Age Threshold Research Articles

Sacral neuromodulation in the management of non-obstructive urinary retention: Test phase and predictive factors.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the success of the test phase of sacral neuromodulation in management of chronic non-obstructive urinary retention and the factors predictive of good response. This is a retrospective study carried out on a cohort of patients followed up in a tertiary University Hospital in France. Fifty-two patients with chronic non-obstructive urinary retention were included in this study. These patients were seen over the past 20 years, from the year 2000 to 2020. The initial evaluation of patients included a summary of medical and surgical history, age, BMI, history of pelvic floor disorders, initial voiding pattern, physical examination, voiding diary, initial uroflowmetry and a urodynamic study. Postoperative follow-up and analysis of complications were also carried out. A total of 52 patients were included in this study, 13 males and 39 females. Out of these patients, 17 patients (32.7%) with a median age of 47.3 years±18.1 benefited from definitive implantation of the sacral neuromodulation. The univariate analysis showed that age was the only significant variable in this study and the optimal age threshold was<58.5 years. SNM is a therapy with significant clinical benefits and low morbidity for patients with chronic non-obstructive urinary retention. The results obtained need to be confirmed with a prospective study with a larger number of patients.

The utility of complete blood parameter indices to predict stillbirths

Objective In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between unexplained stillbirth (SB) cases and the complete blood parameter indices and we compared them with uncomplicated healthy cases. Methods Patients diagnosed with unexplained SB cases in a tertiary center between 2019-2022 were included in this retrospective case-control study. The gestational age threshold for SBs was accepted as births after the 20th week of pregnancy. Consecutive patients with no adverse obstetric outcomes were accepted as the control group. Patients’ complete blood parameter results at the time of the first admission to the hospital until 14 weeks were labeled as “1’’ and at the time of delivery were labeled as “2’’ and recorded. As inflammatory parameters, neutrophile-lymphocyte ratio, derivated neutrophile-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-lymphocyte ratio, lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR), and hemoglobin-lymphocyte ratio (HLR) were calculated from complete blood results and recorded. Results There were statistically significant differences between the groups’ LMR1 (p = .040). Additionally, whereas HLR1 of the study group was 0.693 (0.38–2.72), it was 0.645 (0.15–1.82) in the control group (p = .026). However, the HLR2 of the study group was significantly lower than the control group (p = .021). Conclusion Necessary precautions such as fetal biophysical profile examination can be taken more frequently in the antenatal follow-up in patients considered to be at high risk of SB by using HLR. It is a novel marker that can be easily accessible and calculated from the complete blood parameters.

Abstract PD14-07: PD14-07 Associations of Breast Cancer Risk Level and Prediction of Tumor Aggressiveness in the Athena Breast Health Network

