Objective

To investigate the associations of body mass index (BMI) and grip strength with objective measures of physical performance (chair rise time, walking speed and balance) including an assessment of sex differences and non-linearity.

Methods

Cross-sectional data from eight UK cohort studies (total N = 16 444) participating in the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) research programme, ranging in age from 50 to 90+ years at the time of physical capability assessment, were used. Regression models were fitted within each study and meta-analysis methods used to pool regression coefficients across studies and to assess the extent of heterogeneity between studies.

Results

Higher BMI was associated with poorer performance on chair rise (N = 10 773), walking speed (N = 9 761) and standing balance (N = 13 921) tests. Higher BMI was associated with stronger grip strength in men only. Stronger grip strength was associated with better performance on all tests with a tendency for the associations to be stronger in women than men; for example, walking speed was higher by 0.43 cm/s (0.14, 0.71) more per kg in women than men. Both BMI and grip strength remained independently related with performance after mutual adjustment, but there was no evidence of effect modification. Both BMI and grip strength exhibited non-linear relations with performance; those in the lowest fifth of grip strength and highest fifth of BMI having particularly poor performance. Findings were similar when waist circumference was examined in place of BMI.

Conclusion

Older men and women with weak muscle strength and high BMI have considerably poorer performance than others and associations were observed even in the youngest cohort (age 53). Although causality cannot be inferred from observational cross-sectional studies, our findings suggest the likely benefit of early assessment and interventions to reduce fat mass and improve muscle strength in the prevention of future functional limitations.

Objective

To explore characteristics associated with, and prevalence of, low health literacy in patients recruited to investigate the role of depression in patients on General Practice (GP) Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) registers (the Up-Beat UK study).

Design

Cross-sectional cohort. The health literacy measure was the Rapid Estimate of Health Literacy in Medicine (REALM). Univariable analyses identified characteristics associated with low health literacy and compared health service use between health literacy statuses. Those variables where there was a statistically significant/borderline significant difference between health literacy statuses were entered into a multivariable model.

Setting

16 General Practices in South London, UK.

Participants

Inclusion: patients >18 years, registered with a GP and on a GP CHD register. Exclusion: patients temporarily registered.

Primary outcome measure

REALM.

Results

Of the 803 Up-Beat cohort participants, 687 (85.55%) completed the REALM of whom 106 (15.43%) had low health literacy. Twenty-eight participants could not be included in the multivariable analysis due to missing predictor variable data, leaving a sample of 659. The variables remaining in the final model were age, gender, ethnicity, Indices of Multiple Deprivation score, years of education, employment; body mass index and alcohol intake, and anxiety scores (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Univariable analysis also showed that people with low health literacy may have more, and longer, practice nurse consultations than people with adequate health literacy.

Conclusions

There is a disadvantaged group of people on GP CHD registers with low health literacy. The multivariable model showed that patients with low health literacy have significantly higher anxiety levels than people with adequate health literacy. In addition, the univariable analyses show that such patients have more, and longer, consultations with practice nurses. We will collect 4-year longitudinal cohort data to explore the impact of health literacy in people on GP CHD registers and the impact of health literacy on health service use.

Background

There are few longitudinal data on physical activity patterns from mid-life into older age. The authors examined associations of self-reported physical activity, adiposity and socio-demographic factors in mid-life with objectively assessed measures of activity in older age.

Methods

Participants were 394 healthy men and women drawn from the Whitehall II population-based cohort study. At the baseline assessment in 1997 (mean age 54 years), physical activity was assessed through self-report and quantified as metabolic equivalent of task hours/week. At the follow-up in 2010 (mean age 66 years), physical activity was objectively measured using accelerometers worn during waking hours for seven consecutive days (average daily wear time 891±68 min/day).

Results

Self-reported physical activity at baseline was associated with objectively assessed activity at follow-up in various activity categories, including light-, moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity (all ps<0.04). Participants in the highest compared with lowest quartile of self-reported activity level at baseline recorded on average 64.1 (95% CI 26.2 to 102.1) counts per minute more accelerometer-assessed activity at follow-up and 9.0 (2.0–16.0) min/day more moderate-to-vigorous daily activity, after adjusting for baseline covariates. Lower education, obesity and self-perceived health status were also related to physical activity at follow-up. Only age and education were associated with objectively measured sedentary time at follow-up.

