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review along with a critical appraisal of published studies on screening tools for sarcopenia. We assessed the measurement properties of screening instruments using the consensus-based standards for selecting health measurement instruments (COSMIN) checklist. We evaluated the risk bias of the included studies using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) tool. The diagnostic test accuracy of instruments for sarcopenia was reported using sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR) and negative likelihood ratio (NLR). RESULTS: We screened 7,120 titles and abstracts; 42 studies including five screening tools for sarcopenia were included. The overall study quality assessed by the QUADAS-2 tool was moderate to good. Of the five screening tools, three instruments had specificities ≥85%: 92% [95% confidence interval (CI): 63-99%] for the SARC-F modified version, 87% (95% CI: 82-90%) for the SARC-F and 85% (95% CI: 77-90%) for the Ishii score. Three tools had sensitivity ≥75%, namely, MSRA 82% (95% CI: 69-90%), Ishii score 79% (95% CI: 62-89%) and U-TEST 76%. PLR higher than 5.0 were present for the Ishii score and SARC-F modified versions; the Ishii score also had the best NLR of 0.25 of all scales. CONCLUSION: The MSRA and Ishii score had excellent sensitivity for sarcopenia screening at an early stage; SARC-F modified versions and Ishii score had superior specificity for sarcopenia diagnosis.

Association between individual resilience and depression or anxiety among general adult population during COVID-19: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated depression and anxiety worldwide. Resilience is important to maintain mental health during uncertain times, but limited study has systematically reviewed its association with depression or anxiety with an emphasis on the general population. METHODS: We searched PubMed and Embase for quantitative or mixed-methods studies on the general adult population published between 1 January 2020 and 31 April 2022 (PROSPERO ID: CRD 42022340935). National Institute of the Health quality assessment tools was used to assess the risk of bias. We qualitatively synthesized findings by outcome and study design. RESULTS: A total of 2945 studies were screened and 35 studies were included in the narrative analysis (5 on depression, 9 on anxiety, and 21 on both). Overall, 21 studies identified statistically significant inverse associations between resilience and depression, while 24 studies found statistically significant inverse associations between resilience and anxiety. Eight studies reported no statistically significant relationships between resilience with depression or anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Resilience was found to be inversely associated with depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings highlight the importance of resilience-enhancing intervention in migrating the global mental health burden from outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Association of dementia comorbidities with caregivers' physical, psychological, social, and financial burden.

BACKGROUND: Informal caregivers of older adults with dementia may experience substantial burdens during their caregiving process, especially when caring for older adults with other comorbid conditions. This study evaluated whether and how comorbidity burden for persons with dementia (PWD) was associated with caregivers' physical, psychological, social, and financial burden as well as caregiving gain. METHODS: Data were from 1,065 community-dwelling older adults living with dementia and their primary caregivers in the National Health and Aging Trends Study and the National Study of Caregiving. PWD's comorbidity burden was measured by the count of chronic conditions and the pattern of comorbidity identified by the latent class analysis (LCA). We considered four domains of caregiving burden-physical, psychological, social, and financial burden. We used linear regressions to identify the unadjusted and adjusted associations between PWD's comorbidity burden and caregiving burden and gain. RESULTS: Of 1,065 PWD, 13.5% had 0-1 and 24.9% had 5 or more number of comorbid chronic conditions, respectively. After multivariable adjustment, an additional chronic condition is associated with an 0.11- and 0.36-point increase in caregivers' physical and psychological burden, respectively. Caregivers of PWD with 5 or more chronic conditions had a 0.64- and 2.22-point higher score of physical and psychological burden, respectively, than those caring for PWD with 0 or 1 comorbid condition. LCA divided PWD into two classes, a high comorbidity class (69.0%) and a low comorbidity class (31.0%). Caregivers of PWD in the high comorbidity burden class had a 0.46-point higher score of physical caregiving burden than those in the low comorbidity burden class. No significant association was found between care recipients' comorbidity burden and their caregivers' social and financial burden or caregiving gain. CONCLUSIONS: The comorbidity burden of PWD was associated with their caregivers' physical and psychological caregiving burden. Relevant interventions to manage the comorbid conditions of people living with dementia and support their caregivers are crucial to improving their physical health and psychological wellbeing.