Abstract Background: The Athena Breast Health Network (Athena) is a University of California (UC) initiative integrating clinical care and research to drive improvements in breast cancer screening. Through standardized, self-reported clinical intake forms, a patient’s breast health status and information regarding their breast cancer risk is captured before each mammography appointment. Breast cancer risk models provide a level of risk to develop breast cancer but do not take into account aggressiveness of breast cancer. Here, we evaluated outcome data of a large screening cohort for association between risk level and aggressiveness at diagnosis. Methods: We calculated Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) risk scores for a cohort of 8,923 consented UCSF Athena participants from the years 2012-2018 with a median follow-up of 5-years. To identify those who developed invasive breast cancer on or after completing an Athena intake form, we performed a cancer linkage with the San Francisco Mammography Registry (SFMR), a local registry that regularly collects cancer data from the California Cancer Registry. We classified tumors as aggressive if they met one or more of the following criteria: hormone receptor (HR)-negative, HER2-positive, grade 3. All other tumors were classified as non-aggressive. We used student’s t-tests to examine associations between BCSC 5-year risk score, the development of invasive breast cancer, and tumor aggressiveness among cases. To account for the association between older age and higher BCSC risk score (as well as HR-positive subtypes), we stratified by percentiles of BCSC risk by age (top 2.5% vs. bottom 97.5%). The top 2.5% by age threshold consistently identifies women with lifetime risk of 23–28% and was chosen as high-risk threshold to trigger annual screening in the WISDOM study (Dreher: PMID34843026). Results: Of 8,923 participants, 170 (2%) developed breast cancer during the follow-up period. The average 5-year BCSC risk score for women with breast cancer was 1.81% and 1.47% for those without (p&amp;lt; 0.001). Among women with breast cancer, 123 (72%) developed non-aggressive cancers and 47 (28%) developed aggressive cancers. The average 5-year BCSC risk score for women with non-aggressive and aggressive cancers was 1.89% and 1.60%, respectively (p=0.13). In analyses stratified by percentile of BCSC risk by age, 521 (6%) participants had a BCSC 5-year risk score in the top 2.5% by age and 8,402 (94%) participants had a BCSC 5-year risk score in the bottom 97.5%. A higher percentage of women with non-aggressive cancers vs healthy women (controls) were in the top 2.5% by age (p = 0.001), but the percentage of aggressive cancers vs healthy women in the top 2.5% by age was similar (p = 0.61). Conclusion: Through this study we confirmed that higher 5-year BCSC risk scores are associated with higher overall breast cancer development. Interestingly, participants with the highest 5-year BCSC risk scores (top 2.5% by age), are more likely to develop cancers with non-aggressive features (low grade, hormone positive). This suggests that the BCSC model may preferentially predict less aggressive tumors, and those with the highest 5-year BCSC risk may be more likely to benefit from endocrine risk reduction therapy. There remains a gap in our ability to identity those at risk for aggressive cancers. Our findings highlight the need for screening programs to better understand who is at risk for what type of breast cancer. Current work is focused on developing models tailored to risk prediction of aggressive cancers. Citation Format: Katherine Leggat-Barr, Tomiyuri Lewis, Rosalyn Sayaman, Paige Warner, Kathy Malvin, Leah Sabacan, Elene Tsopurashvili, WISDOM Study and Athena Breast Health Network Investigators and Advocate Partners, Allison Stover Fiscalini, Jeffrey Tice, Karla Kerlikowske, Yiwey Shieh, Laura J. Esserman, Laura Van ’t Veer. PD14-07 Associations of Breast Cancer Risk Level and Prediction of Tumor Aggressiveness in the Athena Breast Health Network [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr PD14-07.

Evaluation of radiographic visibility of root pulp in mandibular second molars using cone beam computed tomography images for age estimation.

The purpose of this study is to estimate chronological age and determine whether individuals were aged under or over 18years using root pulp visibility (RPV) in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. The study included CBCT images of 699 individuals aged between 15 and 75years. One thousand twenty-three mandibular second molar (2M) teeth were evaluated using Olze's RPV method in four stages. Descriptive statistics of the stages and the relationship between the stages and the chronological age were assessed. The distribution of the stages was analyzed according to the 18-year age threshold. There was a positive correlation between RPV stages and chronological ages in both sexes. For females and males, the mean ages of stage 0, stage 1, and stage 2, for females and males, were found as 27.21, 28.93, and 33.68years, and 37.69, 40.9, and 44.88years, respectively. Stage 0 and stage 1 were found both in individuals aged under and over 18years, and stage 2 and stage 3 were not observed in individuals aged under 18years. The presence of stage 2 and stage 3 may be an indication that an individual is aged over 18years according to Olze's RPV age estimation method. For more reliable results, 2M teeth should be examined bilaterally in forensic science.

