[Considering housing arrangements in elderly life: factors influencing plans concerning future housing arrangements and preferences in a representative sample of 45+ year olds]. / Nachdenken über das Wohnen im Alter : Einflussfaktoren auf wohnbezogene Zukunftspläne und Wohnpräferenzen in einer repräsentativen Stichprobe ab 45-Jähriger.

BACKGROUND: Providing care and support for the elderly is a future challenge. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using regression analysis, a representative population-based sample (n = 1,445) was examined with respect to whether they had considered future housing and which variables influenced their thoughts and preferences. RESULTS: The majority of the sample reported thinking about housing in old age and preferred to stay at home in old age. Thoughts about future housing and housing preferences were predicted by different factors in the age groups analyzed. Thinking about future housing was positively associated with increasing age and depression. Other relevant predictors were gender, living with a partner, images of old age (especially negative ones), and anticipated subjective health. These variables also predicted housing preferences. CONCLUSIONS: Thoughts about future living arrangements are widespread, and their importance increases with age. The wishes reported do contrast to a certain extent with reality. Planning future care as well as developing consultation guidelines should address these issues while considering the reported influences.

Identifying associations between amino acid changes and meta information in alignments.

MOTIVATION: We present a method that identifies associations between amino acid changes in potentially significant sites in an alignment (taking into account several amino acid properties) with phenotypic data, through the phylogenetic mixed model. The latter accounts for the dependency of the observations (organisms). It is known from previous studies that the pathogenic aspect of many organisms may be associated with a single or just few changes in amino acids, which have a strong structural and/or functional impact on the protein. Discovering these sites is a big step toward understanding pathogenicity. Our method is able to discover such sites in proteins responsible for the pathogenic character of a group of bacteria. RESULTS: We use our method to predict potentially significant sites in the RpoS protein from a set of 209 bacteria. Several sites with significant differences in biological relevant regions were found. AVAILABILITY: Our tool is publicly available on the CRAN network at http://cran.r-project.org/ CONTACT: naya@pasteur.edu.uy SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

[Use of family resources in future need of care. Care preferences and expected willingness of providing care among relatives: a population-based study]. / Inanspruchnahme familiärer Ressourcen bei späterem Pflegebedarf. Betreuungswünsche und angenommene Pflegebereitschaft von Angehörigen in der Allgemeinbevölkerung.

The family is an important resource in elderly care. It is of great interest if persons who might be in need of care in the future would use this resource. Our study assessed wishes and expectations regarding family care in a representative sample of the general population (≥ 45 years, N = 1,445) using questionnaires. Logistic regressions were performed to analyze the potential impact on the willingness to use or provide family care. One quarter of the participants reported experience in family care. In case of own need 62.9% of participants would prefer care provided by relatives and 56.7% would prefer professional care. Participants are more likely to use family care if they report having relatives, are experienced in care of relatives or do not associate old age with being a burden, e.g. report low values in the image of age "being a burden/demanding". Perceived willingness of the relatives to provide care is more likely if there is little regional distance to the relatives, in male participants and if participants talked about future care with their relatives. Besides structural factors, negative images of old age might have a negative influence on the willingness to use family care. Talking about care in old age seems to have a positive impact.

Age- and gender-specific prevalence and risk factors for depressive symptoms in the elderly: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVES: Information on the prevalence and risk factors for depressive disorders in old age is of considerable interest for the assessment of future needs of the health care system. The aim of the study is to determine age- and gender-specific prevalence of major depression (MD), minor depression (MiD), and depressive symptoms, and to analyze risk factors associated with depressive symptoms. METHODS: A representative sample of the German population of 1,659 individuals aged 60 to 85 years were visited at home and answered self-rating questionnaires. Depressive symptoms and syndromes (MD, MiD) were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Factors associated with depressive symptoms were determined with linear regression models for the total sample and for men and women separately. RESULTS: Depressive symptoms were found in 28.7% of the participants, while 6.6% were affected by MD or MiD. The highest prevalence of MD and depressive symptoms was found in the oldest age groups. MiD showed an unsteady course across age groups in both sexes. In the total sample as well as in the male subsample, depressive symptoms were significantly associated with increasing age, lower household income, an increasing number of medical conditions, and lower social support. In women only, the number of medical conditions and lacking social support were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms are common in old age and occur on a spectrum ranging from very mild forms to MD. The potential modifiability of a number of risk factors for depressive symptoms opens possibilities of secondary prevention such as treatment of chronic diseases as well as support in requirements of daily living.