Association between multimorbidity and informal long-term care use in China: a nationwide cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The impact of multimorbidity on long-term care (LTC) use is understudied, despite its well-documented negative effects on functional disabilities. The current study aims to assess the association between multimorbidity and informal LTC use in China. We also explored the socioeconomic and regional disparities. METHODS: The study included 10,831 community-dwelling respondents aged 45 years and older from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2011, 2015, and 2018 for analysis. We used a two-part model with random effects to estimate the association between multimorbidity and informal LTC use. Heterogeneity of the association by socioeconomic position (education and income) and region was explored via a subgroup analysis. We further converted the change of informal LTC hours associated with multimorbidity into monetary value and calculated the 95% uncertainty interval (UI). RESULTS: The reported prevalence of multimorbidity was 60·0% (95% CI: 58·9%, 61·2%) in 2018. We found multimorbidity was associated with an increased likelihood of receiving informal LTC (OR = 2·13; 95% CI: 1·97, 2·30) and more hours of informal LTC received (IRR = 1·20; 95% CI: 1·06, 1·37), ceteris paribus. Participants in the highest income quintile received more hours of informal LTC care (IRR = 1·62; 95% CI: 1·31, 1·99). The estimated monetary value of increased informal LTC hours among participants with multimorbidity was equivalent to 3·7% (95% UI: 2·2%, 5·4%) of China's GDP in 2018. CONCLUSION: Our findings substantiate the threat of multimorbidity to LTC burden. It is imperative to strengthen LTC services provision, especially among older adults with multimorbidity and ensure equal access among those with lower income.

Prevalence of sufficient physical activity among general adult population and sub-populations with chronic conditions or disability in the USA.

BACKGROUND: Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) released an updated global guideline on physical activity and sedentary behavior, including recommendations for sub-populations living with chronic conditions or disabilities. We aimed to examine the prevalence of meeting the WHO recommendations among these sub-populations in the USA. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the 2017 to 2018 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). RESULTS: We revealed variations in physical activity levels among individuals with chronic conditions and disability. US adults with diabetes, hypertension or disability had a lower prevalence of recommended physical activity levels than the general population. In addition, certain demographic groups such as being female, older and having lower socioeconomic status were associated with a lower likelihood of meeting the WHO recommendations on physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the importance of promoting physical activity levels among US adults, especially those with older age, low socioeconomic status, hypertension and disability.

Association of multimorbidity patterns with incident disability and recovery of independence among middle-aged and older adults.

OBJECTIVE: to identify multimorbidity patterns among middle-aged and older adults in China and examine how these patterns are associated with incident disability and recovery of independence. METHODS: data were from The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. We included 14,613 persons aged ≥45 years. Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify multimorbidity patterns with clinical meaningfulness. Multinomial logistic models were used to determine the adjusted association between multimorbidity patterns and incident disability and recovery of independence. RESULTS: we identified four multimorbidity patterns: 'low morbidity' (67.91% of the sample), 'pulmonary-digestive-rheumatic' (17.28%), 'cardiovascular-metabolic-neuro' (10.77%) and 'high morbidity' (4.04%). Compared to the 'low morbidity' group, 'high morbidity' (OR = 2.63, 95% CI = 1.97-3.51), 'pulmonary-digestive-rheumatic' (OR = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.63-2.21) and 'cardiovascular-metabolic-neuro' pattern (OR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.31-1.97) had higher odds of incident disability in adjusted multinomial logistic models. The 'cardiovascular-metabolic-neuro' (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.44-0.81), 'high morbidity' (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.47-0.98) and 'pulmonary-digestive-rheumatic' group (OR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.60-0.95) had lower odds of recovery from disability than the 'low morbidity' group. Among people without disability, the 'cardiovascular-endocrine-neuro' pattern was associated with the highest 2-year mortality (OR = 2.42, 95% CI = 1.56-3.72). CONCLUSIONS: multimorbidity is complex and heterogeneous, but our study demonstrates that clinically meaningful patterns can be obtained using LCA. We highlight four multimorbidity patterns with differential effects on incident disability and recovery from disability. These studies suggest that targeted prevention and treatment approaches are needed for people with multimorbidity.