A population-based study to assess two convolutional neural networks for dental age estimation

BackgroundDental age (DA) estimation using two convolutional neural networks (CNNs), VGG16 and ResNet101, remains unexplored. In this study, we aimed to investigate the possibility of using artificial intelligence-based methods in an eastern Chinese population.MethodsA total of 9586 orthopantomograms (OPGs) (4054 boys and 5532 girls) of the Chinese Han population aged from 6 to 20 years were collected. DAs were automatically calculated using the two CNN model strategies. Accuracy, recall, precision, and F1 score of the models were used to evaluate VGG16 and ResNet101 for age estimation. An age threshold was also employed to evaluate the two CNN models.ResultsThe VGG16 network outperformed the ResNet101 network in terms of prediction performance. However, the model effect of VGG16 was less favorable than that in other age ranges in the 15–17 age group. The VGG16 network model prediction results for the younger age groups were acceptable. In the 6-to 8-year-old group, the accuracy of the VGG16 model can reach up to 93.63%, which was higher than the 88.73% accuracy of the ResNet101 network. The age threshold also implies that VGG16 has a smaller age-difference error.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that VGG16 performed better when dealing with DA estimation via OPGs than the ResNet101 network on a wholescale. CNNs such as VGG16 hold great promise for future use in clinical practice and forensic sciences.

How have firearm laws changed in states with unexpected decreases or increases in firearm homicide, 1990–2019?

BackgroundFirearm violence is one of the leading preventable causes of death and injury in the United States and is on the rise. While policies regulating access to firearms offer opportunities to prevent firearm-related deaths, an understanding of the holistic impact of changing state firearm policies on firearm homicide rates over the last 30 years is limited. ObjectivesTo identify US states that showed unexpected decreases and increases in firearm homicide rates and summarise their firearm policy changes in the last three decades. MethodsWe analysed changes in firearm homicide rates by US state and county from 1990 to 2019. We triangulated across three estimation approaches to derive state rankings and identify the top and bottom three states which consistently showed unexpected decreases (low outliers) and increases (high outliers) in firearm homicide rates. We summarised firearm policy changes in state outliers using the RAND State Firearm Law Database. ResultsWe identified New York, District of Columbia, and Hawaii as low state outliers and Delaware, New Jersey, and Missouri as high state outliers. Low state outliers made more restrictive firearm policy changes than high state outliers, which covered a wider range of policy types. Restrictive changes in high state outliers primarily targeted high-risk populations (e.g., prohibited possessors, safe storage). Specific legislative details, such as the age threshold (18 vs 21 years old) for firearm minimum age requirements, also emerged as important for differentiating low from high state outliers. ConclusionsWhile no firearm law change emerged as necessary or sufficient, an accumulation of diverse restrictive firearm policies may be key to alleviating the death toll from firearm homicide.

Visual Analog Scale and Olfactory Objective Tests in Hyposmia Patients: Is There a Link?

Introduction Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is often a devaluated sensorial affection. The objective evaluation of this dysfunction does not evaluate its compromise in patients' daily life.It is unclear to what extent there is a correlation between the objective evaluation of OD and patient-reported impairment. Objective We aim to search if Sniffin Sticks® correlates with the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of Hyposmia Symptoms, and therefore if it is a useful method for clinical use. Methods A prospective study was carried out to evaluate and compare consecutive patients who had olfactory impairment due to COVID-19 that were referred to an otolaryngology office. The variables evaluated were gender, age, co-morbidities, and olfactory thresholds (measured according to Sniffin Sticks®). Patients were also enquired about their sense of impairment according to VAS from 1 (worst possible) to 10 (best possible). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 26). Normal distribution was checked using both skewness and kurtosis and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Pearson correlation test was used to seek a correlation between VAS and olfactory thresholds. All reported p-values are two-tailed, with a p-value ≤ 0.05 indicating statistical significance. Results Our sample of 47 patients was composed of 30 females (63.8%) and 17 females (36.2%). We found a mean variation between olfactory thresholds before and after the intervention of 3.91±2.466, and an average improvement of 2.29±2.93 in the visual analog scale for subjective evaluation of olfactory impairment. According to the Pearson correlation test, with 95% confidence, there is evidence to claim a moderate association (0.512) between an improvement in olfactory thresholds and VAS (p=0.05). Conclusions There was a moderate correlation between ratings and measures of olfactory function. On an individual basis, there were remarkable differences between measures and ratings of olfactory function. VAS should be considered in the evaluation of the hyposmic patient, due to its simplicity and quick applicability.

