The strong grip of childhood conditions in older Europeans

Tampubolon, G.; Fajarini, M.

doi:10.1101/267526

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/267526

The strong grip of childhood conditions in older Europeans

Tampubolon, G.·Fajarini, M.

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Abstract

Among older Europeans grip strength has been found to be marked by a disadvantaged adulthood. Across the Channel, among older Britons gait speed as another measure of physical function has been found to be marked by disadvantaged childhood. Using the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (2004-2013), we studied whether childhood poverty led to Europeans aged 50 to 104 years having a weaker grip. We then drew their trajectories of repeatedly measured grip strength to discern a steeper decline among the childhood poor. Retrospective childhood poverty some four to nine decades in the past was treated as a latent construct following the above literature; attrition during repeated measurements is handled using inverse proportional to attrition weighting. The data showed the childhood poor to have a weaker grip for half a century in later life. However, they do not show a steeper decline. Most important, by contributing to levels of grip strength in later life, adult condition holds the potential to shape the strong and long arm of childhood condition. The results are another impetus to eliminate childhood poverty to ensure healthy ageing Europeans.

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Tampubolon, G., Fajarini, M.. 2018-02-19. The strong grip of childhood conditions in older Europeans. https://doi.org/10.1101/267526

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