Conclusion

Physical activity behaviour in middle age was associated with objectively measured physical activity in later life after 13 years of follow-up, suggesting that the habits in adulthood are partly tracked into older age.

Background

Shorter telomere length and poor sleep are more prevalent at older ages, but their relationship is uncertain. This study explored associations between sleep duration and telomere length in a sample of healthy middle and early old age people.

Methods

Participants were 434 men and women aged 63.3 years on average drawn from the Whitehall II cohort study. Sleep duration was measured by self-report.

Results

There was a linear association between sleep duration and leukocyte telomere length in men but not in women (P = 0.035). Men reporting shorter sleep duration had shorter telomeres, independently of age, body mass index, smoking, educational attainment, current employment, cynical hostility scores and depressive symptoms. Telomeres were on average 6% shorter in men sleeping 5 hours or fewer compared with those sleeping more than 7 hours per night.

Conclusion

This study adds to the growing literature relating sleep duration with biomarkers of aging, and suggests that shortening of telomeres might reflect mechanisms through which short sleep contributes to pathological conditions in older men.

Background

Tobacco smoking is a major contributor to the public health burden and healthcare costs worldwide, but the determinants of smoking behaviours are poorly understood. We conducted a large individual-participant meta-analysis to examine the extent to which work-related stress, operationalised as job strain, is associated with tobacco smoking in working adults.

Methodology and Principal Findings

We analysed cross-sectional data from 15 European studies comprising 166 130 participants. Longitudinal data from six studies were used. Job strain and smoking were self-reported. Smoking was harmonised into three categories never, ex- and current. We modelled the cross-sectional associations using logistic regression and the results pooled in random effects meta-analyses. Mixed effects logistic regression was used to examine longitudinal associations. Of the 166 130 participants, 17% reported job strain, 42% were never smokers, 33% ex-smokers and 25% current smokers. In the analyses of the cross-sectional data, current smokers had higher odds of job strain than never-smokers (age, sex and socioeconomic position-adjusted odds ratio: 1.11, 95% confidence interval: 1.03, 1.18). Current smokers with job strain smoked, on average, three cigarettes per week more than current smokers without job strain. In the analyses of longitudinal data (1 to 9 years of follow-up), there was no clear evidence for longitudinal associations between job strain and taking up or quitting smoking.

Conclusions

Our findings show that smokers are slightly more likely than non-smokers to report work-related stress. In addition, smokers who reported work stress smoked, on average, slightly more cigarettes than stress-free smokers.

Background

The relationship between work-related stress and alcohol intake is uncertain. In order to add to the thus far inconsistent evidence from relatively small studies, we conducted individual-participant meta-analyses of the association between work-related stress (operationalised as self-reported job strain) and alcohol intake.

Methodology and Principal Findings

We analysed cross-sectional data from 12 European studies (n = 142 140) and longitudinal data from four studies (n = 48 646). Job strain and alcohol intake were self-reported. Job strain was analysed as a binary variable (strain vs. no strain). Alcohol intake was harmonised into the following categories: none, moderate (women: 1–14, men: 1–21 drinks/week), intermediate (women: 15–20, men: 22–27 drinks/week) and heavy (women: >20, men: >27 drinks/week). Cross-sectional associations were modelled using logistic regression and the results pooled in random effects meta-analyses. Longitudinal associations were examined using mixed effects logistic and modified Poisson regression. Compared to moderate drinkers, non-drinkers and (random effects odds ratio (OR): 1.10, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.14) and heavy drinkers (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.26) had higher odds of job strain. Intermediate drinkers, on the other hand, had lower odds of job strain (OR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.99). We found no clear evidence for longitudinal associations between job strain and alcohol intake.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that compared to moderate drinkers, non-drinkers and heavy drinkers are more likely and intermediate drinkers less likely to report work-related stress.

There are complex reciprocal relationships between health and social, emotional and economic factors in aging populations. Social and affective neurosciences are rapidly developing an understanding of the mechanisms underlying these phenomena using sophisticated behavioural, neuroimaging and psychophysiological methods. These techniques are often complex and expensive, so are generally used in relatively small selected samples rather than in large-scale cohort studies. However, an understanding of the significance of these processes in health and well-being depends on integrating findings from social and affective neuroscience into population-level studies. The aim of this article is to describe how a population perspective on the determinants of health and well-being in old age articulates with the agenda of social, affective and economic neuroscience, particularly through the application of psychosocial biomarker research. Social and affective neuroscience and epidemiological approaches provide complementary research strategies for understanding the mechanisms linking social, emotional and economic factors with health risk. This will be illustrated primarily from findings from two studies conducted at University College London, the Whitehall II Study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Background

Psychosocial stress is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). The mechanisms are incompletely understood, although dysfunction of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis might be involved. We examined the association between cortisol responses to laboratory-induced mental stress and the progression of coronary artery calcification (CAC).