Status and transition of normal-weight central obesity and the risk of cardiovascular diseases: A population-based cohort study in China.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become a growing public health concern. Normal weight central obesity (NWCO) has emerged as a potential risk factor for cardiometabolic dysregulation. To date, the association between NWCO and new-onset CVDs remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the associations of NWCO and its longitudinal transitions with cardiovascular risks in middle-aged and older Chinese. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data were from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011-2018. NWCO was defined as the combination of a body mass index (BMI) of <24.0 kg/m2 and a waist circumference (WC) of >85 cm in males or >80 cm in females. CVDs included heart diseases and stroke. Cause-specific hazard models and subdistribution hazard models with all-cause death as the competing event were applied. In 2011, 9856 participants without prior CVDs were included, of whom 1814 developed CVDs during a 7-year follow-up. Compared to normal weight and non-central obesity (NWNCO), NWCO was significantly associated with new-onset CVDs, with cause-specific hazard ratios (cHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 1.21 (1.04-1.41) for heart diseases and 1.40 (1.11-1.76) for stroke. From 2011 to 2013, 571 NWNCO participants developed NWCO who subsequently demonstrated a 45% higher risk of CVDs than those with maintained NWNCO. CONCLUSION: NWCO and transition from NWNCO to NWCO are associated with higher risks of CVDs. Identification and prevention of NWCO may be useful in the management of CVDs.

Functional dentition is a modifier of the association between vitamin D and the frailty index among Chinese older adults: a population-based longitudinal study.

BACKGROUNDS: Although vitamin D and dentition status are each associated with frailty, their combined effects on frailty have not been studied. This study aimed to evaluate the combined effects of vitamin D and dentition status on frailty in old Chinese adults. METHODS: Baseline data were obtained from the 2011-2012 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. A total of 1074 participants ≥65 years who were non-frail or prefrail at baseline were included; follow-up was conducted in the 2014 wave. Frailty was assessed by a 40-item frailty index (FI) and classified into frail (FI > 0.21), prefrail (FI: 0.1-0.21), and non-frail (FI ≤0.1). Vitamin D was assessed by 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and categorized into quartiles and dichotomies (normal: ≥50 nmol/L vs. low: < 50 nmol/L). The presence of ≥20 natural teeth was defined as functional dentition, otherwise as non-functional dentition. We used bivariate logistic regression and restricted cubic splines to examine the association between vitamin D, dentition status, and frailty. We created a multiplicative interaction between vitamin D and dentition status to test for their combined effect. RESULTS: A total of 205 (19.1%) incident frailty were identified during the 3-year follow-up. Participants with the lowest quartile of plasma 25(OH) D were more likely to be frail (odds ratio [OR] 2.45, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.38 to 4.35) than those in the highest quartile. Older adults with the lowest quartile of 25(OH) D and non-functional dentition had the highest odds of frailty (OR = 3.67, 95% CI: 1.02 to 13.12). We also observed that a lower vitamin D level was associated with an increased risk of frailty with a threshold of 40.37 nmol/L using restricted cubic spline models. However, vitamin D levels were not significantly associated with frailty among participants with functional dentition. CONCLUSIONS: Low vitamin D levels were associated with an increased risk of frailty in older adults. Functional dentition modified the association of vitamin D with frailty.

Association between indoor ventilation frequency and cognitive function among community-dwelling older adults in China: results from the Chinese longitudinal healthy longevity survey.

