middle-aged and older adults

Health shocks—such as new diagnoses of chronic disease—can disrupt daily life and create potential “teachable moments” for behavioral improvement. Yet, existing evidence on post-diagnosis behavior change remains mixed and largely limited to high-income countries. This study addresses a major empirical gap by examining whether chronic disease diagnoses are associated with measurable within-person changes in health behaviors among middle-aged and older adults in Thailand, a rapidly aging middle-income society. We analyzed four waves (2015–2022) of the Health, Aging, and Retirement in Thailand (HART) survey. The analytic sample comprised adults aged ≥45 years with no baseline diagnosis of cancer, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease (N = 2,891; 9,577 person-wave observations). Self-reported physician-diagnosed conditions were used to construct disease-status indicators. Behavioral outcomes included smoking, current alcohol use, sufficient physical activity (≥150 minutes/week), normal body mass index (BMI) (18.5–23), and waist obesity (sex-specific cutoffs). Individual fixed-effects linear probability models with survey-wave fixed effects and adjustment for time-varying covariates (log income, activities of daily living [ADL] score, and marital status) estimated within-person associations, with standard errors clustered at the individual level. Disease-specific models and models including interactions with sex assessed heterogeneity. In pooled analyses, the disease-status indicator was not significantly associated with smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, BMI, or waist obesity. In contrast, a diabetes diagnosis was associated with a reduction of 3.6 percentage-point in current alcohol use, and both diabetes and cancer diagnoses were associated with reductions in frequent drinking. Models including interactions with sex suggested larger diagnosis-associated reductions in selected alcohol-use outcomes among men, although statistical evidence varied by outcome and disease type. Among middle-aged and older Thai adults, chronic disease diagnoses were associated with selective, rather than comprehensive, changes in health behaviors. Diagnosis alone is insufficient to support changes across multiple health behaviors, underscoring the need for structured post-diagnosis counselling, follow-up, and gender-sensitive secondary prevention in aging middle-income populations.

Introduction This study examined the moderating role of positive emotion in the relationship between trait-like stress reactivity and negative emotion, and whether this moderating effect varies by cognitive performance and cognitive decline across nine years. Methods Using data from 2,041 participants in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study (mean age = 65.52 years), hierarchical regression models were conducted to predict negative emotion from trait-like stress reactivity, positive emotion, and their interaction, controlling for age, gender, years of education, depressed mood, and neuroticism. Simple slope analyses were conducted to test the direction of significant interactions. Analyses were repeated within subgroups of cognitive performance and cognitive decline across 9 years. Results The interaction between positive emotion and trait-like stress reactivity was significant, with higher positive emotion associated with a weaker relationship between stress reactivity and negative emotion. This moderating effect was observed across low, moderate, and high cognitive performance groups; a three-way interaction further indicated that the moderating effect becomes stronger as cognitive performance increases. For cognitive decline, the moderating effect was significant only among individuals with relatively greater cognitive decline, although the three-way interaction was not significant. Conclusion Positive emotion may buffer the relationship between trait-level stress reactivity and negative emotion across the cognitive performance range, although this moderating effect appears weaker at lower cognitive performance. Findings for cognitive decline were less conclusive, as a subgroup-specific association among participants with greater decline was not confirmed when cognitive decline was analyzed as a continuous moderator.

