Importance Of Age Research Articles

Participation and adherence to mammography screening in the Capital Region of Denmark: The importance of age over time.

Mammography screening's effectiveness depends on high participation levels. Understanding adherence patterns over time is important for more accurately predicting future effectiveness. This study analyzed longitudinal adherence to the biennial invitations in the Capital Region of Denmark from 2008-2017. We analyzed participation rates for five-year age groups along with their percent changes in each invitation round using linear regressions. Participation in the mammography screening program increased from 73.1% to 83.1% from 2008-2017. The participation rate among all age groups increased from the first to the fifth round, with the oldest age group having the largest increase (average percent change = 3.66; p-value = 0.03).

Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Aged Animal Model.

Stroke is a devastating brain injury resulting in high mortality and substantial loss of function, affecting >15 million people worldwide annually; the majority of which are over 65 years old (Feigin et al., Lancet 383:245-254, 2014; Feigin et al., Lancet Neurol 2:43-53, 2003; Benjamin et al., Circulation 135:e146-e603, 2017; Writing Group et al., Circulation 133:447-454, 2016; Roy-O'Reilly, McCullough, Endocrinology 159:3120-3131, 2018). Aging is a significant risk factor for stroke, and older patients have higher mortality and poorer functional recovery after stroke compared with younger patients (Arboix et al., J Am Geriatr Soc 48:36-41, 2000; Rojas et al., Eur J Neurol 14:895-899, 2007). Despite the importance of aging in the pathophysiology of stroke, the vast majority of preclinical studies have only used young animals. Understanding the mechanisms underlying stroke-induced brain damage and post-stroke functional recovery in aged animals is an urgent need. This step is essential to the development of therapeutics for treating stroke patients, most of whom are elderly. To understand the pathophysiology of ischemic injury induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), one of the most common type of stroke seen clinically (Writing Group et al., Circulation 133:e38-360, 2016), it is imperative to include older animals in preclinical testing. The purpose of this chapter is to provide insight on successfully reproducing MCAO injury in translationally relevant aged animals.

Contributions of age and clinical depression to metacognitive performance

One aspect of metacognition is the ability to judge the accuracy of our own performance, even in the absence of external feedback, which is often measured using confidence ratings.Past research suggests that confidence is lower in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Less is known about the ability of MDD patients to discriminate correct from incorrect performance (metacognitive efficiency). The metacognitive performance of aged MDD patients (62-89y) was compared to an age-matched control group. A younger control group (21-28y) was included to also explore the relationshipbetweenageandmetacognitive performance.We found no difference in confidence bias nor metacognitive efficiency between MDD patients and age-matched controls.We found age-related differences in metacognition:normal aging was associated with higher confidencebut lower metacognitive efficiency. The overconfidence was specifically driven by overconfidence in incorrect trials. Our results point to the importance ofage while investigating the relation between MDD and metacognitive performance.

Ageing with (and into) assistive technology: an exploration of the narratives of amputees and polio survivors

Purpose Assistive technologies (AT) perform an important social role, interacting with cultural systems to produce or hinder accessibility to biosocial environments. This interaction profoundly shapes not only how an individual body can be experienced by users but also produce and hinder accessibility to biosocial environments. AT users have historically been viewed through a medical model, which deems them disabled by their impairments and by dominant ableist narratives. Therefore, this paper serves to provide an insight into the importance of ageing with and into AT. This paper aims to investigate polio survivors’ and diabetic amputees’ experiences of assistive technologies in order to better understand impacts upon narrative and identity. By applying an anthropological and sociological lens, a holistic view of the experiences of polio survivor and amputee AT users is developed. Method This paper draws on 16 in-depth interviews with polio survivors and diabetic amputees in the United States (US) and Australia, which were analysed using an experience-centered narrative approach. Both projects were approved by ethics boards. All participants provided written consent. Results Five themes were identified: a) disruption to biographies, which reflected AT impact on how narratives become altered; b) impacts to autonomy, which reflected the importance of regaining previous daily activities; c) re-engaging with community life, which highlighted how AT supported participation in valued activities; d) self-perceptions of assistive technologies, which act in opposition to external perspectives and challenge ableist narratives; and e) an intergenerational comparison of new and older AT users highlights the importance of temporalities. Conclusion This paper offers new perspectives on ageing with assistive technologies, with a focus on identity and narrative. The importance of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature that demonstrates the cultural implications that arise through embodiment and assistive technologies. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The use of assistive technology can help individuals regain function, but the individual circumstances require consideration The use of assistive technology is a complex entanglement of bodies, environments, biographies, and imagined futures. The use of assistive technology can provide participants autonomy over their narratives and assist with maintaining their identities

Association of Lipid Levels With the Prevalence of Hypertension in Chinese Women: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on 32 Health Check Centers.