BACKGROUNDS: Emerging evidence suggested that indoor air pollution caused long-term adverse effects on cognitive function among older adults who spend more than 85% of their time indoors. Although high indoor ventilation can mitigate the effect of indoor air pollution on cognition among the younger population, limited evidence revealed the association between indoor ventilation and cognition among older adults. METHODS: A total of 11,853 participants aged 65 and over (female, 54.5%; mean age, 83.6 years) were included from the 2017-2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Indoor ventilation frequency was measured by the self-reported frequency of opening windows per week in each season. Cognitive function was evaluated by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Multivariate Poisson regression with robust error variance was applied to assess the association between overall indoor ventilation frequency and cognitive function. We fitted in two adjusted models: Model 1 was adjusted for demographic; model 2 was further adjusted for lifestyle, socioeconomic status, health conditions, and environmental factors. The same models were also applied to measure the association between seasonal indoor ventilation frequency and cognitive function. RESULTS: Of 11,853 older adults, 3035 (25.6%) had cognitive impairment. A high overall indoor ventilation frequency (indoor ventilation frequency: 6-8) was significantly associated with a 9% lower likelihood of cognitive impairment than low overall indoor ventilation frequency (indoor ventilation frequency: 0-3) among Chinese older adults [Relative risk (RR): 0.91, 95% Confidential Interval (CI): 0.83-0.99] in the full adjusted model. In the subgroup analysis in four seasons, high and intermediate indoor ventilation frequency in winter were significantly associated with 8% (RR: 0.92; 95%CI: 0.86-0.99) and 16% (RR: 0.84; 95%CI: 0.78-0.90) lower probability of cognitive impairment than low indoor ventilation frequency in the fully adjusted model among Chinese older adults, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In this nationally representative cohort, a higher frequency of house ventilation by opening windows was significantly associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment among Chinese older adults aged 65 and over. These results offered robust evidence for policymaking and health intervention to prevent older adults from cognitive impairment or dementia in developing regions.

Continue or not to continue? Attitudes towards deprescribing among community-dwelling older adults in China.

BACKGROUND: Inappropriate prescribing of medications and polypharmacy among older adults are associated with a wide range of adverse outcomes. It is critical to understand the attitudes towards deprescribing-reducing the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs)-among this vulnerable group. Such information is particularly lacking in low - and middle-income countries. METHODS: In this study, we examined Chinese community-dwelling older adults' attitudes to deprescribing as well as individual-level correlates. Through the community-based health examination platform, we performed a cross-sectional study by personally interviews using the revised Patients' Attitudes Towards Deprescribing (rPATD) questionnaire (version for older adults) in two communities located in Suzhou, China. We recruited participants who were at least 65 years and had at least one chronic condition and one prescribed medication. RESULTS: We included 1,897 participants in the present study; the mean age was 73.8 years (SD = 6.2 years) and 1,023 (53.9%) were women. Most of older adults had one chronic disease (n = 1,364 [71.9%]) and took 1-2 regular drugs (n = 1,483 [78.2%]). Half of the participants (n = 947, 50%) indicated that they would be willing to stop taking one or more of their medicines if their doctor said it was possible, and 924 (48.7%) older adults wanted to cut down on the number of medications they were taking. We did not find individual level characteristics to be correlated to attitudes to deprescribing. CONCLUSIONS: The proportions of participants' willingness to deprescribing were much lower than what prior investigations among western populations reported. It is important to identify the factors that influence deprescribing and develop a patient-centered and practical deprescribing guideline that is suitable for Chinese older adults.

