Celebrate or derogate? Reactions to older adults who feel young at heart.

Walking while listening or talking is a functionally relevant cognitive-motor dual-task (DT) activity that may challenge attentional capacity. DT activity alters gait and increases falls risk. The aging process may magnify challenges in DT performance. This study compared cognitive-motor interference (CMI) and DT performance across younger, middle-aged, and older adults during walking under varying memory task types. A cross-sectional sample of 32 younger (mean age=25),18 middle-aged (mean age=56), and 19 older (mean age=73.6) healthy adults completed walking trials under single-task (ST) and four DT conditions with different memory-based tasks, two auditory encoding (story memory and list encoding), and two verbal retrieval (verbal fluency and list retrieval). Participants wore sensors that transmitted spatiotemporal walking data to a mobile iOS device. Gait parameters (speed (m/s), stride time (s), stride time variability (%CoV)) and memory performances were measured under ST and DT conditions. DT effects (DTE) were calculated for all measures to quantify CMI, the percent change in performance under DT relative to ST. Statistical analyses included ANOVAs with post hoc tests and correlations with age. We found a decreasing trend in DTgait performance and worsening CMI across conditions with advancing age (for example, DT verbal fluency gait speed: younger= 1.10m/s DTE= -15%; middle-aged= 0.98m/s DTE= -18%, older= 0.82m/s DTE= -24%). ANOVA showed differences between the 3 age groups in the DTE of all memory tasks on the gait measures (p<0.05), with the DTE being consistently higher (worse) in older than younger adults. Middle-aged and older adults did not differ in DTE on speed or stride variability under memory retrieval tasks, but the latter had greater DTE on speed under memory encoding tasks. Middle-aged adults had similar DTE on gait measures to younger adults under encoding tasks, but greater on stride time and variability under retrieval tasks. Groups had similar DTE on memory tasks. Age-related differences in CMI were more prominent for gait than for memory tasks. Findings support that DT performance incrementally declines with age. Middle-aged and older adults had similar gait destabilization in different DT walking demands, but older adults had higher interference with DT walking of auditory processing demands. Retrieval tasks during walking expose early deficits in middle-aged adults that differentiate them from younger adults. Results further suggest assessing DT walking of different demands and beginning from middle age to reduce fall risk and enhance DT ability early in life via education or cognitive-motor training.

Aims/hypothesisLifestyle interventions are the first-line treatment option for body weight and cardiometabolic health management. However, whether age groups or women and men respond differently to lifestyle interventions is under debate. We aimed to examine age- and sex-specific effects of a low-energy diet (LED) followed by a long-term lifestyle intervention on body weight, body composition and cardiometabolic health markers in adults with prediabetes (i.e. impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose tolerance).MethodsThis observational study used longitudinal data from 2223 overweight participants with prediabetes in the multicentre diabetes prevention study PREVIEW. The participants underwent a LED-induced rapid weight loss (WL) period followed by a 3 year lifestyle-based weight maintenance (WM) intervention. Changes in outcomes of interest in prespecified age (younger: 25–45 years; middle-aged: 46–54 years; older: 55–70 years) or sex (women and men) groups were compared.ResultsIn total, 783 younger, 319 middle-aged and 1121 older adults and 1503 women and 720 men were included in the analysis. In the available case and complete case analyses, multivariable-adjusted linear mixed models showed that younger and older adults had similar weight loss after the LED, whereas older adults had greater sustained weight loss after the WM intervention (adjusted difference for older vs younger adults −1.25% [95% CI −1.92, −0.58], p<0.001). After the WM intervention, older adults lost more fat-free mass and bone mass and had smaller improvements in 2 h plasma glucose (adjusted difference for older vs younger adults 0.65 mmol/l [95% CI 0.50, 0.80], p<0.001) and systolic blood pressure (adjusted difference for older vs younger adults 2.57 mmHg [95% CI 1.37, 3.77], p<0.001) than younger adults. Older adults had smaller decreases in fasting and 2 h glucose, HbA1c and systolic blood pressure after the WM intervention than middle-aged adults. In the complete case analysis, the above-mentioned differences between middle-aged and older adults disappeared, but the direction of the effect size did not change. After the WL period, compared with men, women had less weight loss (adjusted difference for women vs men 1.78% [95% CI 1.12, 2.43], p<0.001) with greater fat-free mass and bone mass loss and smaller improvements in HbA1c, LDL-cholesterol and diastolic blood pressure. After the WM intervention, women had greater fat-free mass and bone mass loss and smaller improvements in HbA1c and LDL-cholesterol, while they had greater improvements in fasting glucose, triacylglycerol (adjusted difference for women vs men −0.08 mmol/l [−0.11, −0.04], p<0.001) and HDL-cholesterol.Conclusions/interpretationOlder adults benefited less from a lifestyle intervention in relation to body composition and cardiometabolic health markers than younger adults, despite greater sustained weight loss. Women benefited less from a LED followed by a lifestyle intervention in relation to body weight and body composition than men. Future interventions targeting older adults or women should take prevention of fat-free mass and bone mass loss into consideration.Clinical trial registration numberClinicalTrials.gov NCT01777893.Graphical abstract

