Onset of Frailty in Older Adults and the Protective Role of Positive Affect.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal association between positive affect and onset of frailty for 1,558 initially nonfrail older Mexican Americans from the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiological Studies of the Elderly database. The incidence of frailty increased 7.9% during the 7-year follow-up period. High positive affect was found to significantly lower the risk of frailty. Each unit increase in baseline positive affect score was associated with a 3% decreased risk of frailty after adjusting for relevant risk factors. Findings add to a growing positive psychology literature by showing that positive affect is protective against the functional and physical decline associated with frailty.

Positive and negative mood in the elderly: the ZENITH study

“…Low positive affect is particularly problematic for individuals of this age group. Deficits in this state have been shown to be associated with poorer cognitive functioning (Hill et al, 2005) and poorer health outcomes (Ostir et al, 2004). The other significant difference between centres concerned higher negative affect among the participants in the other older sample at Grenoble.…”

“…The benefits of increased levels of positive affect were also shown among elderly Mexican-Americans. Ostir et al (2004) reported higher levels of positive affect were associated with lower risk of physical decline across a 7-year period. Such findings are consistent with those for younger samples (Pettit et al, 2001).…”

Avaliação do nível de fragilidade em idosos participantes de um grupo de convivência

“…A causa disso pode estar ligada às alterações neuromusculares como a sarcopenia com mudanças na qualidade de fibras musculares e nervosas, e diminuição do controle central das habilidades visuais, vestibulares e proprioceptivas prejudicando, por exemplo, o equilíbrio 26,27 . Em relação à perda de peso não-intencional, apenas 6,3% da amostra obteve esse critério.…”

Challenges in reducing depression-related mortality in cardiac populations: cognition, emotion, fatigue or personality?

“…Just as depression has been associated with negative health outcomes, positive emotions are associated with favourable health outcomes in several disease types (Keyes, 2004;Maruta, Colligan, Malinchoc, & Offord, 2000;Ostir, Markides, Black, & Goodwin, 2000;Ostir et al, 2001a;Ostir et al, 2002;Ostir, Ottenbacher, & Markides, 2004). The prevalence of cardiovascular disease was lowest among those who were mentally healthy (defined as flourishing), but highest among those who were depressed and languishing (devoid of well-being but not depressed), in a study of over 3000 adults (Keyes, 2004).…”