Genetic scores for predicting longevity in the Croatian oldest-old population.

Longevity is a hallmark of successful ageing and a complex trait with a significant genetic component. In this study, 43 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were chosen from the literature and genotyped in a Croatian oldest-old sample (85+ years, sample size (N) = 314), in order to determine whether any of these SNPs have a significant effect on reaching the age thresholds for longevity (90+ years, N = 212) and extreme longevity (95+ years, N = 84). The best models were selected for both survival ages using multivariate logistic regression. In the model for reaching age 90, nine SNPs explained 20% of variance for survival to that age, while the 95-year model included five SNPs accounting for 9.3% of variance. The two SNPs that showed the most significant association (p ≤ 0.01) with longevity were TERC rs16847897 and GHRHR rs2267723. Unweighted and weighted Genetic Longevity Scores (uGLS and wGLS) were calculated and their predictive power was tested. All four scores showed significant correlation with age at death (p ≤ 0.01). They also passed the ROC curve test with at least 50% predictive ability, but wGLS90 stood out as the most accurate score, with a 69% chance of accurately predicting survival to the age of 90.

Performance of AAP Clinical Practice Guideline for Febrile Infants at One Pediatric Hospital.

In the absence of procalcitonin, the American Academy of Pediatrics' clinical practice guideline (CPG) for evaluating and managing febrile infants recommends using previously untested combinations of inflammatory marker thresholds. Thus, CPG performance in detecting invasive bacterial infections (IBIs; bacteremia, bacterial meningitis) is poorly understood. To evaluate CPG performance without procalcitonin in detecting IBIs in well-appearing febrile infants 8 to 60 days old. For this cross-sectional, single-site study, we manually abstracted data for febrile infants using electronic health records from 2011 to 2018. We used CPG inclusion/exclusion criteria to identify eligible infants and stratified IBI risk with CPG inflammatory marker thresholds for temperature, absolute neutrophil count, and C-reactive protein. Because the CPG permits a wide array of interpretations, we performed 3 sensitivity analyses, modifying age and inflammatory marker thresholds. For each approach, we calculated area-under-the-receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, and specificity in detecting IBIs. For this study, 507 infants met the inclusion criteria. For the main analysis, we observed an area-under-the-receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.673 (95% confidence interval 0.652-0.694), sensitivity of 100% (66.4%-100%), and specificity of 34.5% (30.4%-38.9%). For the sensitivity analyses, sensitivities were all 100% and specificities ranged from 9% to 38%. Findings suggest that the CPG is highly sensitive, minimizing missed IBIs, but specificity may be lower than previously reported. Future studies should prospectively investigate CPG performance in larger, multisite samples.

Abstract 164: Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Is Associated With A Higher Risk Of Subdural Hemorrhage: Combined Analysis Of The Uk Biobank And All Of Us

Background: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a condition characterized by amyloid deposition in the brain’s blood vessels. CAA is a common cause of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in older patients. Although other types of intracranial hemorrhages can occur in conjunction with CAA-related ICH, it is unknown whether CAA is a risk factor for other types of intracranial hemorrhage in the absence of ICH. Hypothesis: CAA is an independent risk factor for isolated non-traumatic subdural hemorrhage (SDH). Methods: We conducted a 2-stage (discovery and replication) observational study that retrospectively analyzed data from the UK Biobank (discovery phase) and the All of Us (replication phase) study. We included participants over 55 years of age to meet the age threshold for the modified Boston Criteria. The exposure was a diagnosis of CAA and the outcome was non-traumatic SDH, both identified using ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes. We used survival analyses with log-rank tests and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for demographic characteristics and vascular risk factors. Results: The discovery phase included 283,452 UK Biobank participants comprising 123 CAA cases and 504 SDH cases. SDH subsequently occurred in 2.4% of participants with CAA versus 0.2% of those without CAA. In a multivariable Cox model, CAA was associated with a significantly increased risk of SDH (hazard ratio [HR], 7.3; 95% CI, 2.3-22.7). This finding was replicated among 168,370 study participants in All of US, where 66 had CAA and 443 had a SDH (HR, 11.66; 95% CI, 5.2-26.2). Conclusion: In two large heterogeneous cohorts conducted in different countries, CAA was independently associated with a higher risk of isolated non-traumatic SDH. Further research is needed to further determine causality and identify biological pathways that may mediate this association.