BackgroundDyslipidemia is strongly associated with the development of hypertension. In our previous study, it was shown that elevated TC, LDL-c, and non-HDL-c were associated with the prevalence of hypertension in Chinese men, whereas the relationship between HDL-c and hypertension shifted from no association to a positive association after adjusting for the BMI. To further accumulate epidemiological evidence in Asian women, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between lipid profile and prevalence of hypertension in Chinese adult women.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study including 54,099 Chinese women aged>20 years at 32 health screening centers in 11 cities from 2010-2016. The original data were obtained from DATADRYAD database (www.datadryad.org). Besides, the overall women were classified into non-hypertensive and hypertensive groups based on baseline blood pressure levels. Differences between the two groups were examined by Man-Whitney test or Chi-square test. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was employed to evaluate the correlation between systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and lipid profiles. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to estimate the relationship between different lipid levels and the prevalence of hypertension. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) indicated the risk of lipid and hypertension. Bayesian model (BN) model was constructed to further assess the relationship between baseline characteristics and the prevalence of hypertension, as well as the importance of each variable for the prevalence of hypertension.ResultsCompared to the non-hypertensive population, the hypertensive population was older, and had the higher body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), serum creatinine (Scr), fasting blood glucose (FPG), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-c), but HDL-c and the presence concerning the family history of diabetes were lower. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that TC, LDL-c, and non-HDL-c showed a positive trend with hypertension risk (p for trend < 0.05) whereas TC and HDL-c were not significantly associated with hypertension prevalence. Moreover, each 1 mg/dl increase in TC, LDL, and non-HDL hypertension prevalence increased by 0.2% [1.002 (1.000-1.003)], 0.2% [1.002 (1.000-1.004)], and 0.2% [1.002(1.001-1.004)], respectively. BN suggested that the importance of age, BMI, FPG, non-HDL-c on the prevalence of hypertension was 52.73%, 24.98%, 11.22%, and 2.34%, respectively.ConclusionOverall, in Chinese adult women, TC, LDL-c and non-HDL-c levels were higher and HDL-c level was lower in the hypertensive population, whereas TG did not differ significantly from the non-hypertensive population. Meanwhile, TC, LDL-c, and non-HDL-c were positively associated with prevalence of hypertension, and HDL-c was negatively associated with prevalence of hypertension but became nonsignificant after full adjustment for variables. Moreover, BN model suggested that age, BMI, FPG, and non-HDL-c had a greater effect on the development of hypertension.

‘Still beautiful’: Michèle Morgan in the 1960s

ABSTRACT This article examines Michèle Morgan’s films of the 1960s, the last phase in her long career, and one hitherto ignored by film history, largely on account of the dearth of auteur films in the star’s late filmography. Morgan’s 1960s films are explored against three contexts: the impact of the New Wave on popular cinema (in particular the arrival of youth culture); the changing social context, especially as it affected women; and the importance of age, given that Morgan was 40 at the beginning of the decade. Morgan’s films are shown to divide into two main strands: on the one hand, large-budget omnibus or ensemble films, mostly in light comic mode, and on the other hand, smaller-scale dramas in which she is systematically paired with a younger actor in a romantic relationship that is on the whole doomed. The article argues that the films’ deployment of Morgan’s star persona as the elegant bourgeois woman opposite younger actresses betrays society’s ambivalence towards the younger generation. At the same time, while Morgan is depicted as an attractive, sexually active, desiring woman in practically all the films, the narratives articulate a recurrent unease with the ‘older’ woman’s sexual identity.