The role of childhood abuse for suicidality in the context of the interpersonal theory of suicide: An investigation in German psychiatric inpatients with depression.

BACKGROUND: Several studies provide evidence for a relationship between childhood abuse and suicidality across the lifespan. To examine this association in the context of the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS), we investigated whether its constructs thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness and capability for suicide are potential mediators. METHODS: Eighty-four German psychiatric inpatients with unipolar depression (M = 37.6 years, 69% female) and current or lifetime suicidal ideation were included. For the assessment we used the Childhood Trauma Screener (CTS), the Rasch-based Screening for Depression (DESC-I), the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ), the German Capability for Suicide Questionnaire (GCSQ), the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS) and the Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R). Simple and multiple mediator analyses were applied. RESULTS: Most patients (70%) had experienced childhood abuse. Emotional abuse showed an indirect association with suicidal ideation via thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, whereas physical and sexual abuse were indirectly related to suicide risk via capability for suicide. LIMITATIONS: The small sample size and the cross-sectional design are limiting factors of the present study. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood abuse is a common experience of inpatients with unipolar depression. This study showed its indirect effects on suicidal ideation and risk for suicide, mediated by the constructs of the IPTS. Further research should investigate this issue in other populations and clinicians should be aware of the devastating effects of childhood abuse.

Predicting suicidal ideation by interpersonal variables, hopelessness and depression in real-time. An ecological momentary assessment study in psychiatric inpatients with depression.

OBJECTIVE: To extend evidence on the short-term variability of passive and active suicidal ideation (SI) and the association with suggested proximal risk factors such as interpersonal variables (perceived burdensomeness [PB], thwarted belongingness [TB], hopelessness, and depression) in real-time. METHODS: This is an observational study using a prospective design applying ecological momentary assessments (EMA). Eligible for study inclusion were inpatients with unipolar depression, current or lifetime suicidal ideation, and fluent German. Over six days, 74 participants rated their momentary level of passive and active SI, PB, TB, depressiveness, and hopelessness up to 10 times per day on smartphones. Data was collected from August 2015 to July 2017. Compliance was excellent (89.7%). RESULTS: Mean squared successive differences supported temporal instability for all variables. According intra-class correlations, between 25% and 47% of variance was accounted for by within-person variability. Multilevel analysis demonstrated significant positive associations between hopelessness, depressiveness, PB, and TB with passive SI. Prospectively, hopelessness and PB remained predictors of passive SI. For active SI, hopelessness, depression, PB, and TB were significantly associated cross-sectionally. Prospectively, hopelessness, PB, and the interaction PBxTB predicted active SI. All models were controlled for previous level of SI. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides further evidence on the short-term variability of SI in very short time frames implying the need of assessing SI repeatedly in clinical and research settings. The associations between interpersonal variables and passive and active SI were only partial in line with assumptions of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. Overall, the effects were small warranting further investigation.

The German version of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ)--Dimensionality, psychometric properties and population-based norms.

PURPOSE: The Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ) assesses the two interpersonal constructs perceived burdensomeness (PB) and thwarted belongingness (TB) that lead to suicidal ideation, according to the interpersonal theory of suicide (IPTS). The present study investigates dimensionality and psychometric properties of the German version of the INQ in a population-based representative sample and delivers norm values. METHODS: The German INQ as well as measures of depression and past suicidality were administered to a population-based representative sample of the German general population (n=2513) to analyze its dimensionality and construct validity by confirmatory factor analysis and correlational analysis. RESULTS: Results of the confirmatory factor analysis were in line with the assumption of two-dimensionality of the INQ. The two subscales showed very good internal consistencies (α ≥ 0.89) as well as correlations with depression and suicidality that indicate convergent validity. There were no gender effects but slight age effects in the scores of both subscales. Population-based norms are provided. LIMITATIONS: Convergent validity was solely examined with measures of depression and suicidal thoughts instead of further suitable constructs like loneliness and social support. Divergent validity was not investigated in the study. CONCLUSION: The German version of the INQ shows good psychometric properties making it a promising tool for assessing PB and TB. The provided norms enable researchers to compare INQ scores of their samples with reference values of a population-based representative sample.