Depression is a major public health concern in China, with growing urban-rural disparities. This study aimed to examine how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other factors contribute to these disparities. Data were drawn from 7979 adults aged ≥45 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Twenty-four ACEs were obtained from the 2014 wave, while individual characteristics and depressive symptoms were extracted from the 2018 wave, and the Fairlie model was used to analyze factors contributing to urban-rural disparities. Overall, 36.08% of participants reported depressive symptoms, with a higher rate in rural than in urban areas (39.7% vs. 30.3%, p < 0.001). In terms of ACEs, parental anxiety, parental strictness, and childhood adverse health conditions were risk factors in rural areas but not in urban areas, whereas adverse intra-parental relationship and childhood poor friendship were risk factors in urban areas but not significant in rural areas. Parental divorce was a protective factor in rural areas, while parental depression was a risk factor in both settings. The Fairlie model revealed that 55.65% of the urban-rural difference could be explained by self-rated health status (18.24%), Internet use (7.70%), retirement (6.32%), parental depression (6.19%), educational level (5.35%), life satisfaction (4.68%), gender (-2.56%), childhood starvation (1.68%), parental disability (1.44%), age (0.79%), childhood disease (0.63%), childhood bullying (0.60%), childhood adverse health conditions (0.55%), and marital status (-0.34%). These findings indicate that urban-rural disparities in depressive symptoms may be attributed to both individual and ACEs factors, and interventions should address both structural determinants and ACEs.

افسردگی یکی از نگرانی‌های عمده بهداشت عمومی در چین است که با افزایش نابرابری‌های شهری-روستایی همراه است. هدف این مطالعه بررسی نقش تجارب نامطلوب دوران کودکی (ACEs) و سایر عوامل در این نابرابری‌ها بود. داده‌ها از ۷۹۷۹ فرد بزرگسال با سن ≥۴۵ سال از مطالعه طولی سلامت و بازنشستگی چین استخراج شد. بیست‌وچهار تجربه نامطلوب دوران کودکی از موج ۲۰۱۴ و ویژگی‌های فردی و علائم افسردگی از موج ۲۰۱۸ به دست آمد و مدل Fairlie برای تحلیل عوامل مؤثر بر نابرابری‌های شهری-روستایی به کار رفت. به طور کلی، ۳۶/۰۸٪ از شرکت‌کنندگان علائم افسردگی را گزارش کردند که این میزان در مناطق روستایی بالاتر از مناطق شهری بود (۳۹/۷٪ در مقابل ۳۰/۳٪، p < 0.001). از نظر ACEs، اضطراب والدین، سخت‌گیری والدین و شرایط نامطلوب سلامت دوران کودکی در مناطق روستایی عوامل خطر محسوب می‌شوند اما در مناطق شهری این‌گونه نبود، در حالی که رابطه نامطلوب والدین با یکدیگر و دوستی ضعیف دوران کودکی در مناطق شهری عوامل خطر بودند اما در مناطق روستایی معنادار نبودند. طلاق والدین در مناطق روستایی عامل محافظتی بود، در حالی که افسردگی والدین در هر دو محیط عامل خطر محسوب می‌شد. مدل Fairlie نشان داد که ۵۵/۶۵٪ از تفاوت شهری-روستایی را می‌توان با وضعیت سلامت خودارزیابی‌شده (۱۸/۲۴٪)، استفاده از اینترنت (۷/۷۰٪)، بازنشستگی (۶/۳۲٪)، افسردگی والدین (۶/۱۹٪)، سطح تحصیلات (۵/۳۵٪)، رضایت از زندگی (۴/۶۸٪)، جنسیت (۲/۵۶-٪)، گرسنگی دوران کودکی (۱/۶۸٪)، ناتوانی والدین (۱/۴۴٪)، سن (۰/۷۹٪)، بیماری دوران کودکی (۰/۶۳٪)، زورگویی دوران کودکی (۰/۶۰٪)، شرایط نامطلوب سلامت دوران کودکی (۰/۵۵٪) و وضعیت تأهل (۰/۳۴-٪) تبیین کرد. این یافته‌ها نشان می‌دهد که نابرابری‌های شهری-روستایی در علائم افسردگی ممکن است به هر دو عامل فردی و تجارب نامطلوب دوران کودکی نسبت داده شود و مداخلات باید هر دو عامل ساختاری و ACEs را مدنظر قرار دهند.