Abstract 5891: The age-dependent association of risk factors with pancreatic cancer

Abstract Importance: Pancreatic cancer presents as advanced disease in &amp;gt;80% of patients; yet, appropriate ages to consider prevention and early detection strategies are poorly defined. Objective: To investigate age-specific associations and attributable risks of pancreatic cancer for established modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Design, Setting, and Participants: We included 167,483 participants from 2 prospective U.S. cohort studies with 1190 incident cases of pancreatic cancer identified during &amp;gt;30 years of follow-up; 5107 pancreatic cancer cases and 8845 control participants of European ancestry from a completed multicenter genome-wide association study (GWAS); and 248,893 pancreatic cancer cases documented in the U.S. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Exposures: Across different age categories, we investigated cigarette smoking, obesity, diabetes, height, and non-O blood group in the prospective cohorts; weighted polygenic risk score of 22 previously identified single nucleotide polymorphisms in the GWAS; and male sex and Black race in the SEER program. Main outcomes and measures: Risk of developing pancreatic cancer by age evaluated by Cox, logistic, or Poisson regression, as determined by the study design. Results: In the prospective cohorts, all 5 risk factors were more strongly associated with pancreatic cancer risk among younger participants, with associations greatly attenuated among those over 70 years. The HRs comparing participants with 3-5 risk factors to those with no risk factors were 9.24 (95% CI, 4.11-20.77) among those aged ≤60 years, 3.00 (95% CI, 1.85-4.86) among those aged 61-70 years, and 1.46 (95% CI, 1.10-1.94) among those over 70 years (Pheterogeneity = 3×10-5). These factors together were related to 65.6%, 49.7%, and 17.2% of incident pancreatic cancers in these age groups, respectively. In the GWAS, the polygenic risk score was most strongly associated with pancreatic cancer risk among those aged ≤60 years, with lesser associations identified in older participants (Pheterogeneity = .01). In the SEER Program, male sex and Black race were also more strongly associated with pancreatic cancer risk among younger individuals (Pheterogeneity &amp;lt; 1×10-8). Conclusions and relevance: Inherited and lifestyle factors are more strongly associated with earlier-onset pancreatic cancer, emphasizing the importance of age at initiation for cancer prevention and control programs targeting this highly lethal malignancy. Citation Format: Chen Yuan, Jihye Kim, Qiao-Li Wang, Alice A. Lee, Ana Babic, PanScan/PanC4 I-III Consortium, Laufey T. Amundadottir, Alison P. Klein, Donghui Li, Marjorie L. McCullough, Gloria M. Petersen, Harvey A. Risch, Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, Kimberly Perez, Kimmie Ng, Edward L. Giovannucci, Meir J. Stampfer, Peter Kraft, Brian M. Wolpin. The age-dependent association of risk factors with pancreatic cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 5891.

Relationship Between Lipid Profiles and Hypertension: A Cross-Sectional Study of 62,957 Chinese Adult Males.

BackgroundPatterns of dyslipidemia and incidence of hypertension have been rarely reported in Asian populations with inconsistent findings. To accumulate further evidence in Asian populations, the study aimed to investigate the relationship between lipid profiles and hypertension in Chinese adult males.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study based on the data from the DATADRYAD database. The overall population was divided into hypertensive and non-hypertensive groups based on baseline blood pressure levels. For continuous variables, Mann-Whitney test was performed between two groups, while Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn tests were used among multiple groups. The chi-square test was carried out for dichotomous variables. Spearman's correlation coefficient was employed to assess the association between systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and lipid profiles, whereas the relationship between lipid profiles and the incidence of hypertension was evaluated using multivariate logistic regression. The Bayesian network (BN) model was adopted to investigate the relationship between clinical characteristics and hypertension, and the importance of related predictor to the incidence of hypertension was obtained to make conditional probability analysis.ResultsFinally, totally 62,957 participants were included in this study. In the lipid profiles, total cholesterol (TC), low-density cholesterol (LDL-c), and non- high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-c) were higher in the hypertensive population (p <0.001). In the fully multivariate model, for every 1 mg/dl increase in TC, LDL-c and non-HDL, the risk of hypertension increased by 0.2% [1.002 (1.001–1.003)], 0.1% [1.001 (1.000–1.002)], and 0.1% [1.001 (1.000–1.002)]. Meanwhile, HDL-c became positively associated with the incidence of hypertension (p for trend < 0.001) after adjusting for the body mass index (BMI), and 1 mg/dl increment in HDL-c increased the risk of hypertension by 0.2% [1.002 (1.000–1.002)] after fully adjusting for multiple variables. Furthermore, the BN showed that the importance of age, BMI, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and TC to the effect of hypertension is 43.3, 27.2, 11.8, and 5.1%, respectively.ConclusionElevated TC, LDL-c, and non-HDL-c were related to incidence of hypertension in Chinese adult males, whereas triglycerides (TG) was not significantly associated. The relationship between HDL-c and hypertension incidence shifted from no association to a positive correlation after adjusting for the BMI. Moreover, the BN model displayed that age, the BMI, FPG, and TC were strongly associated with hypertension incidence.

