Women’s spousal choices and a man’s handshake: Evidence from a Norwegian study of cohort differences

Skirbekk, Vegard; Hardy, Melissa A.; Strand, Bjørn Heine

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.04.004

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is also uncertain how ongoing changes in the prevalence of particular family constellations (e.g., increases in divorce and cohabitation along cohort lines) may change the relationship between marital status trajectories and later-life cognitive impairment. Norwegian data have suggested that the selection of people—particularly men—into marriage based on grip strength has increased for younger cohorts ( Skirbekk et al, 2018 ), suggesting that the relationship between being unmarried and health may be even stronger in younger cohorts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marital Histories and Associations With Later-Life Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment Risk in the HUNT4 70+ Study in Norway

Skirbekk

Bowen²,

Håberg

et al. 2022

J Aging Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Earlier studies suggest that being married in later life protects against dementia, and that being single in old age increases the risk of dementia. In this study, we examine midlife marital status trajectories and their association with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at ages 70 plus using a large population based sample from Norway. Methods: Based on a general population sample linked to population registries ( N = 8706), we used multinomial logistic regression to examine the associations between six types of marital trajectories (unmarried, continuously divorced, intermittently divorced, widowed, continuously married, intermittently married) between age 44 and 68 years from national registries and a clinical dementia or a MCI diagnosis after age 70. We estimated relative risk ratios (RRR) and used mediation analyses adjusting for education, number of children, smoking, hypertension, obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, mental distress, and having no close friends in midlife. Inverse probability weighting and multiple imputations were applied. The population attributable fraction was estimated to assess the potential reduction in dementia cases due to marital histories. Results: Overall, 11.6% of the participants were diagnosed with dementia and 35.3% with MCI. Dementia prevalence was lowest among the continuously married (11.2%). Adjusting for confounders, the risk of dementia was higher for the unmarried (RRR = 1.73; 95% CI: 1.24, 2.40), continuously divorced (RRR = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.14, 2.43), and intermittently divorced (RRR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.06) compared to the continuously married. In general, marital trajectory was less associated with MCI than with dementia. In the counterfactual scenario, where all participants had the same risk of receiving a dementia diagnosis as the continuously married group, there would be 6.0% fewer dementia cases. Discussion: Our data confirm that staying married in midlife is associated with a lower risk of dementia and that divorced people account for a substantial share of dementia cases.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marital Histories and Associations With Later-Life Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment Risk in the HUNT4 70+ Study in Norway

Skirbekk

Bowen²,

Håberg

et al. 2022

J Aging Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nishitani et al found that diabetes mellitus patients had a lower muscle strength 68 . Also some studies reported effects of age, gender and marital status and socio‐economic status on physical performance 69‐72 . Therefore, since these variables could affect the results, we excluded them to assess the independent effect of HLS on CRF and muscle strength.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between healthy lifestyle score with cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Physical fitness can be defined as an comprehensive indicator of most body functions 1 and applies to a good health state, that is, the capacity to carry out active everyday tasks, as well as capabilities correlated with a reduced probability of cardiovascular illness and early death. 2 The primary components of physical fitness include cardiorespiratory strength, musculoskeletal activity and motor fitness and recognised as an important factor in health-related outcomes in childhood and adulthood. 3,4 Low levels of fitness during childhood and adolescence are associated with the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, 5 loss of quality of life and mental health. Physical fitness includes cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscle strength. CRF is a good predictor of health outcomes, such as mortality in obese people, high blood pressure or diabetics. 6 Muscle strength, other than other physical fitness, is also used as an important indicator of mortality in diseases that are associated with weakness and sarcopenia. 7,8 Studies have shown that improvement in CRF with muscle strength together has more beneficial effects than when each one is alone. 9 Of the factors that may influence CRF

show abstract

“…However, less is known about how major life transitions, such as bereavement, affect different measures of intrinsic capacity. In previous studies, an association between marital status and grip strength has been reported [13,14], but whether spousal bereavement is causally related to grip strength is as far as we know unknown. Moreover, the causal impact of spousal bereavement on cognition, one of the other pillars of intrinsic capacity, is inconsistent [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Spousal bereavement and its effects on later life physical and cognitive capability: the Tromsø study

Strand,

Håberg,

Eyjólfsdóttir

et al. 2024

GeroScience

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spousal bereavement is associated with health declines and increased mortality risk, but its specific impact on physical and cognitive capabilities is less studied. A historical cohort study design was applied including married Tromsø study participants (N=5739) aged 50–70 years with baseline self-reported overall health and health-related factors and measured capability (grip strength, finger tapping, digit symbol coding, and short-term recall) at follow-up. Participants had data from Tromsø4 (1994–1995) and Tromsø5 (2001), or Tromsø6 (2007–2008) and Tromsø7 (2015–2016). Propensity score matching, adjusted for baseline confounders (and baseline capability in a subset), was used to investigate whether spousal bereavement was associated with poorer subsequent capability. Spousal bereavement occurred for 6.2% on average 3.7 years (SD 2.0) before the capability assessment. There were no significant bereavement effects on subsequent grip strength, immediate recall, or finger-tapping speed. Without adjustment for baseline digit symbol coding test performance, there was a negative significant effect on the digit symbol coding test (ATT −1.33; 95% confidence interval −2.57, −0.10), but when baseline digit symbol coding test performance was taken into account in a smaller subsample, using the same set of matching confounders, there was no longer any association (in the subsample ATT changed from −1.29 (95% CI −3.38, 0.80) to −0.04 (95% CI −1.83, 1.75). The results in our study suggest that spousal bereavement does not have long-term effects on the intrinsic capacity components physical or cognition capability to a notable degree.

show abstract

Women’s spousal choices and a man’s handshake: Evidence from a Norwegian study of cohort differences

Cited by 8 publications

References 65 publications

Marital Histories and Associations With Later-Life Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment Risk in the HUNT4 70+ Study in Norway

Marital Histories and Associations With Later-Life Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment Risk in the HUNT4 70+ Study in Norway

The association between healthy lifestyle score with cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength

Spousal bereavement and its effects on later life physical and cognitive capability: the Tromsø study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About