Questionnaire measures of self-directed ageing stereotype in older adults: a systematic review of measurement properties

The population is ageing, but while average life expectancy continues to increase, healthy life expectancy has not necessarily matched this and negative ageing stereotypes remain prevalent. Self-directed ageing stereotypes are hypothesised to play an important role in older adults’ health and well-being; however, a wide variety of terms and measures are used to explore this construct meaning there is a lack of clarity within the literature. A review was conducted to identify tools used to measure self-directed ageing stereotype in older adults and evaluate their quality. Searches identified 109 papers incorporating 40 different measures. Most common were the Philadelphia Geriatric Centre Morale Scale Attitude Towards Own Ageing (ATOA) subscale, Ageing Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) and Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire. Despite being most frequently used, the ATOA was developed to measure morale in older adults rather than self-directed ageing stereotypes. Over 25 terms were used to describe the concept, and it is suggested that for consistency the term “self-directed ageing stereotype” be adopted universally. Across measures, poor reporting of psychometric properties made it difficult to assess scale quality and more research is needed to fully assess measures before conclusions can be drawn as to the best tool; however, the Brief-APQ appears to hold most promise. Future research must address this issue before interventions to reduce negative self-directed ageing stereotypes can be developed and fully evaluated.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10433-020-00574-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Conventional Ultrafiltration During Elective Cardiac Surgery and Postoperative Acute Kidney Injury

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Analysis of ordered composite endpoints

Composite endpoints are frequently used in clinical trials, but simple approaches, such as the time to first event, do not reflect any ordering among the endpoints. However, some endpoints, such as mortality, are worse than others. A variety of procedures have been proposed to reflect the severity of the individual endpoints such as pairwise ranking approaches, the win ratio, and the desirability of outcome ranking. When patients have different lengths of follow-up, however, ranking can be difficult and proposed methods do not naturally lead to regression approaches and require specialized software. This paper defines an ordering score O to operationalize the patient ranking implied by hierarchical endpoints. We show how differential right censoring of follow-up corresponds to multiple interval censoring of the ordering score allowing standard software for survival models to be used to calculate the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimators (NPMLEs) of different measures. Additionally, if one assumes that the ordering score is transformable to an exponential random variable, a semiparametric regression is obtained, which is equivalent to the proportional hazards model subject to multiple interval censoring. Standard software can be used for estimation. We show that the NPMLE can be poorly behaved compared to the simple estimators in staggered entry trials. We also show that the semiparametric estimator can be more efficient than simple estimators and explore how standard Cox regression maneuvers can be used to assess model fit, allow for flexible generalizations, and assess interactions of covariates with treatment. We analyze a trial of short versus long-term antiplatelet therapy using our methods.     

Celebrity Health Announcements and Online Health Information Seeking: An Analysis of Angelina Jolie’s Preventative Health Decision

On May 14, 2013, Angelina Jolie disclosed she carries BRCA1, which means she has an 87% risk of developing breast cancer during her lifetime. Jolie decided to undergo a preventative bilateral mastectomy (PBM), reducing her risk to 5%. The purpose of this study was to analyze the type of information individuals are exposed to when using the Internet to search health information regarding Jolie’s decision. Qualitative content analysis revealed four main themes—information about genetics, information about a PBM, information about health care, and information about Jolie’s gender identity. Broadly, the identified websites mention Jolie’s high risk for developing cancer due to the genetic mutation BRCA1, describe a PBM occasionally noting reasons why she had this surgery and providing alternatives to the surgery, discuss issues related to health care services, costs, and insurances about Jolie’s health decision, and portray Jolie as a sexual icon, a partner to Brad Pitt, a mother of six children, and an inspirational humanitarian. The websites also depict Jolie’s health decision in positive, negative, and/or both ways. Discussion centers on how this actress’ health decision impacts the public.