Due to declined birthrate and the increased aging population, solving the problem of labor shortage has become important. Introducing robotic labors could effectively help older adults’ daily lives. However, older adults’ acceptance of robots was lower than younger adults. Robot’s appearance might be one of the reasons. The Uncanny Valley (UV) refers to the phenomenon that people rate more positively as robots become more humanlike, but only up to a certain point; as it approaches near-perfect similarity of human appearance, likeability drops and forms an uncanny valley. Nonetheless, previous results supporting the UV were mainly from younger adults. We examined whether the UV is also applicable for older and middle-aged adults. We also examined whether the acceptance of function (companion vs. service) would change based on robot appearance, and whether robot-induced traits have any relation with the acceptance of robot function. We asked younger (N= 80, age 18-39), middle-aged (N= 87, age 40-59), and older (N= 88, age 60-87) adults to view each picture of 84 robots and evaluate their impression of each robot and intention of use regarding robot function. Contrary to the UV found for younger and middle-aged adults, older adults did not show UV–they preferred humanlike over non-humanlike robots, regardless of the robot function. Scores on each trait–except for authoritativeness–showed positive correlations with the acceptance of functions. These findings imply that the design of assistive robots should take UV into consideration by customizing robots’ appearances and functions to different age groups.

Gait characteristics during inadvertent obstacle contacts in young, middle-aged and older adults

This study aimed to examine older adults' physical activity intentions and preferred implementation intentions, and how intentions and preferred implementation intentions differ between older, middle aged and younger adults. A cross-sectional Australian wide telephone survey of 1217 respondents was conducted in 2016. Multiple and ordinal regression analyses were conducted to compare intentions and preferred implementation intentions between older (65+), middle aged (45-64) and younger adults (<45). A higher percentage of older adults had no intentions to engage in regular physical activity within the next 6months (60%) compared to younger adults (25%). Older adults' most popular preferences included being active at least once a day and for 30min or less and were more likely to prefer more frequent and shorter sessions compared to younger adults. Both older and middle aged adults were more likely to prefer slower paced physical activity compared to younger adults who preferred fast paced physical activity. Physical activity interventions for older adults should address the high percentage of older adults with no intentions and public health campaigns for older adults should promote 30min daily sessions of slow paced activity.

Cardiovascular events occur 20 years earlier in Sub-Saharan Africa compared to Europe. The risk factors for atherosclerosis differ between population groups and according to age. We compared the main correlates of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT, an index of atherosclerosis) in young and older adults of African ancestry. Hemodynamic (central and peripheral arterial pressures) and metabolic factors (lipids, glucose, glycated haemoglobin), smoking status and carotid IMT were determined in 573 adult Africans. In young (age<35years, n = 181) and middle-aged (35-59years, n = 231) adults, carotid IMT was associated with hemodynamic and metabolic cardiovascular risk factors on bivariate analyses. In older (age≥60years, n = 161) adults only hemodynamic factors were associated with carotid IMT. After adjustments for confounders, lipids were not associated with carotid IMT at any adult age. Carotid IMT was independently associated with backward wave pressure (Pb, p = 0.001) and age (p = 0.006) in young adults; with hemodynamics (central systolic blood pressure, p = 0.003; Pb, p = 0.02), age (p = 0.0002), body mass index (BMI, p = 0.005) and heart rate (p = 0.007) in middle-aged adults; and with Pb (p < 0.0001), male sex (p = 0.03), and HR (p = 0.04) in older adults. Increased carotid IMT was related to Pb in young (odds ratio [OR] = 1.233, p = 0.0003) and older (OR = 1.086, p = 0.0059) adults, and BMI (OR = 1.089, p = 0.0005) in middle-aged adults. Improvements in predictive performance for detecting increased carotid IMT were shown with Pb in young (p = 0.0032) and older (p = 0.0031) adults, and with BMI (p = 0.0004) in middle-aged adults. In conclusion, in African adults in Sub-Saharan Africa, carotid IMT is associated with hemodynamic factors, but not lipids. Moreover, in young adults, carotid IMT is primarily associated with hemodynamic factors.