Delirium Prediction Using Machine Learning Interpretation Method and Its Incorporation into a Clinical Workflow

Delirium in hospitalized patients is a worldwide problem, causing a burden on healthcare professionals and impacting patient prognosis. A machine learning interpretation method (ML interpretation method) presents the results of machine learning predictions and promotes guided decisions. This study focuses on visualizing the predictors of delirium using a ML interpretation method and implementing the analysis results in clinical practice. Retrospective data of 55,389 patients hospitalized in a single acute care center in Japan between December 2017 and February 2022 were collected. Patients were categorized into three analysis populations, according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, to develop delirium prediction models. The predictors were then visualized using Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) and fed back to clinical practice. The machine learning-based prediction of delirium in each population exhibited excellent predictive performance. SHAP was used to visualize the body mass index and albumin levels as critical contributors to delirium prediction. In addition, the cutoff value for age, which was previously unknown, was visualized, and the risk threshold for age was raised. By using the SHAP method, we demonstrated that data-driven decision support is possible using electronic medical record data.

A Central Auditory Test reveals differences between drug treatment regimens in adults living with HIV

Objective This exploratory study examined whether central auditory tests show differences between people living with HIV (PLWH) treated with two predominant antiretroviral drug therapy (ART) regimens. Design Cross-sectional. Study Sample 253 PLWH (mean age 39.8 years) from the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, China. Methods The Hearing in Noise Test speech reception threshold (SRT) assessed central auditory function and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) assessed cognition. The relationship between ART regimen and SRT was evaluated with multivariable linear regression incorporating age, HIV duration, and peripheral hearing ability. Multivariable logistic regression was used to ascertain if SRT and ART regimen predicted MoCA impairment. Results The two predominant ART regimens differed by one drug (zidovudine or tenofovir). Participants taking the zidovudine-containing regimen had poorer SRT performance (p=.012) independent of age and hearing thresholds. MoCA scores did not differ between drug regimens, but a negative relationship was found between SRT and MoCA impairment (p=.048). Conclusions ART regimens differed in their association with central auditory test performance likely reflecting neurocognitive changes in PLWH taking the zidovudine-containing regimen. Central auditory test performance also marginally predicted cognitive impairment, supporting further assessment of central auditory tests to detect neurocognitive deficits in PLWH.

Evaluation of distal femoral and proximal tibial epiphyseal plate in bone age estimation with 3.0T MRI: a comparison of current methods.

Dedouit et al, Kramer et al and Vieth et al defined different staging methods over different sequences in knee MRI for bone age determination. Our study aims to examine three different methods in which the maturation stages of the knee epiphyses are evaluated by MRI in the same population, to compare the methods and results and evaluate them for some age thresholds and to discuss their applicability in forensic age estimation. In this study, 597 knee images obtained using a 3.0T MR scanner were evaluated retrospectively. The T 1 weighted and proton density-weighted sequences were evaluated by two observers. Knee bone development was staged on the femur and tibia, and descriptive statistics were calculated for each stage according to age and sex. Descriptive statistics were presented according to the age and sex of the cases, and intra- and interobserver agreements were evaluated by the κ and κw statistics obtained by the Fleiss approach. Significant changes were found in stages depending on age. The intra- and interobserver agreement levels were very good (κ > 0.80) for each method. The methods of Dedouit, Kramer and Vieth can be used as an additional criteria for forensic age estimation for 14, 15, 18 and 21 year thresholds. Knee MRI stands out as an alternative modality for age estimation and it is necessary to prefer the method intended for the investigated age range with an individual-specific approach. Our study stands out as the first study in which current classification methods were applied and compared in the same population for age estimation with knee MRI.