Methods and Results

Participants were 466 healthy men and women (mean age = 62.7±5.6 yrs), without history or objective signs of CHD, drawn from the Whitehall II epidemiological cohort. At the baseline assessment salivary cortisol was measured in response to mental stressors, consisting of a 5-min Stroop task and a 5-min mirror tracing task. CAC was measured at baseline and at 3 years follow up using electron beam computed tomography. CAC progression was defined as an increase >10 Agatston units between baseline and follow up. 38.2% of the sample demonstrated CAC progression over the 3 years follow up. There was considerable variation in the cortisol stress response, with approximately 40% of the sample responding to the stress tasks with an increase in cortisol of at least 1 mmol/l. There was an association between cortisol stress reactivity (per SD) and CAC progression (odds ratio = 1.27, 95% CI, 1.02–1.60) after adjustments for age, sex, pre-stress cortisol, employment grade, smoking, resting systolic BP, fibrinogen, body mass index, and use of statins. There was no association between systolic blood pressure reactivity and CAC progression (odds ratio per SD increase = 1.03, 95% CI, 0.85–1.24). Other independent predictors of CAC progression included age, male sex, smoking, resting systolic blood pressure, and fibrinogen.

Conclusion

Results demonstrate an association between heightened cortisol reactivity to stress and CAC progression. These data support the notion that cortisol reactivity, an index of HPA function, is one of the possible mechanisms through which psychosocial stress may influence the risk of CHD.

Objective

Depressive symptoms are common following acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and predict subsequent cardiovascular morbidity. Depression in acute cardiac patients appears to be independent of clinical disease severity and other cardiovascular measures. One factor that has not been considered previously is anaemia, which is associated with fatigue and adverse cardiac outcomes. This study assessed the relationship between anaemia on admission and depressive symptoms following ACS.

Design

Longitudinal clinical observational study.

Setting

Coronary care unit.

Patients

223 patients with documented ACS.

Main outcome measures

Depressive symptoms measured with the Beck Depression Inventory 3 weeks after admission.

Results

Anaemia was defined with WHO criteria and was present in 30 (13.5%) patients. Anaemia predicted raised depression scores 3 weeks later independently of age, gender, marital status, educational attainment, smoking, Global Registry of Acute Cardiac Events (GRACE) risk scores, negative mood in hospital and history of depression (p=0.003). The odds of a Beck Depression Inventory score ≥10 among anaemic patients were 4.03 (95% CIs 1.48 to 11.00), adjusted for covariates. Sensitivity analyses indicated that effects were also present when haemoglobin was analysed as a continuous measure. Anaemia also predicted major adverse cardiac events over the subsequent 12 months.

Conclusions

Anaemia appears to contribute to depression following ACS and is associated with future cardiac morbidity. Studies evaluating the effects of anaemia management will help delineate the role of this pathway more precisely.

Article summary

Article focus

Depressive symptoms are common among survivors of acute myocardial infarction and other acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and predict a poor long-term outcome.

Depressive symptoms appear to be independent of clinical disease severity.

However, anaemia is common in ACS patients and has not previously been examined as a predictor of depressive symptoms.

Key messages

Anaemia on admission with ACS predicted depressive symptoms 3 weeks later, independently of covariates.

Anaemia also predicted major adverse cardiac events over the next 12 months.

Anaemia and haemoglobin levels should be considered as biological determinants of depressive symptoms following myocardial infarction and other ACSs.

Strengths and limitations of this study

This is the first study to investigate anaemia and subsequent depression in ACS patients using a prospective design.

The study was small scale and was not powered to investigate the impact of depression on long-term cardiac outcomes.