Introduction: The use of shared automated vehicles (SAVs) should lead to several societal and individual benefits, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced traffic, and improved mobility for persons who cannot safely drive themselves. We define SAVs as on-demand, fully automated vehicles in which passengers are paired with other riders traveling along a similar route. Previous research has shown that younger adults are more likely to report using conventional ridesharing services and are more accepting of new technologies including automated vehicles (AVs). However, older adults, particularly those who may be close to retiring from driving, stand to greatly benefit from SAV services. In order for SAVs to deliver on their aforementioned benefits, they must be viewed favorably and utilized. We sought to investigate how short educational and/or experiential videos might impact younger, middle-aged, and older adult respondents’ anticipated acceptance and attitudes toward SAVs. Knowing what types of introductory experiences improve different age groups’ perceptions of SAVs will be beneficial for tailoring campaigns aiming to promote SAV usage. Methods: We deployed an online survey using the platform Prolific for middle-aged and older respondents, and our departmental participant pool for younger adults, collecting 585 total responses that resulted in 448 valid responses. Respondents answered questions regarding their demographic attributes, their ridesharing history, preconceptions of technology, as well as their anticipated acceptance attitudes towards SAVs as measured by the dimensions of the Automated Vehicle User Perception Survey (AVUPS). After this, respondents were randomly assigned to an intervention condition where they either watched 1) an educational video about how SAVs work and their potential benefits, 2) an experiential video showing a AV navigating traffic, 3) both the experiential and educational videos, or 4) a control video explaining how ridesharing works. Anticipated acceptance attitudes towards SAVs were measured again after this intervention and difference scores calculated to investigate the effect of the intervention conditions. Prolific respondents were paid at a rate of $9.50/hour and younger adults received course credit. Results: Controlling for preconceptions of technology and ridesharing experience, a MANOVA was run on the difference scores of the dimensions of the AVUPS (intention to use, trust/reliability, perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), safety, control/driving-efficacy, cost, authority, media, and social influence). Both older and middle-aged adults expressed significantly greater increases in PEOU and PU of SAVs than younger adults. We also observed an interaction between age and condition for both PU and PEOU. For PU, older adults’ difference scores were found to be significantly greater than younger adults’ for the control video condition. With PEOU, older adults’ difference scores were significantly greater than both younger adults’ for the control video condition, and middle-aged adults had greater difference scores for the educational-only video condition than younger or older adults. Discussion: The increases in PU observed for older adults in the control condition suggests that educating them on how to use currently available ridesharing services might transfer to and/or highlight the benefits that automated ridesharing might provide. The PEOU interactions also suggest that middle-aged adults might respond more positively than younger or older adults to an educational introduction to SAVs. Conclusion: The positive findings pertaining to PU and PEOU show that exposure to information related to SAVs has a positive impact on these attitudes. PU’s and PEOU’s positive relationship to behavioral intentions (BI) in the Technology Acceptance Model, coupled with the findings from this study, bode well for higher fidelity interventions seeking to inform and/or give individuals experience with SAVs. Providing information on how currently available ridesharing services work helped our older adult respondents recognize the potential usefulness of SAVs. Knowing that different age groups may respond better to educational versus experiential interventions, for example middle-aged adults in this study responding more positively to the educational video condition than younger or older adults, may be useful for targeted promotional campaigns.

Age and CAR T-Cell Therapy: Assessing Outcomes across Different Age Groups

Background: Aging increased the risks of cognitive impairment and depression. Then, these conditions can lead to poor quality of life by reducing one’s ability to perform activities of daily living. Recently, it is established that physical activity can decrease the cognitive decline and the risk of depression in older adults. Moreover, regular physical activity can improve physical and mental functions in populations of all ages. However, level and speed of cognitive decline occurs varies greatly among individual especially the difference between middle-aged and older adults. Objective: This study aimed to focus on the comparison of physical activity, cognitive function and depression between older and middle-aged adults, which has never been done before. Moreover, the associations of physical activity with cognitive impairment and depression were also investigated in older and middle-aged adults. The information in this study will provide an understanding regarding the design of physical activity program for different age groups. Methods: All participants were divided into two groups of 50 middle-aged adults and 50 older adults. The assessments of physical activity, cognitive function, and level of depression were conducted for all participants. Results: The total level of physical activity and cognitive function in older adults was decreased when compared with middle-aged ones. Moreover, each work and transportation domain of physical activity in older adults also was decreased when compared with that in middle-aged ones. However, the leisure domain of physical activity in older adults was increased via a decreasing depression level. In addition, the level of physical activity associated with both cognitive function and depression and depression alone in middle-aged and older adults, respectively. Conclusion: We suggested that total level of physical activity in older adults can increase via stimulating work and transportation activities in physical activity program. Moreover, the level of physical activity associated with both cognitive function and depression and depression alone in middle-aged and older adults, respectively.