The pollution reduction effect of official turnover: evidence from China

Under the political system with Chinese characteristics, the turnover of regional officials becomes a norm. So the uncertainty generated by the turnover of officials can often have an impact on the pollution emissions of regional enterprises. This paper examines the impact of official turnover on corporate pollution emissions using the Chinese industrial enterprise database and pollution emission database from 2004 to 2014 in China, while matching urban panel data of prefecture-level cities. The empirical study finds that official turnover significantly reduces the pollution emission of enterprises in that year, while the effect of official turnover from economically developed to economically backward regions and from economically backward to economically developed regions on enterprises' pollution emissions is significantly different. Also, this paper finds that the turnover of officials has a short-term effect on the reduction of corporate pollution emissions. The pollution abatement effect of official turnover is more pronounced in non-resource cities and non-state enterprises. Further analysis reveals that the pollution reduction effect of official turnover is more pronounced when the age of officials is greater than the promotion age threshold of 54 years. Finally, a series of robustness tests were conducted in this paper, while the Heckman two-step method was used to test for endogeneity, and the conclusions reached remained consistent with the benchmark regression.

Anthropogenic edge effects and aging errors by hunters can affect the sustainability of lion trophy hunting

Many large predator populations are in decline globally with significant implications for ecosystem integrity and function. Understanding the drivers of their decline is required to adequately mitigate threats. Trophy hunting is often cited as a tool to conserve large mammal populations but may also have negative impacts if not well managed. Here we use a spatially implicit, individual based model to investigate the threats posed to African lion populations by poorly managed trophy hunting and additive anthropogenic mortality such as poaching and retaliatory killing. We confirm the results of previous studies that show that lion trophy hunting can be sustainable if only older male lions are hunted, but demonstrate that hunting becomes unsustainable when populations are exposed to additional anthropogenic mortality, as is the case for most free ranging populations. We show that edge effects can be a critical determinant of population viability and populations that encompass well protected source areas are more robust than those without. Finally, errors in aging of hunted lions by professional trophy hunters may undermine the sustainability of the age-based quota setting strategies that are now widely used to manage lion trophy hunting. The effect of aging errors was most detrimental to population persistence in the ≥ 6 and ≥ 7 year-old age thresholds that are frequently used to define suitably aged lions for hunting. Resource managers should limit offtakes to older demographics and additionally take a precautionary approach when setting hunting quotas for large carnivore populations that are affected by other sources of anthropogenic mortality, such as bush-meat poaching, retaliatory killing and problem animal control.

Evaluation of Third Molar Maturity Index by Cone Beam Computed Tomography in Legal Age Estimation: A Preliminary Study.

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the accuracy and applicability of the third molar maturity index (I 3M ) for discriminating Turkish minors from adults, and its relationship with chronological age using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). A total of 122 CBCT scans of Turkish individuals (55 boys and 67 girls) aged 13 to 23 years were evaluated using the I 3M cutoff value. Chronological age gradually decreased as the I 3M value increased. The overall accuracy was 95.9%. The sensitivity and specificity of this test were 93.5% and 97.4%, respectively. Positive predictive value was 95.6%. The intraclass correlation coefficient values of the I 3M for the intraobserver and interobserver agreements were 0.998 and 0.996, respectively. This study showed relatively higher reproducibility of measurements on CBCT scans than on panoramic radiographs in the literature. Cone beam computed tomography may be advantageous and preferred over panoramic radiographs in distinguishing the legal age threshold of 18 years according to Cameriere's method when a more extensive investigation is needed to support the solution of challenging and uncertain cases in forensic medicine.

Early childhood tracking application: Correspondence between crowd-based developmental percentiles and clinical tools.