Barriers to prescribing oral anticoagulants to inpatients aged 80 years and older with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the temporal trend of the prevalence of underprescription of anticoagulation treatment and explore the factors associated with underprescription of oral anticoagulants (OACs) among inpatients aged ≥ 80 years with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of inpatients with a discharge diagnosis of NVAF from a medical database. We used the Pearson chi-square or Fisher's exact test to compare categorical variables between patients with and without OAC prescriptions during hospitalization. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between risk factors and underprescription of OACs. RESULTS: A total of 4375 patients aged ≥ 80 years with AF were assessed in the largest academic hospital in China from August 1, 2016, to July 31, 2020, and 3165 NVAF patients were included. The prevalence of underprescription of OACs was 79.1% in 2017, 71.3% in 2018, 64.4% in 2019, and 56.1% in 2020. Of all participants, 2138 (67.6%) were not prescribed OACs; 66.3% and 68.2% of patients with and without prior stroke did not receive OACs, respectively. Age (85-89 vs 80-84, OR = 1.48, 95% CI (1.25-1.74); 90 + vs 80-84, OR = 2.66, 95% CI: 2.09-3.42), clinical department where patients were discharged (Reference = Cardiology, Geriatrics: OR = 2.97, 95% CI: 2.45- 3.61; neurology: OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 0.96, 1.63; others: OR = 4.23, 95% CI: 3.43- 5.24), use of antiplatelets (OR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.45- 1.97), and history of stroke (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.71- 0.98 adjusted age), and dementia (OR = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.60- 2.96) were significantly associated with not prescribing OACs. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of underprescription of OACs has decreased over the past several years. The rate of underprescription of OACs was higher among NVAF patients who were older, prescribed antiplatelets, discharged from nondepartmental cardiology, and suffered from comorbidities. This study found iatrogenic factors affecting the underprescription of OACs in inpatients aged ≥ 80 years, providing clues and a basis for the standardized use of OACs in inpatients.

Subclinical Vascular Disease Burden and Premature Mortality Among Middle-aged Adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

BACKGROUND: Whether high burden of subclinical vascular disease (SVD) is associated with increased premature mortality among middle-aged adults is not adequately understood. The association of midlife SVD burden with premature mortality among middle-aged adults free of clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) could provide further insights into stratifying premature death beyond clinical CVD. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether high burden of subclinical vascular disease is associated with increased premature mortality among middle-aged adults. DESIGN: We leveraged data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. PARTICIPANTS: Thirteen thousand eight hundred seventy-six community-dwelling blacks and whites aged 45-64 years from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. MAIN MEASURES: Each SVD measure-ankle-brachial index, carotid intima-media thickness, and electrocardiogram-was scored 0 (no abnormalities), 1 (minor abnormalities), or 2 (major abnormalities). An index was constructed as the sum of three measures, ranging from 0 (lowest burden) to 6 (highest burden). We used the Cox proportional-hazards model to determine the association of SVD burden with premature mortality (death before age 70) among persons free of clinical CVD. We then tested the difference in point estimates between SVD and clinical CVD. KEY RESULTS: Among persons without CVD, the premature death was 1.7, 2.1, 2.5, and 3.8 per 1000 person-years among those with an SVD score of 0 (lowest burden), 1, 2, and 3-6 (highest burden), respectively. After multivariable-adjustment, highest SVD burden (score = 3-6; HR = 1.47) was significantly associated with premature death among persons initially without CVD. In the model where persons with and without CVD were included, high SVD burden (score: 3-6 vs. 0) and CVD did not have hugely different association with premature death (HR = 1.49 vs. 1.68; P = 0.32 for comparison). CONCLUSIONS: Midlife SVD burden was associated with premature mortality and it could stratify premature death beyond clinical CVD. It is important to take SVD into account when designing interventions for reducing premature mortality.

Creation and validation of a polysocial score for mortality among community-dwelling older adults in the USA: the health and retirement study.

BACKGROUND: the interrelatedness between social determinants of health impedes researchers to identify important social factors for health investment. A new approach is needed to quantify the aggregate effect of social factors and develop person- centred social interventions. METHODS: participants ([n = 7,383], 54.5% female) were aged 65 years or above who complete an additional psychosocial questionnaire in the health and retirement study in 2006 or 2008. Social determinants of health encompassed five social domains: economic stability, neighbourhood and physical environment, education, community and social context, and healthcare system. We used the forward stepwise logistic regression to derive a polysocial score model for 5-year mortality. Indices of goodness-of-fit, discrimination and reclassification were used to assess model performance. We used logistic regression to identify the association between polysocial score and mortality. Subgroup analyses were conducted to examine sex- and race-specific association. RESULTS: polysocial score was created using 14 social determinants of health. In the training cohort, the C-statistic was 0.71 for the reference model (only age, sex and race/ethnicity) and increased to 0.75 for the continuous and categorical polysocial score. Compared with the reference model, the integrated discrimination index for adding the continuous or categorical polysocial score was both 0.03 (P values < 0.001). Participants with an intermediate (odds ratio [OR] = 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51-0.82) or high (OR = 0.48; 95% CI, 0.38-0.60) polysocial score had lower odds of death than those in the low category in the fully adjusted model, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: the polysocial approach may offer possible solutions to monitor social environments and suggestions for older people to improve their social status for specific health outcomes.

