| 1. |
- Beller, Johannes, et al.
(author)
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Decline of depressive symptoms in Europe : differential trends across the lifespan
- 2021
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In: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0933-7954 .- 1433-9285. ; 56, s. 1249-1262
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: We examined changes in the burden of depressive symptoms between 2006 and 2014 in 18 European countries across different age groups.Methods: We used population-based data drawn from the European Social Survey (N = 64.683, 54% female, age 14–90 years) covering 18 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) from 2006 to 2014. Depressive symptoms were measured via the CES-D 8. Generalized additive models, multilevel regression, and linear regression analyses were conducted.Results: We found a general decline in CES-D 8 scale scores in 2014 as compared with 2006, with only few exceptions in some countries. This decline was most strongly pronounced in older adults, less strongly in middle-aged adults, and least in young adults. Including education, health and income partially explained the decline in older but not younger or middle-aged adults.Conclusions: Burden of depressive symptoms decreased in most European countries between 2006 and 2014. However, the decline in depressive symptoms differed across age groups and was most strongly pronounced in older adults and least in younger adults. Future studies should investigate the mechanisms that contribute to these overall and differential changes over time in depressive symptoms.
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| 2. |
- Beller, Johannes, et al.
(author)
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Trends in grip strength : Age, period, and cohort effects on grip strength in older adults from Germany, Sweden, and Spain
- 2019
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In: SSM - Population Health. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-8273. ; 9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Grip strength is seen as an objective indicator of morbidity and disability. However, empirical knowledge about trends in grip strength remains incomplete. As trends can occur due to effects of aging, time periods and birth cohorts, we used hierarchical age-period-cohort models to estimate and disentangle putative changes in grip strength. To do this, we used population-based data of older adults, aged 50 years and older, from Germany, Sweden, and Spain from the SHARE study (N = 22500) that encompassed multiple waves of first-time respondents. We found that there were contrasting changes for different age groups: Grip strength improved over time periods for the oldest old, whereas it stagnated or even decreased in younger older adults. Importantly, we found strong birth cohort effects on grip strength: In German older adults, birth cohorts in the wake of the Second World War exhibited increasingly reduced grip strength, and in Spanish older adults, the last birth cohort born after 1960 experienced a sharp drop in grip strength. Therefore, while grip strength increased in the oldest old aged 80 years and older, grip strength stagnated or decreased in comparatively younger cohorts, who might thus be at risk to experience more morbidity and disability in the future than previous generations. Future studies should investigate factors that contribute to this trend, the robustness of the observed birth cohort effects, and the generalizability of our results to other indicators of functional health.
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| 3. |
- Brännström Almquist, Ylva, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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The impact of an unemployment insurance reform on incidence rates of hospitalisation due to alcohol-related disorders : a quasi-experimental study of heterogeneous effects across ethnic background, educational level, employment status, and sex in Sweden
- 2022
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In: BMC Public Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 22
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Many Western countries have scaled back social and health expenditure, including decreases in the generosity and coverage of unemployment insurance, resulting in negative effects on general health and well-being at the aggregate level. Yet, research has not sufficiently looked into heterogeneity of such effects across different subgroups of the population. In Sweden, the 2006 unemployment insurance reform, implemented on the 1st of January 2007, encompassed a drastic increase of insurance fund membership fees, reduced benefit levels, and stricter eligibility requirements. As this particularly affected already socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in society, such as foreign-born and low-educated individuals, the current study hypothesise that the reform would also have a greater impact on health outcomes in these groups.Methods: Based on register data for the total population, we utilise a quasi-experimental approach to investigate heterogeneous health effects of the reform across ethnic background, educational level, employment status, and sex. Due to behaviourally caused diseases having a relatively shorter lag time from exposure, hospitalisation due to alcohol-related disorders serves as the health outcome. A series of regression discontinuity models are used to analyse monthly incidence rates of hospitalisation due to alcohol-related disorders among individuals aged 30–60 during the study period (2001–2012), with the threshold set to the 1st of January 2007.Results: The results suggest that, in general, there was no adverse effect of the reform on incidence rates of hospitalisation due to alcohol-related disorders. A significant increase is nonetheless detected among the unemployed, largely driven by Swedish-born individuals with Swedish-born or foreign-born parents, low-educated individuals, and men.Conclusions: We conclude that the Swedish 2006 unemployment insurance reform generally resulted in increasing incidence rates of hospitalisation due to alcohol-related disorders among unemployed population subgroups known to have higher levels of alcohol consumption.
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| 4. |
- Giordano, Giuseppe Nicola, et al.
