Life Satisfaction Linked With Mortality Risk in Older Adults

Psychological Science: Greater life satisfaction in adults older than 50 years old is related to a reduced risk of mortality, according to new findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study, involving nearly 4,500 people who were followed for up to 9 years, also revealed that variability in life satisfaction across time increases risk of mortality, but only among less satisfied people. “Although life satisfaction is typically considered relatively consistent across time, it may change in response to life circumstances such as divorce or unemployment,” said Julia Boehm, assistant professor of psychology at Chapman University.

The secret to a longer life? Be a female.

Cell: human supercentenarians share at least one thing in common--over 95 percent are women. Scientists have long observed differences between the sexes when it comes to aging, but there is no clear explanation for why females live longer. In a discussion of what we know about stem cell behavior and sex, Stanford University researchers Ben Dulken and Anne Brunet argue that it's time to look at differences in regenerative decline between men and women. This line of research could open up new explanations for how the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone, or other factors, modify lifespan.

Five-year 'death test' for older adults launched online

NHS: "Are you dying to know? Scientists develop death test to predict if you'll make it to 2020," The Daily Telegraph reports. The test is based on analysis of data collected from the UK Biobank. This is essentially a huge ongoing cohort study that collected data from almost 500,000 middle- to older-age adults in the UK over an average of five years. This data was then used to create an online death risk calculator. The researchers looked at around 650 different measurements, including blood tests, family history, health and medical history to work out which were most strongly associated with risk of death over the next five years.

Could testing grip strength predict heart disease risk?

NHS: "Poor grip can signal chances of major illness or premature death," the Mail Online reports. An international study has provided evidence that assessing grip strength could help identify people who were at higher risk of cardiovascular incidents such as a heart attack. The study authors wanted to see whether muscle strength, measured by grip, can predict the chances of getting a range of illnesses, and of dying, in high-, medium- and low-income countries. To find out, they tested 142,861 people across 17 countries and tracked what happened to them over the course of four years. The study found that the chances of dying during this period were higher for people with weaker grips, as were the chances of having a heart attack or stroke.

Emergency Room regulars twice as likely to die

Scimex: Frequent users of emergency care are more than twice as likely as infrequent users to die, be admitted to hospital, or require other outpatient treatment, concludes an analysis of the available evidence. The available evidence suggests that frequent users account for up to one in 12 patients seeking emergency department care, and for around one in four of all visits. Among the seven studies looking at deaths, the analysis showed that frequent attenders at emergency care departments were more than twice as likely to die as those who rarely sought emergency care.