The importance of aging in cancer research

The importance of aging in cancer research

Cellular Senescence and Ageing: Mechanisms and Interventions.

The influence of the activation of a cellular phenotype termed senescence and it’s importance in ageing and age-related diseases is becoming more and more evident. In fact, there is a huge effort to tackle these diseases via therapeutic drugs targeting senescent cells named senolytics. However, a clearer understanding of how senescence is activated and the influence it has on specific cellular types and tissues is needed. Here, we describe general triggers and characteristics of senescence. In addition, we describe the influence of senescent cells in ageing and different age-related diseases.

Growth Differentiation Factor-15 in Immunity and Aging.

Aging increases susceptibility to and severity of a variety of chronic and infectious diseases. Underlying this is dysfunction of the immune system, including chronic increases in low-grade inflammation (inflammaging) and age-related immunosuppression (immunosenescence). Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is a stress-, infection-, and inflammation-induced cytokine which is increased in aging and suppresses immune responses. This mini review briefly covers existing knowledge on the immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory roles of GDF-15, as well as its potential importance in aging and immune function.

Ageing and health care expenditures: the importance of age per se, steepening of the individual-level expenditure curve, and the role of morbidity.

The demographic change towards a larger proportion of older individuals challenges universal health care systems in sustaining high-quality care and universal coverage without budget expansions. To build valuable predictions of the economic burden from population ageing, it is crucial to understand the determinants of individual-level health care expenditures. Often, the focus has been on the relative importance of an individual's age and time to death, while only a few newer studies highlight that individual-level health care expenditures are increasing faster for the elderly-i.e., creating a steepening of the individual-level health care expenditure curve over time. Applying individual-level administrative data for the entire Danish population, our study is the first to use a single data set to examine whether age, time to death, and a steepening of the individual-level health care expenditure curve all contributed to individual-level health care expenditures over a 12year observation period (2006-2018). We find that individual-level expenditures are associated with an individual's age, an individual's time to death, and a steepening of the expenditure curve, with the steepening driven by individuals above age 75. We observe heterogeneity in the extent and age distribution of steepening across disease groups. The threefold combination of an ageing population, the correlation between expenditures and age per se, and a steepening of the expenditure curve make establishing financially sustainable universal health care systems increasingly difficult. To mitigate budgetary pressure, policy-makers should stimulate cost-effective medical advances and health care utilization in the treatment of elderly. Moreover, steepening scenarios should be added to future health care expenditure forecasts.

Attenuation of Aging-Induced Vascular Dysfunction by Inhibition of Ca2+/Calmodulin Protein Kinase II (CaMKII) in Isolated Renal and Carotid Rat Arteries

An increased prevalence of cardiovascular problems is recorded due to aging. The importance of aging as a potential risk factor for cardiovascular diseases has been increasing in most of the developing countries since populations continue to become older. Age-associated unusual structural changes that develop in blood vessels have been reported such as stiffening of the vasculature and fibrosis. CaMKII is a protein kinase that is present all-over in the body. In this study, it is suggested that acute inhibition of CaMKII-mediated signaling may be an effective method to prevent agingassociated detrimental changes in isolated blood vessels in SD male rats. The inhibitory effect of CaMKII in aging-induced renal/carotid vascular dysfunction was studied using the selective inhibitor KN-93. Isolated ring segments of the renal or carotid arteries were suspended in organ-bath chambers for measurement of isometric tension. Responses to Phenylephrine (PE), Endothelin-1 (ET-1), carbachol and Sodium Nitroprusside (SNP) were determined by measurement of changes in isometric tension. Results from this study showed abnormal vascular responses to vasoactive agonists in the vessels obtained from aged rats. Vasoconstrictor responses to phenylephrine were potentiated, while vasodilator responses to carbachol were reduced in blood vessels obtained from aged rats, in comparison to responses in young rats. Acute incubation of the blood vessels with KN-93 (10-5 M), an inhibitor of CaMKII, resulted in significant improvement in vascular function to both vasoactive agonists. Our results indicated that activation of CaMKII pathway contributes to aging-induced vascular dysfunction. Therefore, development of novel therapies that inhibit CaMKII pathway may prevent or reduce development of vascular abnormalities induced by aging.