Using data from eight UK cohorts participating in the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) research programme, with ages at physical capability assessment ranging from 50 to 90+ years, we harmonised data on objective measures of physical capability (i.e. grip strength, chair rising ability, walking speed, timed get up and go, and standing balance performance) and investigated the cross-sectional age and gender differences in these measures. Levels of physical capability were generally lower in study participants of older ages, and men performed better than women (for example, results from meta-analyses (N = 14,213 (5 studies)), found that men had 12.62 kg (11.34, 13.90) higher grip strength than women after adjustment for age and body size), although for walking speed, this gender difference was attenuated after adjustment for body size. There was also evidence that the gender difference in grip strength diminished with increasing age,whereas the gender difference in walking speed widened (p<0.01 for interactions between age and gender in both cases). This study highlights not only the presence of age and gender differences in objective measures of physical capability but provides a demonstration that harmonisation of data from several large cohort studies is possible. These harmonised data are now being used within HALCyon to understand the lifetime social and biological determinants of physical capability and its changes with age.

Measurement of affective states in everyday life is of fundamental importance in many types of quality of life, health, and psychological research. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is the recognized method of choice, but the respondent burden can be high. The day reconstruction method (DRM) was developed by Kahneman and colleagues (Science, 2004, 306, 1776–1780) to assess affect, activities and time use in everyday life. We sought to validate DRM affect ratings by comparison with contemporaneous EMA ratings in a sample of 94 working women monitored over work and leisure days. Six EMA ratings of happiness, tiredness, stress, and anger/frustration were obtained over each 24 h period, and were compared with DRM ratings for the same hour, recorded retrospectively at the end of the day. Similar profiles of affect intensity were recorded with the two techniques. The between-person correlations adjusted for attenuation ranged from 0.58 (stress, working day) to 0.90 (happiness, leisure day). The strength of associations was not related to age, educational attainment, or depressed mood. We conclude that the DRM provides reasonably reliable estimates both of the intensity of affect and variations in affect over the day, so is a valuable instrument for the measurement of everyday experience in health and social research.

Positive affect has been associated with favourable health outcomes, and it is likely that several biological processes mediate the effects of positive mood on physical health. There is converging evidence that positive affect activates the neuroendocrine, autonomic and immune systems in distinct and functionally meaningful ways. Cortisol, both total output and the awakening response, has consistently been shown to be lower among individuals with higher levels of positive affect. The beneficial effects of positive mood on cardiovascular function, including heart rate and blood pressure, and the immune system have also been described. The influence of positive affect on these psychobiological processes are independent of negative affect, suggesting that positive affect may have characteristic biological correlates. The duration and conceptualisation of positive affect may be important considerations in understanding how different biological systems are activated in association with positive affect. The association of positive affect and psychobiological processes has been established, and these biological correlates may be partly responsible for the protective effects of positive affect on health outcomes.

The relationship between depression and coronary heart disease is well-established, but causal mechanisms are poorly understood. The aim of this review is to stimulate different ways of viewing the relationship between depression and adverse outcomes following acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery patients. We present an argument for depression in ACS and CABG patients being a qualitatively distinct form from that observed in psychiatric populations. This is based on three features: (1) depression developing after cardiac events has been linked in many studies to poorer outcomes than recurrent depression; (2) somatic symptoms of depression following cardiac events are particularly cardiotoxic; (3) depression following an ACS does not respond well to antidepressant treatments. We propose that inflammation is a common causal process responsible in part both for the development of depressive symptoms and for adverse cardiac outcomes, and we draw parallels with inflammation-induced sickness behaviour. Clinical implications of our observations are discussed along with suggestions for further work to advance the field.

Summary

The quality of social relationships may contribute to variations in biological stress responses, thereby affecting health risk. The association between an important indicator of social relationships, adult attachment style, and cortisol has been relatively unexplored. The present study examined adult romantic attachment style and cortisol responses to acute laboratory stress. Salivary cortisol was measured in response to two behavioural tasks, a colour/word interference task and mirror tracing task, in 498 healthy men and women from the Heart Scan study, a subsample of the Whitehall II cohort. Participants were classified as secure, fearful, preoccupied or dismissive on the basis of responses to the Relationship Questionnaire. Cortisol output was lowest in the fearful group, followed by the preoccupied group, with both secure and dismissive groups having higher levels. The results from this study tentatively support the proposition that attachment style is a factor in determining the manifestation of HPA dysregulation.

Background

There has been considerable research into the impact of chronic illness on health-related quality of life. However, few studies have assessed the impact of different chronic conditions on general quality of life (QOL). The objective of this paper was to compare general (rather than health-related) QOL and affective well-being in middle aged and older people across eight chronic illnesses.