Mental health care (MHC) utilization remains uneven among middle-aged and older adults in the United States, yet the role of comorbidity burden and other sociodemographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, and clinical domain predictors remains incompletely characterized. We analyzed pooled data from six waves (2019–2024) of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), comprising 128,261 adults aged ≥40 years. Comorbidity burden was the primary predictor, categorized as none, one, or ≥2 chronic conditions, while together with additional predictors was organized according to the predisposing, enabling, and need domains of Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Use. MHC utilization, the outcome, was defined as counseling or psychotherapy, mental health medication use, or visits to a mental health specialist within the previous 12 months. Survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression accounted for the complex survey design and sampling weights. Overall, approximately one in five adults utilized MHC services. Utilization was higher among females, non-Hispanic White adults, unmarried adults, smokers, overweight or obese adults, those with lower income, those with health insurance coverage, or residence in the Midwest, and those with one or ≥2 comorbidities, depression, or anxiety. In contrast, utilization was lower among adults aged 50–64, 65–74, and ≥75 years, non-Hispanic Black and Asian adults, and those with higher educational attainment. Taken together, these findings indicate that MHC utilization is shaped by comorbidity burden alongside predisposing, enabling, and need-related factors, underscoring the need for targeted and culturally responsive strategies to improve equitable access to MHC among this ageing population.

استفاده از خدمات سلامت روان (MHC) در میان بزرگسالان میانسال و سالمند در ایالات متحده همچنان نامتوازن باقی مانده است، اما نقش بار همزمانی بیماری‌ها و سایر پیش‌بین‌های جمعیت‌شناختی، اجتماعی-اقتصادی، رفتاری و بالینی به طور کامل تبیین نشده است. ما داده‌های تجمیع‌شده از شش موج (۲۰۱۹ تا ۲۰۲۴) پیمایش ملی مصاحبه سلامت (NHIS) را که شامل ۱۲۸٬۲۶۱ بزرگسال با سن ۴۰ سال و بالاتر بود، تحلیل کردیم. بار همزمانی بیماری‌ها به عنوان پیش‌بین اصلی، در سه دسته بدون بیماری مزمن، یک بیماری مزمن، یا دو یا بیشتر بیماری مزمن طبقه‌بندی شد و همراه با سایر پیش‌بین‌ها بر اساس حوزه‌های مستعدکننده، توانمندساز و نیاز مدل رفتاری اندرسن برای استفاده از خدمات سلامت سازمان‌دهی گردید. استفاده از MHC به عنوان پیامد، به عنوان مشاوره یا روان‌درمانی، مصرف داروهای سلامت روان یا مراجعه به متخصص سلامت روان در ۱۲ ماه گذشته تعریف شد. رگرسیون لجستیک چندمتغیره با وزن‌دهی بر اساس پیمایش، طراحی پیچیده پیمایش و وزن‌های نمونه‌گیری را لحاظ کرد. به طور کلی، تقریباً یک نفر از هر پنج بزرگسال از خدمات MHC استفاده کرده است. استفاده در میان زنان، بزرگسالان غیرهیسپانیک سفیدپوست، افراد مجرد، سیگاری‌ها، افراد دارای اضافه وزن یا چاقی، افراد با درآمد پایین‌تر، افراد دارای پوشش بیمه سلامت، یا ساکنان منطقه غرب میانه، و همچنین افراد دارای یک یا دو یا بیشتر همزمانی بیماری، افسردگی یا اضطراب بیشتر بود. در مقابل، استفاده در میان بزرگسالان ۵۰–۶۴، ۶۵–۷۴ و ۷۵ سال و بالاتر، بزرگسالان غیرهیسپانیک سیاه‌پوست و آسیایی و افراد با تحصیلات بالاتر کمتر بود. در مجموع، این یافته‌ها نشان می‌دهد که استفاده از MHC تحت تأثیر بار همزمانی بیماری‌ها در کنار عوامل مستعدکننده، توانمندساز و مرتبط با نیاز قرار دارد و بر ضرورت راهبردهای هدفمند و پاسخگو به فرهنگ برای بهبود دسترسی عادلانه به MHC در این جمعیت سالمند تأکید می‌کند.