Translational control in cell ageing: an update.

Cellular ageing is one of the main drivers of organismal ageing and holds keys towards improving the longevity and quality of the extended life. Elucidating mechanisms underlying the emergence of the aged cells as well as their altered responses to the environment will help understanding the evolutionarily defined longevity preferences across species with different strategies of survival. Much is understood about the role of alterations in the DNA, including many epigenetic modifications such as methylation, in relation to the aged cell phenotype. While transcriptomes of the aged cells are beginning to be better-characterised, their translational responses remain under active investigation. Many of the translationally controlled homeostatic pathways are centred around mitigation of DNA damage, cell stress response and regulation of the proliferative potential of the cells, and thus are critical for the aged cell function. Translation profiling-type studies have boosted the opportunities in discovering the function of protein biosynthesis control and are starting to be applied to the aged cells. Here, we provide a summary of the current knowledge about translational mechanisms considered to be commonly altered in the aged cells, including the integrated stress response-, mechanistic target of Rapamycin- and elongation factor 2 kinase-mediated pathways. We enlist and discuss findings of the recent works that use broad profiling-type approaches to investigate the age-related translational pathways. We outline the limitations of the methods and the remaining unknowns in the established ageing-associated translation mechanisms, and flag translational mechanisms with high prospective importance in ageing, for future studies.

Influence of Perceived Value and Innovation on the Propensity to Use Sports Tourism Websites among University Students: The Moderating Effects of Age and Education

Abstract: In this study, the researchers sought to understand the effects perceived value and innovation have on the propensity of university students to use sports tourism websites. This study also examined the moderating roles of age and education on this usage. University students (N = 354; 292 women and 62 men) from a public university in Malaysia were surveyed for this study. The findings revealed that perceived value and innovation significantly influence the propensity to use sports tourism websites among university students. The results also showed that both age and education significantly moderated their purposed associations. The findings of this study offer sports website managers, as well as policymakers in sports organizations, an insight that will aid in the development of effective online strategies to attract young users to engage with sports tourism websites. This study also informs managers and researchers about the importance of age and education when considering the relationship between predictors and the propensity of users to use sports tourism websites.&#x0D; Keywords: Propensity to use websites, tourism, sports events, personal characteristics, perceived benefits, innovation.

Factors Affecting Pandemic Biosecurity Behaviors of International Travelers: Moderating Roles of Gender, Age, and Travel Frequency

Research undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic has identified a number of significant factors that affect international travelers’ biosecurity behavior. Tourists’ age and gender as well as travel frequency have been found to have significant impacts on consumers’ non-pharmaceutical intervention practices. However, despite the importance of age, gender, and travel frequency, such studies have overlooked international tourists’ values, attitudes, interventions, and behaviors relevant to biosecurity during a pandemic. In order to bridge this gap, the purposes of this study are to build and test a conceptually comprehensive framework on the relationships between values, attitudes, interventions, and behaviors, along with the moderating effects of age, gender, and travel frequency. To meet the study objectives, a digital survey was administered during 1–5 September 2020, which generated n = 386 total useable responses. Data were analyzed using the partial least squares approach. The results revealed that tourists’ values have the greatest effect on their attitudes toward COVID-19 biosecurity for travel, which in turn positively influences interventions and behaviors. Interventions also have a significant impact on travelers’ COVID-19 biosecurity behavior. This study expands the theoretical understanding of biosecurity and pandemic behavior. The findings of this research also provide significant insights to the literature as well as stakeholders, such as governments, health organizations, international health and tourism agencies, and destinations, with respect to managing international travel biosecurity measures.

The importance of age in compositional and functional profiling of the human intestinal microbiome.

