247 research outputs found
PandA
No full textData and code for C.M. Aldwin, S. Y. Choun, & Avron Spiro, The Coping, Appraisal and Resilience in Aging (CARA) model: Longitudinal findings from the VA Normative Aging Study. Psychology and Aging
Critique of Cognitive Measures in the Health Retirement Study (HRS) and the Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) Study
No full texthttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/196307/1/Lachman&Spiro- HRScognitive.pdfSEL
Impact of body mass index on mortality in the veterans administration normative aging study
No full textHigh body mass index (BMI) has been found to be associated with a multitude of health issues and its longitudinal effect on mortality needs to be further understood due to increasing rates of obesity. The relationship between BMI and mortality is a key public health concern due to the rise in obesity prevalence and advancing knowledge of the impact of BMI on all aspects of health.
In order to expand and further contribute to the understanding of the long-term impact of BMI on mortality, we utilized prospective, longitudinal data from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Normative Aging Study (NAS) to assess the relationship between BMI and 40-year all-cause and cause-specific mortality in men. Cox regression was used to evaluate the relationship between BMI and all-cause and cause-specific (cancer, congenital heart disease (CHD), stroke) mortality.
Of the 1,680 men included in this study, the majority were White (96.7%), born between 1920–1929, were between ages 50–59 years, married, completed some college, identified as an occasional drinker and a current smoker, and worked in a “white-collar” job. This study did not identify any men who had an underweight BMI. 594 men had normal BMI, 910 men were overweight, and 176 men were obese.
After adjusting for confounders, compared to men with normal BMI, overweight men had higher risk for CHD mortality (HR=1.33, 95% CI, 0.95–1.86), lower risk for all-cause and stroke mortality (HR=0.98, 95% CI, 0.87–1.11, HR=0.88, 95% CI, 0.53–1.45, respectively), and no difference in risk for cancer mortality (HR=1.00, 95% CI, 0.82–1.23). Obese men had higher risk for all-cause and stroke mortality (HR=1.19, 95% CI, 0.98–1.45, HR=1.26, 95% CI, 0.57–2.79, respectively) and lower risk for CHD and cancer mortality (HR=0.87, 95% CI, 0.48–1.58, HR=0.95, 95% CI, 0.68–1.33, respectively).
In conclusion, this study found that men categorized as obese had an increased risk of all-cause and stroke mortality, and men categorized as overweight had an increased risk of CHD mortality, compared to those with normal BMI. However, due to all confidence intervals crossing 1.00, there is a suggestion that BMI had an effect on mortality in this sample. These results are limited by selection bias during the NAS screening process which selected for healthy men. This may have skewed our results toward the null, potentially diminishing the association between BMI and mortality
NAS/DLS Publications 1965-2025
No full textPublication list of VA Normative Aging Study, Dental Longitudinal Study, and "SPANCO" study (1959-1967)
Women at war: The crucible of Vietnam
No full textParution d'un article intéressant sur les femmes vétérans de la guerre du Viêt-Nam. Accès libre sur Science Direct, mise en ligne le 15 janvier 2017. Auteur.e.s : Anica Pless Kaiser, VA National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University School of Medicine Daniel H. Kabat, Gold Health Strategies, Inc., New York Avron Spiro III, Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center, VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University Schools of Public..
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The Effects of War Stressors and Psychosocial Factors on Mental Health among Korean Vietnam War Veterans
No full textThe purpose of this dissertation was to examine the effects of war stressors and psychosocial factors on negative and positive mental health outcomes among Korean Vietnam War veterans. The sample consisted of 367 male veterans who completed a self-reported survey conducted in 2017 (Mage = 72, SD = 2.66, range = 65-84). Most were married (86.89%), high school graduates or below (89.4%), and served at the Army (87.5%).
In Study 1, we examined the relative impacts of four types of war stressors (combat exposure, malevolent environments, perceived threat, and moral injury) on PTSD, depressive, and anxiety symptoms, controlling for demographics (education, income) and psychosocial factors (optimism, unit cohesion, and homecoming experience). Overall, combat exposure was significantly associated with the three types of psychological outcomes. However, its impact became non-significant when subjective war stressors (malevolent environments, perceived threat, and moral injury) were added to the models. Interestingly, malevolent environments, which may be regarded less severe but more chronic stressors, were consistently and strongly associated with higher levels of PTSD, depressive, and anxiety symptoms. Moral injury had a unique impact on PTSD and anxiety symptoms, while perceived threat was independently associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Among psychosocial factors, only optimism provided an independent impact on the three types of mental health outcomes in the final regression models. The results are in line with James et al. (2013) and Maguen et al. (2009), which showed stronger effects of moral injury or perceive threat over combat exposure on PTSD symptoms, but extended it by examining the unique effects of four types of war stressors on depressive or anxiety symptoms, as well as PTSD symptoms.
In Study 2, we sought to identify the classifications of veterans’ mental health, using late-onset stress symptomatology (LOSS), PTSD symptoms, and psychosocial well-being (WB). A latent profile analysis yielded five classes as the best phenotypes of mental health: 1) Low Affect (n = 45, low LOSS, low PTSD, and low WB), 2) Resilience (n = 43, middle LOSS, low PTSD, and high WB), 3) Normal (n = 134, middle LOSS, middle PTSD, and middle WB), 4) Moderate Distress (n = 109, moderate LOSS, moderate PTSD, and middle WB), and 5) Severe Distress (n = 24, high LOSS, high PTSD, and middle WB). The Resilience class showed the highest levels of optimism, desirable appraisals of military service, and social support from family, significant others, friends, and military peers. Undesirable appraisals of military service were highest in the Severe Distress class, and lowest in the Resilience and Low Affect classes. These results provide empirical evidence for the individual-level process model from Spiro, Settersten, and Aldwin (2016), which emphasized the beneficial impacts of resilience resources on negative and positive mental health outcomes.
Given that most research findings on veterans are from studies of Western veterans, the findings from this dissertation provide information about the long-term impacts of multiple types of war stressors on psychological distress and the importance of intervention focusing on resilience resources for mental health among Korean Vietnam War veterans, an Asian veteran sample. Specifically, it revealed relatively high levels of PTSD in this sample, suggesting a need of psychosocial interventions to improve the mental health in this group
Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
No full textIntroductionWe developed a brief measure of the impact of oral conditions on individual functioning and well-being, known as oral quality of life.MethodsAmong older male veterans (N = 827) and community dental patients (N = 113), we administered surveys consisting of extant oral quality of life items, using clinical dental data from the veteran samples. We assigned each oral quality of life item to a theoretical dimension, conducted an iterative series of multitrait scaling analyses to examine the item-fit with the dimensions, reduced the number of items, and examined the psychometric characteristics of new scales and their association with clinical indices.ResultsWe developed two brief oral quality of life scales, one consisting of 12 items and the other of 6, the latter a subset of the former. Each demonstrated sound psychometric properties and was sensitive to clinical indices.ConclusionThe two brief oral quality of life scales can be used to assess the population-based impact of oral conditions as well as outcomes of dental care
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