scholarly journals The changing contribution of childhood social characteristics to mortality: a comparison of Finnish cohorts born in 1936–50 and 1961–75

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 896-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pekka Martikainen ◽  
Irma Elo ◽  
Lasse Tarkiainen ◽  
Janne Mikkonen ◽  
Mikko Myrskylä ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Adult Mortality ◽  
Family Type ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Survival Models ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Intraclass Correlations ◽  
Life Circumstances ◽  
External Causes

Abstract Background Life course epidemiology suggests that early life circumstances affect adult mortality, but most of the evidence is based on cohorts born in the beginning of the 20th century. It remains unclear whether and how the influences of early life circumstances on mortality have changed in later birth cohorts. Methods Analyses rely on 10% register-based samples of households drawn from the 1950 and the 1975 Finnish censuses, with consistent follow-up of socioeconomic and housing-related characteristics and early mid-life mortality (at ages 30–55 years). We estimate survival models for the associations between childhood circumstances and all-cause, internal and external mortality for cohorts born in 1936–50 and 1961–75 adjusting for attained social characteristics. We estimate sibling intraclass correlations as summary measures of all early life and familial influences. Results Adverse childhood social circumstances were typically associated with about 10–30% excess cause-specific mortality. These associations were almost fully attenuated by adjustment for achieved later life social characteristics. Early life influences have grown over time for mortality from external causes, particularly as related to home ownership and family type. Differentials have remained stable for internal causes. The intraclass correlations further confirmed the increasing association of early life circumstances on external-cause mortality. Conclusions Our analyses show that the associations between childhood characteristics and mid-life mortality are substantial and almost fully mediated by achieved adult social characteristics. The increase in the contribution of childhood circumstances to mid-life mortality is driven by ever stronger associations with external causes of death.

scholarly journals Early origins of longevity: prenatal exposures to food shortage among early Utah pioneers

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. A. Hanson ◽  
K. R. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Later Life ◽  
Adult Mortality ◽  
In Utero ◽  
Food Shortage ◽  
Survival Models ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Population Database ◽  
Mortality Risks ◽  
Shared Frailty

Undernutrition during critical or sensitive prenatal periods may ‘program’ the fetus for increased chronic disease and mortality in later life. Using birth cohorts that were or were not exposed to severe food shortage in Utah in the mid-19th century, this study examines how in utero exposure to undernutrition is associated with mortality after age 50. The Utah Population Database is used to identify 1392 prenatally exposed individuals and 29,022 individuals from subsequent, unexposed birth cohorts. Gompertz hazards with parametric frailty show that males born between April and June of the famine period (and hence exposed during critical periods in utero during the winter months) have higher mortality risks compared with post-famine cohorts. Alternative Cox non-proportional hazard models suggest that females born during the same period have higher initial mortality risks (starting at age 50) that decline over time creating a mortality crossover with unexposed women at approximately age 70, a result not found for men. An ancillary sibling analysis that uses shared frailty survival models to compare individuals with prenatal exposure to undernutrition to their younger (post-famine) same-sex siblings finds no significant differences in adult mortality for males but the pattern for females support the findings from the previous analysis. Although findings are sensitive to model choice, this study presents evidence that is consistent with an association between undernutrition in utero and adult mortality, shows that effects may be sensitive to the duration and gestational period of exposure, and illustrates the differential exposure effects between genders.

scholarly journals Early cohort mortality predicts the rate of aging in the cohort: a historical analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 380-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Beltrán-Sánchez ◽  
E. M. Crimmins ◽  
C. E. Finch
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Adult Mortality ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Mortality Level ◽  
Poor Nutrition

Early environmental influences on later-life health and mortality are well recognized in the doubling of life expectancy since 1800. To further define these relationships, we analyzed the associations between early-life mortality and both the estimated mortality level at age 40 and the exponential acceleration in mortality rates with age characterized by the Gompertz model. Using mortality data from 630 cohorts born throughout the 19th and early 20th century in nine European countries, we developed a multilevel model that accounts for cohort and period effects in later-life mortality. We show that early-life mortality, which is linked to exposure to infection and poor nutrition, predicts both the estimated cohort mortality level at age 40 and the subsequent Gompertz rate of mortality acceleration during aging. After controlling for effects of country and period, the model accounts for the majority of variance in the Gompertz parameters (about 90% of variation in the estimated level of mortality at age 40 and about 78% of variation in the Gompertz slope). The gains in cohort survival to older ages are entirely due to large declines in adult mortality level, because the rates of mortality acceleration at older ages became faster. These findings apply to cohorts born in both the 19th century and the early 20th century. This analysis defines new links in the developmental origins of adult health and disease in which effects of early-life circumstances, such as exposure to infections or poor nutrition, persist into mid-adulthood and remain evident in the cohort mortality rates from ages 40 to 90.

