The association between negative wealth shocks and depression among middle-aged and older individuals remains unclear. Our study aimed to assess the association between negative wealth shocks and depression and its trajectories, and to explore cross-national differences in these associations

Our sample included 21 999 participants, of which 9519 were from the Health and Retirement Study (2012–2020), 4936 from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2012–2020), 2520 from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011–2020), and 5024 from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (2012–2021). We used latent class trajectory models to identify depressive trajectories, alongside mixed-model logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression to evaluate associations.

In the USA (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.40–2.16), England (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.09–2.70), and China (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.09–1.75), negative wealth shocks were associated with subsequent depressive symptoms, but not in Mexico (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.86–1.29). Additionally, negative wealth shocks were associated with several depressive trajectories in the USA and China. This association occurred only in increasing–decreasing trajectory in England, while no significant association was found across any trajectory in Mexico.

Negative wealth shocks were associated with subsequent depressive symptoms, with significant associations observed in some specific depressive trajectories. These associations exhibited cross-national differences, underscoring the importance of considering country-specific contexts when addressing the mental health impacts of wealth shocks.

We examined the measurement and mediating role of social support in dietary intake among participants in Texercise Select, an intervention for improving lifestyle behaviours.

Quasi-experimental study. Participants reported their dietary intake, level of social support measured by the new Social Support for Healthy Eating scale, sociodemographics and disease profile. We conducted exploratory factor analysis for scale evaluation and structural equation modelling for mediation analysis to test if changes in dietary-specific social support mediate the relationship between the intervention and changes in dietary intake.

Texas.

Community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults completed a self-reported survey at baseline and 3-month follow-up (intervention group n 211, comparison group n 175).

The majority of the sample was aged ≥70 years (mean 74·30, sd 8·54), female (82·1 %) and had at least two chronic conditions (63·5 %). The acceptable levels of reliability and validity of the dietary-specific social support scale were confirmed. Compared with the comparison group, the intervention group reported improved intake of fruit/vegetables and water, and improved dietary-specific social support. Improved dietary-specific social support mediated the association between intervention and change in fruit/vegetable intake, controlling for sociodemographics, number of chronic conditions and geographic residence. About 12 % of intervention effect was mediated by social support.

The current study confirms positive intervention effects on healthy eating, and highlights social support relating to dietary behaviours that may be helpful for healthy eating. Future research should investigate additional social support for developing healthy eating behavioural skills.

This study was aimed toward discerning depressive symptom trajectories associated with different chronic conditions and toward finding modifiable factors associated with those trajectories.

Data were drawn from the 1996–2007 Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging. Nine chronic conditions were selected, and mood trajectories were measured with the Center of Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale.

Among the nine chronic conditions we examined, four patterns of depressive symptom trajectories were identified: (1) elevated depressive symptoms and worsened over time after diagnosed with heart disease (n = 681), arthritis (n = 850), or hypertension (n = 1,207); (2) elevated depressive symptoms without worsening over time after diagnosed with stroke (n = 160), lung diseases (n = 432), gastric conditions (n = 691), or liver diseases (n = 234); (3) no elevated depressive symptoms after diagnosis but an increase in depressive symptoms over time for participants with diabetes (n = 499); and (4) no significant patterns after diagnosed with cancer (n = 57). Cumulative psychological burden over time was significant for participants with hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases, or arthritis. However, these effects disappeared after controlling for comorbidities and physical limitations. Moreover, psychiatric condition was found to play an important role in baseline depressive symptoms among participants diagnosed with lung diseases, arthritis, or liver diseases.

Findings from this study provide information in addressing psychological burden at different times for different conditions. In addition, minimizing the incidence of comorbidities, physical limitations, or psychiatric conditions may have the prospective effect of avoiding the trend of increased depressive symptoms, especially when adults diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases, arthritis, lung diseases, arthritis, or liver diseases.

The present study investigates the relationship between BMI and all-cause mortality among middle-aged and older adults with or without pre-existing diseases.

A population-based cohort study.

The Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging is a nationwide prospective cohort study comprising a representative random sample of middle-aged and older adults. The study period was 1996–2007.

We followed 4145 middle-aged and older adults, totalling 42 353 person-years.

Overweight and mildly obese participants showed a 16 % and 30 % decrease in the risk of death, respectively, compared with those of normal weight after adjusting for potential covariates (e.g. demographic characteristics, health behaviour, co-morbidities and physical function). Underweight adults showed a 1·36-fold increased adjusted hazard ratio of death compared with normal-weight adults. Adults with a BMI of 27·0–28·0 kg/m2 showed a significantly lower adjusted hazard ratio of all-cause mortality rate compared with adults who had normal BMI values when they had coexisting hypertension or diabetes (adjusted hazard ratio=0·50; 95 % CI 0·30, 0·81 for hypertension and adjusted hazard ratio=0·41; 95 % CI 0·18, 0·89 for diabetes).

The study demonstrates that underweight people have a higher risk of death, and overweight and mildly obese people have a lower risk of death, compared with people of normal weight among middle-aged and older adults. An optimal BMI may be based on the individual, who exhibits pre-existing diseases or not.