Methods and Findings

This population-based, cross-sectional study involved 11,523 individuals aged 50 years and older, taking part in wave 1 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. General QOL was assessed using the CASP-19, happiness was evaluated using two items drawn from the GHQ-12, and depression was measured with the CES-D. Analysis of covariance and logistic regression, adjusting for age, gender and wealth, were performed. General QOL was most impaired in people with stroke (mean 37.56, CI 36.73–38.39), and least in those reporting cancer (mean 41.78, CI 41.12–42.44, respectively), compared with no illness (mean 44.15, CI 43.92–44.39). Stroke (mean 3.65, CI 3.58–3.73) was also associated with the greatest reduction in positive well-being whereas diabetes (mean 3.81, CI 3.76–3.86) and cancer were least affected (3.85, CI 3.79–3.91), compared with no illness (mean 3.97, CI 3.95–4.00). Depression was significantly elevated in all conditions, but was most common in chronic lung disease (OR 3.04, CI 2.56–3.61), with more modest elevations in those with osteoarthritis (OR 2.08, CI 1.84–2.34) or cancer (OR 2.07, CI 1.69–2.54). Multiple co-morbidities were associated with greater decrements in QOL and affective well-being.

Conclusion

The presence of chronic illness is associated with impairments in broader aspects of QOL and affective well-being, but different conditions vary in their impact. Further longitudinal work is needed to establish the temporal links between chronic illness and impairments in QOL and affective well-being.

Background

Grip strength, walking speed, chair rising and standing balance time are objective measures of physical capability that characterise current health and predict survival in older populations. Socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood may influence the peak level of physical capability achieved in early adulthood, thereby affecting levels in later adulthood. We have undertaken a systematic review with meta-analyses to test the hypothesis that adverse childhood SEP is associated with lower levels of objectively measured physical capability in adulthood.

Methods and Findings

Relevant studies published by May 2010 were identified through literature searches using EMBASE and MEDLINE. Unpublished results were obtained from study investigators. Results were provided by all study investigators in a standard format and pooled using random-effects meta-analyses. 19 studies were included in the review. Total sample sizes in meta-analyses ranged from N = 17,215 for chair rise time to N = 1,061,855 for grip strength. Although heterogeneity was detected, there was consistent evidence in age adjusted models that lower childhood SEP was associated with modest reductions in physical capability levels in adulthood: comparing the lowest with the highest childhood SEP there was a reduction in grip strength of 0.13 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.06, 0.21), a reduction in mean walking speed of 0.07 m/s (0.05, 0.10), an increase in mean chair rise time of 6% (4%, 8%) and an odds ratio of an inability to balance for 5s of 1.26 (1.02, 1.55). Adjustment for the potential mediating factors, adult SEP and body size attenuated associations greatly. However, despite this attenuation, for walking speed and chair rise time, there was still evidence of moderate associations.

Conclusions

Policies targeting socioeconomic inequalities in childhood may have additional benefits in promoting the maintenance of independence in later life.

Objectives

To measure the prevalence of limited functional health literacy in the UK, and examine associations with health behaviours and self‐rated health.

Design

Psychometric testing using a British version of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) in a population sample of adults.

Setting

UK‐wide interview survey (excluding Northern Ireland and the Scottish Isles).

Participants

759 adults (439 women, 320 men) aged 18–90 years (mean age = 47.6 years) selected using random location sampling.

Main outcome measures

Functional health literacy, self‐rated health, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical exercise and smoking.

Results

We found that 11.4% of participants had either marginal or inadequate health literacy. Multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated that the risk of having limitations in health literacy increased with age (adjusted odds ratio 1.04; 95% confidence interval 1.02 to 1.06), being male (odds ratio = 2.04; 95% confidence interval 1.16 to 3.55), low educational attainment (odds ratio = 7.46; 95% confidence interval 3.35 to 16.58) and low income (odds ratio = 5.94; 95% confidence interval 1.87 to 18.89). In a second multivariable logistic regression analysis, every point higher on the health literacy scale increased the likelihood of eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day (odds ratio = 1.02; 95% confidence interval 1.003 to 1.03), being a non‐smoker (odds ratio = 1.02; 95% confidence interval 1.0003 to 1.03) and having good self‐rated health (odds ratio = 1.02; 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.04), independently of age, education, gender, ethnicity and income.