The intestinal microbiome plays a central role in human health and disease. While its composition is relatively stable throughout adulthood, the microbial balance starts to decrease in later life stages. Thus, in order to maintain a good quality of life, including the prevention of age-associated diseases in the elderly, it is important to understand the dynamics of the intestinal microbiome. In this study, stool samples of 278 participants were sequenced by whole metagenome shotgun sequencing and their taxonomic and functional profiles characterized. The two age groups, below65 and above65, could be separated based on taxonomic and associated functional features using Multivariate Association of Linear Models. In a second approach, through machine learning, biomarkers connecting the intestinal microbiome with age were identified. These results reflect the importance to select age-matched study groups for unbiased metagenomic data analysis and the possibility to generate robust data by applying independent algorithms for data analysis. Furthermore, since the intestinal microbiome can be modulated by antibiotics and probiotics, the data of this study may have implications on preventive strategies of age-associated degradation processes and diseases by microbiome-altering interventions.

Atherosclerosis is a major human killer and non-resolving inflammation is a prime suspect.

The resolution of inflammation (or inflammation-resolution) is an active and highly coordinated process. Inflammation-resolution is governed by several endogenous factors, and specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) are one such class of molecules that have robust biological function. Non-resolving inflammation is associated with a variety of human diseases, including atherosclerosis. Moreover, non-resolving inflammation is a hallmark of ageing, an inevitable process associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Uncovering mechanisms as to why inflammation-resolution is impaired in ageing and in disease and identifying useful biomarkers for non-resolving inflammation are unmet needs. Recent work has pointed to a critical role for balanced ratios of SPMs and pro-inflammatory lipids (i.e. leucotrienes and/or specific prostaglandins) as a key determinant of timely inflammation resolution. This review will focus on the accumulating findings that support the role of non-resolving inflammation and imbalanced pro-resolving and pro-inflammatory mediators in atherosclerosis. We aim to provide insight as to why these imbalances occur, the importance of ageing in disease progression, and how haematopoietic function impacts inflammation-resolution and atherosclerosis. We highlight open questions regarding therapeutic strategies and mechanisms of disease to provide a framework for future studies that aim to tackle this important human disease.

1146Assessing the uncertainty around age-mixing patterns in HIV transmission inferred from phylogenetic trees

Abstract Introduction Understand age-mixing patterns in HIV transmission is a key to design and implement HIV prevention interventions. As such, the use of phylogenetic tree seems promising since this approach is based on data from a transmission network. Methods Through a simulation study, we used transmission clusters computed from phylogenetic trees to investigate age-mixing patterns. From transmission clusters, we estimated a transmission network using pairings. We inferred measurements, which depict age-mixing patterns in transmission i.e. ‘proportions of men/women of a certain age-group paired with women/men of another age-group’, and mean, median, and standard deviation of average age difference between women/men with their respective pairs. We investigated the uncertainty around these measurements as a function of sampling coverage in different sequence missingness scenarios. Results According to the simulation set-up of age mixing in partnership, there are relationships, which are less likely and others highly likely. Explicitly, partnerships between younger men (&amp;lt;25 years) and older women (25 to 50 years) are less likely to happen in the sexual network, whereas partnership between younger women (&amp;lt;25 years) and older men (25 to 50 years) are more likely to happen as are age group relationship having intermediate magnitude in partnership. Conclusion Transmission clusters allow us to strive with more improved information regarding cross-generation transmission. It enables us to understand the importance of age mixing beyond describing the mean age difference, and that one needs to consider the variation of age differences between pairs of individuals as well as among the partners of a given individual.

The Importance of Age in the Prediction of Mortality by a Frailty Index: A Machine Learning Approach in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

The quantification of biological age in humans is an important scientific endeavor in the face of ageing populations. The frailty index (FI) methodology is based on the accumulation of health deficits and captures variations in health status within individuals of the same age. The aims of this study were to assess whether the addition of age to an FI improves its mortality prediction and whether the associations of the individual FI items differ in strength. We utilized data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing to conduct, by sex, machine learning analyses of the ability of a 32-item FI to predict 8-year mortality in 8174 wave 1 participants aged 50 or more years. By wave 5, 559 men and 492 women had died. In the absence of age, the FI was an acceptable predictor of mortality with AUCs of 0.7. When age was included, AUCs improved to 0.8 in men and 0.9 in women. After age, deficits related to physical function and self-rated health tended to have higher importance scores. Not all FI variables seemed equally relevant to predict mortality, and age was by far the most relevant feature. Chronological age should remain an important consideration when interpreting the prognostic significance of an FI.