Browsing by Subject "Moscow"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
Perceived stress and biological risk: is the link stronger in Russians than in Taiwanese and Americans?
(Stress, 2013-07) Glei, Dana A; Goldman, Noreen; Shkolnikov, Vladimir M; Jdanov, Dmitri; Shkolnikova, Maria; Vaupel, James W; Weinstein, Maxine
Allostatic load theory implies a relationship between exposure to psychological stress and multi-system physiological dysregulation. We used data from population-based samples of men and women in Russia (Moscow; n = 1800; age, mean 68.6 years), Taiwan (n = 1036; 65.6 years) and the United States (US; n = 1054; 58.0 years) -- which are likely to vary widely with respect to levels of stress exposure and biological markers -- to determine the magnitude of the association between perceived stress and physiological dysregulation. The measure of overall dysregulation was based on 15 markers including standard cardiovascular/metabolic risk factors as well as markers of inflammation and neuroendocrine activity. Subjective psychological stress was measured by the perceived stress scale. Only the Moscow sample demonstrated a positive association with overall dysregulation in both sexes. In the US, we found an association among women but not men. Among the Taiwanese, who report the lowest perceived stress, there was no association in women but an unexpected inverse relationship in men. The effects also varied across system-level subscores: the association with perceived stress was most consistent for standard cardiovascular/metabolic factors. Perceived stress was associated with inflammation and neuroendocrine activity in some samples. Although the evidence that perceived stress is the primary source of physiological dysregulation is generally modest, it was stronger in Russia where the level of perceived stress was particularly high. For Russia only, we had information about heart function based on a 24 h ambulatory electrocardiogram; perceived stress was consistently associated with heart rate dysregulation in Russian men and women.
Open Access
Prevalence, components, and correlates of metabolic syndrome (MetS) among elderly Muscovites.
(Arch Gerontol Geriatr, 2012-09) Metelskaya, Victoria A; Shkolnikova, Maria A; Shalnova, Svetlana A; Andreev, Evgeny M; Deev, Alexander D; Jdanov, Dmitri A; Shkolnikov, Vladimir M; Vaupel, James W
The goal of this study is to estimate the prevalence of MetS, together with its components and correlates, among elderly Russians. Our population-based sample included randomly selected residents of Moscow aged 55 and older: 955 women with an average age of 67.6, and 833 men with an average age of 68.9. MetS was defined according to National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATPIII). The prevalence of MetS was found to be 41.7% in women and 26.8% in men. It tended to decrease with age in men, but not in women. MetS was inversely related to education in women, but not in men. The most prevalent individual components of MetS were as follows: hypertension (64.4%), abdominal obesity (55%), and decreased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL C) (46%) for women; and hypertension (71%) and fasting hyperglycemia (35.2%) for men. An elevated level of triglycerides (TG) was the rarest MetS component, affecting 23.5% of women and 22.1% of men. The higher female prevalence of MetS was attributable to abdominal obesity. MetS was found to be associated with markers of insulin resistance (IR), low-grade inflammation, and insufficient fibrinolysis. Although the metabolic burden is an important contributor to high levels of ill-health and cardiovascular mortality among elderly Russians (especially women), it does not explain why cardiovascular mortality is much higher in Russia than in other industrialized countries.
Open Access
Sex differences in health and mortality in Moscow and Denmark.
(Eur J Epidemiol, 2014-04) Oksuzyan, A; Shkolnikova, M; Vaupel, JW; Christensen, K; Shkolnikov, VM
In high income countries females outlive men, although they generally report worse health, the so-called male-female health-survival paradox. Russia has one of the world's largest sex difference in life expectancy with a male disadvantage of more than 10 years. We compare components of the paradox between Denmark and Moscow by examining sex differences in mortality and several health measures. The Human Mortality Database and the Russian Fertility and Mortality Database were used to examine sex differences in all-cause death rates in Denmark, Russia, and Moscow in 2007-2008. Self-reported health data were obtained from the Study of Middle-Aged Danish Twins (n = 4,314), the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins (n = 4,731), and the study of Stress, Aging, and Health in Russia (n = 1,800). In both Moscow and Denmark there was a consistent female advantage at ages 55-89 years in survival and a male advantage in self-rated health, physical functioning, and depression symptomatology. Only on cognitive tests males performed similarly to or worse than women. Nevertheless, Muscovite males had more than twice higher mortality at ages 55-69 years compared to Muscovite women, almost double the ratio in Denmark. The present study showed that despite similar directions of sex differences in health and mortality in Moscow and Denmark, the male-female health-survival paradox is very pronounced in Moscow suggesting a stronger sex-specific disconnect between health indicators and mortality among middle-aged and young-old Muscovites.