Longitudinal study of aging in South Africa offers rare glimpse of link between cognitive function and cardiometabolic disease risk factors

Two older women walk on a dirt road in rural South Africa

Researchers affiliated with Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) have published a study in BMC Public Health that shares some baseline evidence pointing to a link between cognitive function and cardiometabolic disease risk factors (e.g., diabetes, BMI, smoking) among those aging in South Africa.

New findings on aging in a newer population in South Africa

Older woman in South Africa

Three studies by researchers affiliated with Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) have been published this month shedding light on the status of cognitive function, the level of daily living limitations and unmet care needs, and the impact of multiple illnesses on the likelihood of progressing along the recommended “continuum of care” among those aging in South Africa. Read the abstracts and learn more…

Cumulative lifetime use of marijuana found to impact verbal memory in middle age

Harvard Pop Center faculty member Maria Glymour is an author on a paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine that explores the long-term effects of lifetime marijuana use on memory and other aspects of cognitive function.

“Widowhood effect” may be in effect prior to bereavement

It is well documented that recently bereaved spouses are exposed to an increased mortality risk (known as the “widowhood effect”). Harvard Pop Center affiliated faculty members SV Subramanian (Subu), PhD, and Maria Glymour, ScD, have co-authored a study published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry that reveals that spousal health actually starts to decline prior to the death of the loved one, suggesting that interventions designed to mitigate the…