Barriers to child developmental screening lead to delayed diagnosis and intervention. babyTRACKS, a mobile application for tracking developmental milestones, presents parents their child's percentiles computed relative to crowd-based data. This study evaluated correspondence between crowd-based percentiles and traditional development measures. Research analyzed babyTRACKS diaries of 1951 children. Parents recorded attainment age for milestones across Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Language, Cognitive, and Social domains. Fifty-seven parents completed the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3), and 13 families participated in the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) expert assessment. Crowd-based percentiles were compared with: Centers for Disease Control (CDC) norms for comparable milestones, ASQ-3 and MSEL scores. babyTRACKS percentiles correlated with the percentage of unmet CDC milestones, and with higher ASQ-3 and MSEL scores across several domains. Children who did not meet CDC age thresholds had lower babyTRACKS percentiles by about 20 points and those at ASQ-3 risk had lower babyTRACKS Fine Motor and Language scores. Repeated measures tests showed significantly higher MSEL versus babyTRACKS percentiles in the Language domain. Although ages and milestones in diary varied, the app percentiles corresponded with traditional measures, particularly in fine motor and language domains. Future research is needed for determining referral thresholds while minimizing false alarms.

Work Capacity of Older Adults in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is facing a serious ageing issue. Apart from that, Hong Kong is facing a shrinking labor force as the number of people in the labor force has been falling since 2018. The ageing population and shrinking labor force have stimulated the discussion on the age threshold of eligible older adults to receive retirement benefits and/or old age allowances. The impact of any policy change may depend on the health and the work capacity of the people aged around 65. Nonetheless, research on the work capacity of older adults in Hong Kong is lacking. In this study, we attempted to estimate the work capacity of older adults in Hong Kong based on the mortality rate. It was found that there is substantial untapped work capacity of older adults in Hong Kong, with a potential gain in work capacity of 3.898 years. The results of this study shed light on the making of old-age policies. With the rapid ageing population and shrinking labor force in Hong Kong, it is timely to explore if the society could further utilize the work capacity of older adults. More research on the work capacity and health of the elderly is needed.

Sex-Specific Age Thresholds in Mitigation Strategies Reduce Sex Disparity in Covid-19 Mortality

Sex-Specific Age Thresholds in Mitigation Strategies Reduce Sex Disparity in Covid-19 Mortality

Formation of the Pre-Pensioner Segment in the Labor Market: Financial and Management Aspects

The article considers the results of the implementation of the pension reform in Russia in 2018, reflected in changes in labor market indicators according to Rosstat. The purpose of the study is to develop a scientific understanding of the processes of formation of the pre-pensioner segment of the Russian labor market under the influence of its external and internal factors. The authors use methods of statistical, correlation, and regression analyses, the calculation of the average for a certain integral of functions, as well as the method of linear modeling of multiple regression. The study assesses the scientific elaboration of the research topic abroad and in Russia. The issues of financial literacy of the population are analyzed. The financing of the training of pre-retirees in the professional competencies that are currently in demand on the labor market and support for unemployed pre-retirees who are registered with the employment center are considered. The selection of relevant demographic data and a sample labor force survey by age group has been carried out. The total number of pre-pensioners in 2018–2020 has been calculated and their structure according to the status of labor activity in the Russian labor market has been identified. The general dynamic, structural, and gender characteristics of the economic activity of pre-pensioners in the labor market are analyzed. The demand for pre-retirees by type of economic activity in 2019 is assessed. The authors conclude that there is a tendency to reduce the share of the pre-pensioner segment in the labor market after reaching the project retirement age threshold from 10.88% to 9.76%. The employment rate in this group of the population will be 66%. The study has established that the demand for pre-pensioners by type of economic activity in the labor market is 1.13 times higher for women than for men. A methodical approach has been developed to analyze the results of assessing the demand for state support measures by pre-pensioners. The article analyzes the influence of financial and social measures of state support for pre-pensioners on increasing their labor activity and competitiveness in the labor market. The results of the study can be used by the authorities to substantiate the assessment of the effectiveness of financing the measures they take to provide social and economic support to pre-retirees.