scholarly journals Early Life Circumstances and Cognitive Aging: Longitudinal Evidence From China Health and Retirement Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 62-62
Author(s):  
Zhuoer Lin ◽  
Xi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Cognitive Deficit ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Childhood Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Life Circumstances

Abstract Objectives: This study examines the long-term relationship between early life circumstances and later life cognitive aging. In particular, we differentiate the long-term effects of early life circumstances on level of cognitive deficit and rate of cognitive decline. Methods: Cognitive trajectories were measured using three waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Surveys (CHARLS 2011-2015). Linear mixed-effect model was used to decompose the individual level of cognitive deficit and rate of cognitive change in a sample of Chinese middle-aged and older adults 45-90 years of age (N=6,700). These two dimensions of cognition were matched to four domains of early life circumstances using CHARLS Life History Survey (2014), including childhood socioeconomic status, neighborhood environment, social relationships and health conditions. Their associations were examined by linear regressions. Stratification analysis was further conducted to investigate the mediating effect of education on early life circumstances and cognitive aging. Results: Childhood socioeconomic status, childhood friendship and early life health conditions were significantly associated with both the level of cognitive deficit and rate of decline. In contrast, the community environment, including childhood neighborhood safety and social cohesion, only affected the baseline level of cognitive deficit; and childhood relationship with parents only affected the rate of cognitive decline. Moreover, education was found to be a mediating factor of these relationships. Conclusion: Exposure to disadvantaged early life circumstances have significant negative effects on later life cognitive deficit as well as rate of cognitive decline. Nevertheless, these long-term impacts can be partially ameliorated by higher educational attainment.

scholarly journals Early-Life Circumstances and Later-Life Loneliness in Ireland

2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 773-783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Kamiya ◽  
M. Doyle ◽  
J. C. Henretta ◽  
V. Timonen
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Life Circumstances

Intercohort Variations in the Education–Health Gradient: Sociohistorical Changes in Early-Life Selection Mechanisms in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tirth R Bhatta
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Functional Limitations ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Selection Mechanisms

Abstract Objectives Most prior studies on cohort-specific changes in the education gradient relative to health treat the distribution of education within a particular cohort as a “starting place” for understanding later-life health disparities. This premise has obfuscated the role that sociohistorical changes in early-life selection mechanisms play in the widening of education-based inequalities in functional limitations across birth cohorts. Methods Drawing from the Health and Retirement Survey (1992–2016; n = 20,920), this study employs inverse probability weight (IPW) to account for early-life selection mechanisms that are likely to affect both educational attainment and functional limitations. IPW-adjusted generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the total effect of education on functional limitations across birth cohorts (born 1924–1959). Results A significant linear decline in the negative effects of childhood socioeconomic disadvantage on education (β = 0.005, p < .01) over the birth year was documented. By contrast, the same variable’s negative effect on functional health increased significantly (β = 0.006, p < .001) across cohorts. Adjustment for childhood socioeconomic status did yield narrower education-based inequalities in functional limitations, but the difference between IPW-adjusted and unadjusted results was not statistically significant. The pattern of significant widening of education-based inequalities (β = −0.05, p < .001) in functional limitations across birth cohorts was maintained. Discussion This study underscores the role that sociohistorical changes in early-life selection mechanisms play in modifying patterns of education-based inequalities in health across cohorts.

scholarly journals Early-Life Circumstances and Late-Life Loneliness: Findings From In-Depth Interviews

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 609-609
Author(s):  
Elisa Tiilikainen
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Childhood And Youth ◽  
Past Life ◽  
Life Circumstances ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract This case study examines loneliness from the perspective of two older men, who were interviewed three times as part of a five-year qualitative longitudinal study on loneliness in later life. Both interviewees self-identified as feeling lonely “often” or “all the time” and had experienced loneliness also in previous life phases. The interviews revealed trajectories of long-term loneliness which were impacted by life events and circumstances in early life, childhood and youth. Two critical experiences were identified: childhood bereavement and sexual abuse. These factors contributed to emotional insecurities and impacted the ways the interviewees perceived their selves and their relations with others. The acknowledgement of past life experiences is important for the theoretical and conceptual understanding of loneliness and the development of different intervention strategies. However, more longitudinal analysis is needed on the cumulative disadvantages making people vulnerable to long-term loneliness.

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