(author)
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Trust and all-cause mortality : a multilevel study of US General Social Survey data (1978–2010)
- 2019
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In: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. - : BMJ. - 0143-005X .- 1470-2738. ; 73:1, s. 50-55
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Within public health research, generalised trust has been considered an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality for over two decades. However, there are no population-based studies that have scrutinised both contextual-level and individual-level effects of generalised trust on all-cause mortality. We, therefore, aim to investigate such associations by using pooled nationally representative US General Social Survey (GSS) data linked to the National Death Register (NDI).Methods The combined GSS–NDI data from the USA have 90 contextual units. Our sample consisted of 25 270 respondents from 1972 to 2010, with 6424 recorded deaths by 2014. We used multilevel parametric Weibull survival models reporting HRs and 95% CI (credible intervals for Bayesian analysis). Individual-level and contextual-level generalised trust were the exposures of interest; covariates included age, race, gender, marital status, education and household income.Results We found a robust, significant impact of individual-level and contextual-level trust on mortality (HR=0.92, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.97; and HR=0.96, 95% CI 0.93 to 0.98, respectively). There were no discernible gender differences. Neither did we observe any significant cross-level interactions.Conclusion High levels of individual and contextual generalised trust protect against mortality, even after considering numerous individual and aggregated socioeconomic conditions. Its robustness at both levels hints at the importance of psychosocial mechanisms, as well as a trustworthy environment. Declining trust levels across the USA should be of concern; decision makers should consider direct and indirect effects of policy on trust with the view to halting this decline.
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| 5. |
- Gustafsson, Nina-Katri, et al.
(author)
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Social network characteristics and alcohol use by ethnic origin : An ego-based network study on peer similarity, social relationships, and co-existing drinking habits among young Swedes
- 2021
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 16:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The study explores how social network determinants relate to the prevalence and frequency of alcohol use among peer dyads. It is studied how similar alcohol habits co-exist amongpersons (egos) and their peers (alters) when socio-demographic similarity (e.g., in ethnicorigin), network composition and other socio-cultural aspects were considered. Data was ego-based responses derived from a Swedish national survey with a cohort of 23-year olds.The analytical sample included 7987 ego-alter pairs, which corresponds to 2071 individuals(egos). A so-called dyadic design was applied i.e., all components of the analysis refer to ego-alter pairs (dyads). Multilevel multinomial-models were used to analyse similarity in alcohol habits in relation to ego-alter similarity in ethnic background, religious beliefs, age, sex, risk-taking, educational level, closure in network, duration, and type of relationship, as well as interactions between ethnicity and central network characteristics. Ego-alter similarity in terms of ethnic origin, age and sex was associated with ego-alter similarity in alcohol use. That both ego and alters were non-religious and were members of closed networks also had an impact on similarity in alcohol habits. It was concluded that network similarity might be an explanation for the co-existence of alcohol use among members of peer networks.
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| 6. |
- Kratzat, Susanne, et al.
(author)
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Cks1 is required for tumor cell proliferation but not sufficient to induce hematopoietic malignancies.
- 2012
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In: PloS one. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Cks1 component of the SCF(Skp2) complex is necessary for p27(Kip1) ubiquitylation and degradation. Cks1 expression is elevated in various B cell malignancies including Burkitt lymphoma and multiple myeloma. We have previously shown that loss of Cks1 results in elevated p27(Kip1) levels and delayed tumor development in a mouse model of Myc-induced B cell lymphoma. Surprisingly, loss of Skp2 in the same mouse model also resulted in elevated p27(Kip1) levels but exhibited no impact on tumor onset. This raises the possibility that Cks1 could have other oncogenic activities than suppressing p27(Kip1). To challenge this notion we have targeted overexpression of Cks1 to B cells using a conditional retroviral bone marrow transduction-transplantation system. Despite potent ectopic overexpression, Cks1 was unable to promote B cell hyperproliferation or B cell malignancies, indicating that Cks1 is not oncogenic when overexpressed in B cells. Since Skp2 overexpression can drive T-cell tumorigenesis or other cancers we also widened the quest for oncogenic activity of Cks1 by ubiquitously expressing Cks1 in hematopoetic progenitors. At variance with c-Myc overexpression, which caused acute myeloid leukemia, Cks1 overexpression did not induce myeloproliferation or leukemia. Therefore, despite being associated with a poor prognosis in various malignancies, sole Cks1 expression is insufficient to induce lymphoma or a myeloproliferative disease in vivo.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Miething, Alexander, 1978-
(author)
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A matter of perception : Exploring the role of income satisfaction in the income-mortality relationship in German survey data 1995-2010
- 2013
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In: Social Science and Medicine. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-9536 .- 1873-5347. ; 99, s. 72-79
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Individual- and community-level income has been shown to be linked to social inequalities in health and mortality. On the individual level, social comparisons and relative deprivation resulting from them have been identified as relevant mechanisms involved in the relationship between income and health, but it is mainly income-based measures of relative deprivation that have been considered in previous studies. Using income satisfaction, this study employs a perception-based indicator of relative deprivation.The study, covering the period between 1995 and 2010, utilized the German Socio-Economic Panel. The follow-up included 11,056 men and 11,512 women at employment age 25–64. Discrete-time survival analysis with Cox regression was performed to estimate the effects of relative income position and income satisfaction on all-cause mortality.The univariate analysis revealed an income gradient on mortality and further showed a strong association between income satisfaction and survival. After education and employment status were adjusted for, the effect of discontent with income on mortality was still present in the female sample, whereas in the male sample only the income gradient prevailed. When self-rated health was controlled for, the hazard ratios of income satisfaction attenuated and turned non-significant for both men and women while the effects of income position remained stable.In conclusion, the findings suggest that income satisfaction and income position measure different aspects of income inequality and complement one another. Income satisfaction appeared to be a possible contributing component to the causal pathway between income and mortality.