Association between primary caregiver type and mortality among Chinese older adults with disability: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Socio-demographic transitions have dramatically changed the traditional family care settings in China, caused unmet care needs among older adults. However, whether different primary caregiver types have different influences on disabled older adults' health outcomes remain poorly understood. We aimed to examine the association between the type of primary caregiver (e.g., spouse and children) and death among community-dwelling Chinese older adults disabled in activities of daily living. METHODS: We used data from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. The analytic sample comprised 4278 eligible adults aged ≥ 80 years. We classified primary caregiver type into five categories: spouse, son/daughter-in-law, daughter/son-in-law, grandchildren, and domestic helper. We used Cox regression model to examine the association between primary caregiver type and all-cause mortality. Covariates included age, sex, residence, years of education, co-residence status, financial independence, whether living with children, number of ADL disability, number of chronic conditions, and self-reported health, cognitive impairment, and caregiving quality. RESULTS: Married older adults whose primary caregivers were son/daughter-in-law had a 38% higher hazard of death than those who had spouse as the primary caregiver. Married men who received care primarily from son/daughter-in-law or daughter/son-in-law had a 64 and 68% higher hazard of death, respectively, than those whose primary caregiver was spouse. The association between primary caregiver type and mortality among widowed older adults differed between urban and rural areas. Urban residents who had domestic helpers as the primary caregiver had an 16% lower hazard of death, while those living in rural areas had a 50% higher hazard of death, than those having son/daughter-in-law as the primary caregiver. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of care of the primary caregiver may be a risk factor for mortality of disabled older adults in China. Interventions are necessary for reducing unmet needs and managing care burden.

The role of SARC-F scale in predicting progression risk of COVID-19 in elderly patients: a prospective cohort study in Wuhan.

BACKGROUND: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it has been documented that old age and underlying illnesses are associated with poor prognosis among COVID-19 patients. However, it is unknown whether sarcopenia, a common geriatric syndrome, is associated with poor prognosis among older COVID-19 patients. The aim of our prospective cohort study is to investigate the association between sarcopenia risk and severe disease among COVID-19 patients aged ≥60 years. METHOD: A prospective cohort study of 114 hospitalized older patients (≥60 years) with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia between 7 February, 2020 and 6 April, 2020. Epidemiological, socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory data on admission and outcome data were extracted from electronic medical records. All patients were assessed for sarcopenia on admission using the SARC-F scale and the outcome was the development of the severe disease within 60 days. We used the Cox proportional hazards model to identify the association between sarcopenia and progression of disease defined as severe cases in a total of 2908 person-days. RESULT: Of 114 patients (mean age 69.52 ± 7.25 years, 50% woman), 38 (33%) had a high risk of sarcopenia while 76 (67%) did not. We found that 43 (38%) patients progressed to severe cases. COVID-19 patients with higher risk sarcopenia were more likely to develop severe disease than those without (68% versus 22%, p < 0.001). After adjustment for demographic and clinical factors, higher risk sarcopenia was associated with a higher hazard of severe condition [hazard ratio = 2.87 (95% CI, 1.33-6.16)]. CONCLUSION: We found that COVID-19 patients with higher sarcopenia risk were more likely to develop severe condition. A clinician-friendly assessment of sarcopenia could help in early warning of older patients at high-risk with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.