Conclusions

The results encourage efforts to monitor health literacy in the British population and examine associations with engagement with preventative health behaviours.

Objectives

To explore the differences in psychosocial risk factors related to coronary heart disease (CHD) between South Asian subgroups in the UK. South Asian people suffer significantly higher rates of CHD than other ethnic groups, but vulnerability varies between South Asian subgroups, in terms of both CHD rates and risk profiles. Psychosocial factors may contribute to the excess CHD propensity that is observed; however, subgroup heterogeneity in psychosocial disadvantage has not previously been systematically explored.

Methods

With a cross-sectional design, 1065 healthy South Asian and 818 white men and women from West London, UK, completed psychosocial questionnaires. Psychosocial profiles were compared between South Asian religious groups and the white sample, using analyses of covariance and post hoc tests.

Results

Of the South Asian sample, 50.5% was Sikh, 28.0% was Hindu, and 15.8% was Muslim. Muslim participants were more socioeconomically deprived and experienced higher levels of chronic stress, including financial strain, low social cohesion, and racial discrimination, compared with other South Asian religious groups. In terms of health behaviors, Muslim men smoked more than Sikhs and Hindus, and Muslims also reported lower alcohol consumption and were less physically active than other groups.

Conclusion

This study found that Muslims were exposed to more psychosocial and behavioral adversity than Sikhs and Hindus, and highlights the importance of investigating subgroup heterogeneity in South Asian CHD risk.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between resting baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) and carotid intima–media thickness (IMT), a putative marker of sub-clinical atherosclerosis. Participants were 64 men and 18 women (median age, 57 years; range, 40 to 70 years), who did not have a previous history of coronary artery disease or treatment for hypertension. Resting BRS was measured during a 9-min baseline period using the noninvasive sequence technique; carotid IMT was subsequently determined using ultrasonography. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that greater IMT in the carotid bulb (an area with a high density of baroreceptors) was associated with reduced BRS. These findings remained after adjusting BRS for resting mean arterial pressure, age, body mass index, gender, and smoking history, R2 = 0.06, P = .03. In contrast, IMT in the common and internal carotid regions (areas with presumably lower baroreceptor densities) did not account for a significant proportion of the variance in BRS. These results suggest that subclinical atherosclerosis, specifically in a region with high baroreceptor density, is associated with a reduced sensitivity of the baroreflex.

Emotion in daily life may be associated with transient myocardial ischemia, ventricular tachycardia and impaired autonomic function in cardiac patients, but the precise temporal sequence is unclear. Eighty-eight patients with suspected coronary artery disease underwent 24-h electrocardiographic monitoring, and affect was measured with the Day Reconstruction Method. Thirteen patients (15%) experienced one or more episodes of ST depression or ventricular tachycardia, nine of whom provided concurrent mood data. Mood and heart rate variability were analyzed for the 15 min before, during, and 15 min after each ST depression/ventricular tachycardia episode, and were compared with control periods not associated with cardiac dysfunction. Patients reported more negative mood in the 15 min preceding cardiac dysfunction compared with control periods (P = 0.02). Heart rate increased in the 5 min before cardiac dysfunction (P = 0.005), whereas low frequency heart rate variability was reduced at onset but not before cardiac dysfunction (P = 0.007). There were not changes in high frequency heart rate variability. This small study indicates that emotional state may contribute to vulnerability of cardiac dysfunction in everyday life.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10865-010-9280-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objectives

The association between depression and sub-clinical atherosclerosis remains unclear. By assessing depressive symptoms only at one point in time, most previous studies have failed to ascertain long-term exposure. We examined the association of long-term depressive symptoms assessed at three time points (over 10 yrs) with a marker of sub-clinical atherosclerosis.

Methods

Participants included 454 healthy, non-medicated men and women from the Whitehall II epidemiological cohort without known cardiovascular disease (CVD). Depressive symptoms were assessed at three time points (over 10 yrs) and coronary atherosclerosis was assessed at follow-up in terms of coronary artery calcification (CAC).

Results

18.9% of the sample reported depressive symptoms at least once during follow-up. Participants that were persistently depressed had over a two-fold increased risk of detectable CAC (Agatston score > 0) (odds ratio [OR] = 2.56, 95% CI, 1.14–5.78) and high CAC (Agatston score ≥ 100) (OR = 2.36, 1.04–5.35) compared with never depressed after adjustment for age, sex, and a range of conventional cardiac risk factors. These associations were more robust in men. Participants who were depressed on only one occasion were not at elevated risk of CAC.