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| 9. |
- Miething, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Access to occupational networks and ethnic variation of depressive symptoms in young adults in Sweden
- 2017
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In: Social Science and Medicine. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-9536 .- 1873-5347. ; 190, s. 207-216
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Social capital research has recognized the relevance of occupational network contacts for individuals’ life chances and status attainment, and found distinct associations dependent on ethnic background. A still fairly unexplored area is the health implications of occupational networks. The current approach thus seeks to study the relationship between access to occupational social capital and depressive symptoms in early adulthood, and to examine whether the associations differ between persons with native Swedish parents and those with parents born in Iran and the former Yugoslavia.The two-wave panel comprised 19- and 23-year-old Swedish citizens whose parents were born in either Sweden, Iran or the former Yugoslavia. The composition of respondents’ occupational networks contacts was measured with a so-called position generator. Depressive symptoms were assessed with a two-item depression screener. A population-averaged model was used to estimate the associations between depressive symptoms and access to occupational contact networks.Similar levels of depressive symptoms in respondents with parents born in Sweden and Yugoslavia were contrasted by a notably higher prevalence of these conditions in those with an Iranian background. After socioeconomic conditions were adjusted for, regression analysis showed that the propensity for depressive symptoms in women with an Iranian background increased with a higher number of manual class contacts, and decreased for men and women with Iranian parents with a higher number of prestigious occupational connections. The respective associations in persons with native Swedish parents and parents from the former Yugoslavia are partly reversed.Access to occupational contact networks, but also perceived ethnic identity, explained a large portion of the ethnic variation in depression. Mainly the group with an Iranian background seems to benefit from prestigious occupational contacts. Among those with an Iranian background, social status concerns and expected marginalization in manual class occupations may have contributed to their propensity for depressive symptoms.
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| 10. |
- Miething, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Childhood peer status and circulatory disease in adulthood : a prospective cohort study in Stockholm, Sweden
- 2020
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In: BMJ Open. - : BMJ. - 2044-6055. ; 10:9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Childhood conditions have been recognised as important predictors of short-term and long-term health outcomes, but few studies have considered status position in the peer group as a possible determinant of adult health. Lower peer status, which often reflects experiences of marginalisation and rejection by peers, may impose inequality experiences and leave long-lasting imprints on health. The present study aimed to examine whether peer status is associated with the risk for circulatory disease in adulthood.DesignProspective cohort study based on the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study(SBC Multigen).SettingStockholm metropolitan area.ParticipantsAll individuals who were born in 1953 and resident in the greater metropolitan area of Stockholm in 1963 (n=14 608). The analytical sample consisted of 5410 males and 5990 females. Peer status was sociometrically assessed in cohort members at age 13. The survey material was linked to inpatient care registers that contained information about circulatory diseases (n=1668) across ages 20–63. Cox proportional hazard models were used for the analysis.Outcome measureCirculatory disease.ResultsPeer marginalisation at age 13 resulted in significantly higher risks of circulatory disease in adulthood among males (HR 1.34; 95% CI 1.09 to 1.64) and females (HR 1.33; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.70) alike. A graded relationship between peer status and circulatory diseases was detected in females (p=0.023). Among males there was a threshold effect, showing that only those in the lowest status position had significantly increased risks of circulatory disease. The associations remained significant after adjusting for various conditions in childhood and adulthood.ConclusionsThis study shows that circulatory diseases in adulthood may be traceable to low peer status and marginalisation in childhood. It is suggested that peer status in late childhood may precede social integration in adolescence and adulthood, acting as a long-term stressor that contributes to circulatory disease through biological, behavioural and psychosocial pathways.
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