The second webinar in our Emerging Longitudinal Scholars series focused on healthy ageing research. Videos and slides from speakers, Edi Putra (University of Liverpool) and Alisha Suhag (University of Sheffield) are available below.
About the webinar series
Chaired by CLOSER Research Fellow, Dr Neil Kaye, our ELS webinar series provides a collaborative platform for fostering knowledge exchange and showcasing research by early career researchers using UK longitudinal population study data.
This ELS webinar focused on healthy ageing research with talks from Edi Putra (University of Liverpool) and Alisha Suhag (University of Sheffield).
Watch the videos from this webinar
Obesity, psychological factors, and risk of developing seven non-communicable diseases: evidence from longitudinal studies of UK and US older adults – Edi Putra (University of Liverpool)
Download the slides: Obesity, psychological factors, and risk of developing seven non-communicable diseases: evidence from longitudinal studies of UK and US older adults [PDF]
We examined the role of psychological factors in explaining the prospective associations between obesity and risk of developing seven non-communicable diseases (NCDs: hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and memory-related disease).
We used comparable longitudinal data of UK and US older adults from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) (baseline: Wave 4 – 2008/2009; n= 8,127) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) (baseline: Waves 9 and 10 – 2008/2010; n=12,477), respectively.
An index of ‘psychological distress’ was developed separately in each study by combining some psychological factors (e.g., depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, loneliness) available in ELSA and HRS.
Longitudinal associations between obesity, psychological distress, and NCDs were examined using Cox-proportional hazard regression models. Mediation by psychological distress was assessed using causal mediation analysis. Sensitivity analyses included fitting the cumulative number of NCDs as the outcome (minimum=0; maximum=7) and examining the mediating role of individual psychological factors. We found that obesity (vs. normal weight) was consistently associated with an increased risk of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis across studies.
In ELSA and HRS, greater psychological distress was associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and memory-related disease. The index of psychological distress and individual psychological measures did not mediate the associations between obesity and NCDs in both studies, including when the number of NCDs was examined.
Our findings indicated that obesity and psychological factors may be independently associated with future NCDs; and no evidence of the associations between obesity and NCDs were explained by psychological factors.
Longitudinal Clustering of Health Behaviours and Their Association with Multimorbidity in Older Adults in England: A Latent Class Analysis – Alisha Suhag (University of Sheffield)
Download the slides [PDF]: Longitudinal Clustering of Health Behaviours and Their Association with Multimorbidity in Older Adults in England: A Latent Class Analysis [PDF]
Smoking, unhealthy nutrition, alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity (termed SNAP behaviours) are leading risk factors for multimorbidity and tend to cluster (i.e. occur in specific combinations within distinct subpopulations). However, little is known about how these clusters change with age in older adults, and whether and how cluster membership is associated with multimorbidity.
Repeated measures latent class analysis using data from Waves 4-8 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (n=4759) identified clusters of respondents with common patterns of SNAP behaviours over time. Disease status (from Wave 9) assessed disorders of eight body systems, multimorbidity, and complex multimorbidity.
Logistic regressions were used to examine how clusters were associated with socio-demographic characteristics and disease status. Seven clusters were identified: Low-risk (13.4%), Low-risk yet inactive (16.8%), Low-risk yet heavy drinkers (11.4%), Abstainer yet inactive (20%), Poor diet and inactive (12.9%), Inactive, heavy drinkers (14.5%), and High-risk smokers (10.9%).
There was little evidence these clusters changed with age. Clusters characterised by physical inactivity (in combination with other risky behaviours) had lower levels of education and wealth. The heavy drinking clusters were predominantly male. Compared to other clusters, Low-risk and Low-risk yet heavy drinkers had a lower prevalence of all health conditions studied. In contrast, the Abstainer but inactive cluster comprised mostly women and had the highest prevalence of multimorbidity, complex multimorbidity, and endocrine disorders. High-risk smokers were most likely to have respiratory disorders.
Intervention developers could use this information to identify high-risk subpopulations and tailor interventions to their behaviour patterns and socio-demographic profiles.
Other webinars in this series
Videos and slides are available from all of the other webinars in this series:
- Longitudinal trends in children’s development
- Socioeconomic influences on diet and health
- Midlife, employment, engagement and wellbeing
- Mental wellbeing, ethnicity and gender
Further information
If you have any questions, or require further information, please contact CLOSER Digital Communications and Events Manager, Jennie Blows (j.blows@ucl.ac.uk).