Conclusions

Persistent cognitive symptoms of depression assessed over several time points, but not on a single occasion, are related to sub-clinical coronary atherosclerosis in men free of known CVD and diabetes.

Background

A lack of longitudinal studies has made it difficult to establish the direction of associations between circulating concentrations of low-grade chronic inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, and cognitive symptoms of depression. The present study sought to assess whether C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 predict cognitive symptoms of depression or whether these symptoms predict inflammatory markers.

Methods

A prospective occupational cohort study of British white-collar civil servants: Whitehall II. Serum C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and cognitive symptoms of depression were measured at baseline in 1991-3 and at follow-up in 2002-4, an average follow-up of 11.8 years. Symptoms of depression were measured with 4 items describing cognitive symptoms of depression from the General Health Questionnaire. The number of participants varied between 3339 and 3070 (mean age 50 years, 30% women) depending on the analysis.

Results

Baseline C-reactive protein (β=0.046, p=0.004) and interleukin-6 (β=0.046, p=0.005) predicted cognitive symptoms of depression at follow-up, while baseline symptoms of depression did not predict inflammatory markers at follow-up. After full adjustment for sociodemographic, behavioural and biological risk factors, health conditions and medication use, baseline C-reactive protein (β=0.038, p=0.036) and interleukin-6 (β=0.041, p=0.018) remained predictive of cognitive symptoms of depression at follow-up.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that inflammation precedes depression at least with regard to the cognitive symptoms of depression.

Objective

To assess developmental trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviour in British adolescents in relation to sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES).

Design

A 5‐year longitudinal study of a diverse cohort of students aged 11–12 years at baseline in 1999.

Setting

36 London schools sampled using a stratified random sampling procedure.

Participants

A total of 5863 students categorised as white, black or Asian, and stratified for SES using the Townsend Index.

Main outcome measures

Number of days per week of vigorous activity leading to sweating and breathing hard. Hours of sedentary behaviour, including watching television and playing video games. Data were analysed using multilevel, linear, mixed models.

Results

Marked reductions in physical activity and increases in sedentary behaviour were noticed between ages 11–12 and 15–16 years. Boys were more active than girls, and the decline in physical activity was greater in girls (46% reduction) than in boys (23%). Asian students were less active than whites, and this was also true of black girls but not boys. Black students were more sedentary than white students. Levels of sedentary behaviour were greater in respondents from lower SES. Most differences between ethnic and SES groups were present at age 11 years, and did not evolve over the teenage years.

Conclusions

Physical activity declines and sedentary behaviour becomes more common during adolescence. Ethnic and SES differences are observed in physical activity and sedentary behaviour in British youth that anticipate adult variations in adiposity and cardiovascular disease risk. These are largely established by age 11–12 years, so reversing these patterns requires earlier intervention.

Objective

Extended walking speed is a predictor of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) in older individuals, but the ability of an objective short-distance walking speed test to stratify the severity of preclinical conditions remains unclear. This study examined whether performance in an 8-ft walking speed test is associated with metabolic risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis.

Design

Cross-sectional.

Setting

Epidemiological cohort.

Participants

530 adults (aged 63±6 years, 50.3% male) from the Whitehall II cohort study with no known history or objective signs of CVD.

Main outcome

Electron beam computed tomography and ultrasound was used to assess the presence and extent of coronary artery calcification (CAC) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), respectively.

Results

High levels of CAC (Agatston score >100) were detected in 24% of the sample; the mean IMT was 0.75 mm (SD 0.15). Participants with no detectable CAC completed the walking course 0.16 s (95% CI 0.04 to 0.28) faster than those with CAC ≥400. Objectively assessed, but not self-reported, faster walking speed was associated with a lower risk of high CAC (odds ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.96) and lower IMT (β=−0.04, 95% CI −0.01 to −0.07 mm) in comparison with the slowest walkers (bottom third), after adjusting for conventional risk factors. Faster walking speed was also associated with lower adiposity, C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Conclusions

Short-distance walking speed is associated with metabolic risk and subclinical atherosclerosis in older adults without overt CVD. These data suggest that a non-aerobically challenging walking test reflects the presence of underlying vascular disease.