Mediators of psychosocial risk factors and adverse health events in older people (MESH)

The aim of this research project is to gain more information about the mechanisms underlying the association between psychosocial factors and health deterioration among older people by utilizing several well-known longitudinal study projects and by developing statistical innovations for time-to-event models.

Although there is growing evidence showing that psychosocial factors are related to adverse health events, the links and mechanisms remain unclear. Some theories have been proposed, but only few studies have been able to test these hypotheses in longitudinal studies. Within this project it is possible to look more closely at the psychological, biological and genetic mechanisms and pathways linking psychosocial factors, such as social support, depressiveness, life satisfaction, and loneliness to adverse health events, such as mortality and institutionalization in several well-known longitudinal study projects gathered in Nordic countries, Netherlands and U.S.A. including both twins and singletons.

This project uses pre-existing data from Nordic countries, Netherlands and UK including The Finnish Twin Cohort Study, Longitudinal Aging Study of Amsterdam (LASA), Swedish Twin Studies on Aging (Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging and OCTO-Twin), The Finnish Twin Study of Aging, Nordic Research on Aging –study, National Child Developement Study (NCDS) and English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), and Evergreen-project. Altogether these prospective studies comprised over 30 000 individuals, and included in-person test and interviews as well as survey data. Psychosocial factors have been measured by well-validated instruments. Objective measures as well as self-reports on health and physical and cognitive functioning are available. All the studies include register-based information on institutionalization and mortality. The project also includes research visits for senior and postdoctoral researchers abroad in order to further deepen the collaboration between research sites in Finland, Netherlands and UK.

Funding

Academy of Finland

Research group

Principal investigator

Docent Tiina-Mari Lyyra, tiina-mari.lyyra[at]jyu.fi, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä

Researches

Sanna Read, sanna.read[at]lshtm.ac.uk

Timo Törmäkangas, timo.tormakangas[at]jyu.fi, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä

Doctoral students

Heidi Hietanen, heidi.hietanen[at]jyu.fi, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä Title of the dissertation: Predictors of social engagement in later life – a life-course perspective

Katja Pynnönen, katja.pynnonen[at]jyu.fi, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä Title of the dissertation: Social activity and health in old age

Publications

Lyyra T-M, Lyyra A-L, Lumme-Sandt K,  Heikkinen R-L:  Social relations in older adults: Secular trends and longitudinal changes over a 16-year follow-up. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2010 Nov-Dec;51(3):e133-8. Epub 2010 Jun 17.

Pynnönen, K., Törmäkangas, T., Heikkinen, R-L., Rantanen, T. & Lyyra. T-M. (2012). Does social activity decrease risk for institutionalization and mortality in older people? The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences, 67 (6), 765-774. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbs076.

Collaboration

Vrije University Amsterdam (Dorly Deeg)

Jönköping University (Bo Malmberg)