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HIV care cascade for older adults in rural South Africa

Stable engagement in health care, referred to as the care cascade or care continuum, is considered to be essential for those living with HIV to experience healthy aging. Based on two waves of longitudinal data collected from older adults with HIV in rural South Africa, researchers affiliated with the flagship project Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies in South Africa (HAALSA) have published their findings in the journal JAIDS…

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Optimism, sense of purpose, and the condition of the immune system as we age

Harvard Pop Center Bell Fellow Hayami Koga, MD, PhD, is lead author on a study that aims to explore the relationship between optimism, a sense of purpose, and immune markers in aging. Findings point to there being an association between these two components of psychological well-being and an increase in certain T cells in the context of “immunosenescence” (the gradual deterioration of the immune system that is brought on by…

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Could experiencing gratitude boost one’s longevity?

A study published in JAMA Psychiatry is one of the first to provide empirical evidence indicating an association between a grateful affect and longevity. Harvard Pop Center faculty member Laura Kubzansky is one of the authors on this population-based cohort study of nearly 50,000 older female registered nurses that used self-reported questionnaires and medical records. According to this news post by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: “The…

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The Harvard Gazette reports: “Stroke risk higher for chronically lonely”

While other studies have found a link between loneliness and a higher risk of stroke, they have mostly examined a single point in time, as opposed to loneliness as a more chronic condition that extends over time. Former Harvard Pop Center Graduate Student Affiliate Yenee Soh, along with Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, faculty members Ichiro Kawachi, Laura Kubzansky, and their colleague Henning Tiemeier, have published a study in eClinical…

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Resiliency in rural South Africa; certain types of earlier adversity linked to better health outcomes for some

A study authored by Harvard Pop Center Research Scientist Elyse Jennings, PhD, and other researchers affiliated with the Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies in Africa (HAALSA), including Darina Bassil, Kathleen Kahn, and Sumaya Mall, examines the impacts of childhood (and adulthood) adversity on later-life cognitive, mental, and physical health in a rural Black South African population.

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How did household size & virtual contact impact anxiety levels associated with social distancing during COVID-19 in rural South Africa?

A study by researchers affiliated with the national study Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies in South Africa (HAALSA) based on data from a phone survey reveals that although declines in social interaction were associated with increased anxiety levels among both men and women in rural South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, women living in larger households seemed to be especially impacted. “For women, living in larger households may…

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Exploring the link between an optimistic attitude and physical functioning as women age

Bell Fellow Hayami Koga, along with Harvard Pop Center faculty members David Williams and Laura Kubzansky and their colleagues, have published a study in JAMA Psychiatry on the association between optimism and physical functioning among older women finding higher levels of optimism to be linked with better performance at baseline (grip strength and standing mobility) and slower rates of decline in several measures over a six-year period. Read about their…

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Three “Conversations” that tell the story of health and aging in rural South Africa

HAALSA letters with South African images behind them

Physicians, professors and research scientists affiliated with Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies in South Africa (HAALSA)—the ten-year (and counting) project that has been following a cohort that started as 5,000 men and women aged 40 and over—have penned three pieces in The Conversation that delve into unique aspects of this burgeoning population: Pioneering researchers Stephen Tollman and Kathleen Kahn from the University of the Witwatersrand reflect back on…

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How can socioeconomic-based cardiovascular disease disparities in low- and middle-income countries be reduced?

A study published in Nature Medicine by HCPDS graduate student affiliate Dorit Stein, and other HCPDS affiliates including Till Bärnighausen, Maja Marcus, Jennifer Manne-Goehler, Nikkil Sudharsanan, and Stephane Verguet (along with their colleagues) simulates that improvements in hypertension management has greater impact “among bottom wealth quintiles in middle-income countries and in countries with larger baseline disparities in hypertension management.”

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Does the link between dementia and increased risk of COVID-19 that has been observed in wealthier countries exist in LMICs?

HAALSI letters with images from project

Researchers affiliated with HAALSI, a longitudinal study on health and aging in South Africa, have published a novel study that investigates the link between cohort-derived dementia (using a predictive model for dementia) and confirmed COVID-19 infection in a low- and middle-income, rural, community setting. Findings point to the risk of COVID-19 being doubled for those who received a consensus-based dementia diagnosis.