This study aimed to investigate bilateral motor control and connectivity between supplementary motor area (SMA) and primary motor cortex (M1) in younger, middle-aged, and older healthy adults. 32 younger (mean age 22.8 ± 5.3years), 18 middle-aged (47.6 ± 6.5years), and 23 older (75.8 ± 6.7years) adults were tested. Bilateral motor control was assessed using the Purdue pegboard. Dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to measure SMA-M1 connectivity at different conditioning stimulation intensities. Older adults had significantly poorer motor performance than younger and middle-aged in all pegboard subtests. Notably, there were no conclusive differences in motor performance between younger and middle-aged adults. There was no conclusive evidence supporting age-related and intensity-related differences in SMA-M1 connectivity between younger, middle-aged, and older adults. There was also no conclusive evidence to support clear associations between SMA-M1 connectivity and bilateral motor control. Age-related declines in bilateral motor functioning was found in older, but not middle-aged adults. The bilateral motor functioning of middle-aged adults is more young-like than old-like. The lack of conclusive age- and intensity-related differences in SMA-M1 connectivity, and lack of conclusive association with bilateral motor performance, might be due to high inter-individual variability in SMA-M1 connectivity. Potential factors contributing to this variability include SMA and M1 morphometry, the structural connectivity between these regions, and the localisation of SMA.

Older adults who smoke: Do they engage with and benefit from web-based smoking cessation interventions?

Attributions for events with information varying on age relevance (teen, young, middle-aged, and older main characters) and context (family, work) were examined in young, middle-aged, and older adults. Participants rated the degree to which the causes of a negative outcome were a function of three dispositional dimensions of the primary character, two dimensions of situational factors, and a combination of these. They also wrote essays justifying their ratings. Overall and in support of previous research, older adults were more likely than younger adults to attribute the cause of the negative outcome to the primary character (Blanchard-Fields, 1994). This bias was not attenuated by the age-relevance factor. Instead, in the work context, older and middle-aged adults placed greater blame on main characters relevant to their age group for negative outcomes than did young adults. However, older adults were also more likely than middle-aged or young adults to attribute the cause of a negative outcome to situational factors. Age relevance and context influenced attributional ratings for all participants in that: (a) older characters were rated higher on external attributions and younger characters were rated higher on internal attributions; and (b) higher internal attributions were made for work situations than for family situations. Finally, young and middle-aged adults were more dialectical in justifying their causal attributions than older adults. Findings are discussed in terms of the degree to which a dispositional bias in older adults is influenced by the developmental relevance of one’s everyday context.

Age-associated differences in sleep duration in the US population: potential effects of disease burden

Lung function impairment increases with age of diagnosis in adult onset asthma

Chronological age and subjective age independently predict cognitive functioning, but their nonlinear interplay and the role of social participation remain less understood, particularly across cultures. This study aimed to investigate the (in)congruence effect of chronological and subjective age on cognitive functioning in older adults, to examine the moderating role of social participation in these associations, and to explore potential cultural differences. Longitudinal data from China (N = 4,314) and the US (N = 2,097) were analyzed using polynomial regression and moderated response surface analysis. In both samples, individuals with congruently older chronological-subjective age (i.e., both chronological and subjective age were high) exhibited poorer cognitive outcomes. Under incongruence, cognitive functioning varied systematically depending on the relative discrepancy between chronological and subjective age, such that better outcomes were observed when chronological age was lower than subjective age compared to the opposite condition. In the Chinese sample, relatively younger subjective age was associated with more favorable cognitive outcomes, particularly among individuals with higher chronological age, whereas this pattern was not observed in the US sample. Moreover, social participation in the Chinese sample attenuated the negative congruence effect associated with older chronological-subjective age. It further altered the incongruence effect, such that a localized advantage of relatively younger subjective age was observed under low social participation, whereas no clear advantage was observed under high social participation, which was characterized by more complex nonlinear patterns. In contrast, no moderating effect of social participation was found in the US sample. These findings provide novel evidence for the interactive effects of objective and subjective age, psychosocial resources, and cultural context on cognitive aging, highlighting the potential importance of age perceptions and social participation in cognitive aging.