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Introduction Certain situations and contexts during early years of life and childhood can have a significant impact on the health of older individuals. Studies have demonstrated that adversities such as poverty, neglect, abuse, and exposure to chronic stress conditions during the early years of life are associated with a range of health problems in adulthood. Objective To systematically identify the literature on the impact of circumstances and/or conditions in early life/childhood on the health of older adults. Materials and methods A systematic literature review guided by the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was conducted. The databases used were PUBMED, LILACS, Scielo, Embase, and Web of Science. Longitudinal studies published without language or publication date restrictions, related to the proposed theme, were included. Editorial letters, review protocols, reflective studies, literature reviews, and articles without available online abstracts or full texts were excluded. The quality assessment of the studies was conducted using tools and guidelines provided by the Joanna Briggs Institute. The database search conducted between May and August 2023 resulted in 8,224 articles found. After completing the steps of duplicate exclusion and reading titles and abstracts, 35 articles were selected for full reading, culminating in a final sample of 10 eligible articles for this review. Results These studies highlighted various early-life circumstances, including socioeconomic status, exposure to adverse childhood experiences, and environmental factors, demonstrating significant associations with health outcomes in older adults. The findings collectively emphasize the critical role that early adversities play in influencing chronic diseases, mental health, and overall well-being in later life. Final considerations Understanding social determinants, early-life adversities, and socioeconomic factors is essential for promoting healthy and equitable aging, with effective interventions and public policies aimed at reducing inequalities and ensuring the well-being of the adults and older adults.

Background Later life loneliness has become a significant public health concern worldwide. Research has focused on the prevalence, risk factors and consequences of loneliness in different age groups. This study aimed to advance the understanding of the impact of early-life circumstances on later life loneliness by examining the associations between adversities in childhood and youth and loneliness trajectories in Finnish older adults. Methods The data were derived from the 10-year follow-up survey study Good Aging in the Lahti Region ( n  = 1552, mean age 64.89 years). The baseline study was conducted in 2002 with a regionally and locally stratified random sample of older persons living in the Lahti Region located in southern Finland. The follow-up surveys were carried out in 2005, 2008 and 2012. Loneliness was measured using a single question at the three follow-ups. Childhood conditions were retrospectively assessed at baseline with questions regarding the death of parents, household affection, relocation, and fear of a family member. Latent class growth analysis with time invariant covariates was used to identify loneliness trajectories and to examine the associations between loneliness trajectories and adverse circumstances in childhood and youth. Results The results identified three distinct loneliness trajectories: low, moderate, and severe, including 36%, 50% and 14%, respectively, of the study population. The non-significant slopes of the three trajectories indicate that trajectories were stable during the seven years of follow-up. Being afraid of a family member, having a cold childhood, and death of a father or mother in childhood or youth significantly increased the odds of having a severe loneliness trajectory as compared to low loneliness trajectory. None of the early-life circumstances differentiated between severe and moderate levels of loneliness. Conclusions The findings suggest that some adverse early-life circumstances increase the odds of an unfavorable loneliness trajectory in later life. The results highlight the need to recognize the role of diverse life-course adversities in loneliness research and interventions. The study also underscores the importance of identifying individuals who are at risk of long-term and severe loneliness and providing them with appropriate support to decrease and/or prevent the negative health consequences of loneliness in old age.

Background There is a causal link between childhood socioeconomic status and health status in adulthood and beyond. It's vital to comprehend the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and mental health among older Chinese individuals from the current generation who have undergone significant social changes in China. This understanding is critical to foster healthy demographic and social development in China. Methods Using data from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies, we investigate the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and depression in older adults. Additionally, we examine the mediating role of adult socioeconomic status and subjective well-being. Results 1) Childhood socioeconomic status of Chinese older adults differences by region of residence, while depression levels differences by gender, region of residence, and marital status. 2) Adult socioeconomic status mediated the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and depression in older adults. 3) Adult socioeconomic status and subjective well-being had a chain-mediated role in the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and depression in older adults. Conclusions In terms of childhood socioeconomic status, older adults in urban regions were significantly higher than those in rural regions. As for depression level, female older adults were more depressed than males; married older people have the lowest depression levels, while unmarried and widowed older people have higher depression levels; older adults in rural regions had higher depression levels than those in urban regions. Evidence from our study further suggests that childhood socioeconomic status can suppress the depression level in older adults through adult socioeconomic status; it can also further reduce the depression level in older adults through the chain mediation of adult economic status affecting subjective well-being. As depression is more prevalent among older individuals with a lower childhood socioeconomic status, it is vital to prioritize the extensive impact of childhood socioeconomic status as a distal factor and investigate \"upstream\" solutions to enhance childhood socioeconomic status and reduce the gap during the early years of life.

Background Physical function is an important domain of healthy ageing and previous studies have suggested socioeconomic status, including education to be influential. Also, lifestyle factors such as physical activity can play a crucial role in maintaining physical function. Furthermore, birth size as an indicator of nutritional status during gestation can add insight into the interplay between factors that influence physical functioning. Thus, examining healthy ageing from a life course perspective can broaden our scope for possible preventive measures for maintaining independence and quality of life at late-life. Our objective was to investigate the longitudinal association between midlife education and late-life physical function, over the mean time-period of 25 years, and to investigate whether birth size modifies the association. Methods Participants were 1604 men and women from the Age Gene/Environment Susceptibility (AGES) - Reykjavik Study who had measures from birth, midlife and late-life. Multivariate linear regression included gait speed (GS) and timed up and go test (TUG) at late-life as outcomes and midlife educational level as exposure. To examine effect modification, data was stratified by birth size as ponderal index (PI) in three groups. Results Participants with primary education had slower GS of 0.05 m/s ( p  < 0.001) and longer TUG time of 0.66 s ( p  = 0.006) compared to college/university (reference). Birth size modified the association, with the low PI group having a slower GS of 0.1 m/s ( p  < 0.001) and taking 1.35s longer to complete TUG between educational groups (primary education vs. reference). There was no association between GS nor TUG with education in the high PI group. Conclusion Our results imply that for those born small, having lower educational level is associated with having worse physical function at late-life, partly through less physical activity throughout the life-course.

Introduction Much research on the association between childhood status and adult health has been focussed on high income countries and, hence, these findings cannot be generalised for all developing economies. Therefore, this study is an attempt to systematically examine the impact of multiple domains of early disadvantage on nutrition status during old age in India, while testing for potential mediation by adult health, socio-economic status and lifestyle. Methods The study uses data from the first wave of the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), 2017-18. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the adjusted association of childhood and adulthood conditions with nutrition status. Two separate models were run for underweight and overweight. We used the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to construct latent variables and structural models to test our hypothetical model. Results The SEM explained 78% of the variance in underweight. The direct effect of education and childhood conditions on underweight was significant. The SEM explained 68% of the variance in overweight. Results shows that the direct effect of education and working status on overweight was significant. The indirect and total effect of childhood conditions on overweight was significant. Conclusion The study underscores the importance of considering both direct and indirect effects in understanding the pathways through which early life experiences influence nutritional status in old age. The unexpected finding regarding the direct effect of childhood conditions on overweight in the Indian context raises important questions about the complexities of nutrition and health in this population.

Whilst early-life conditions have been understood to impact upon the health of older adults, further exploration of the field is required. There is a lack of consensus on conceptualising these conditions, and interpretation of experiences are socially and culturally dependent. To advance this important topic we invite authors to submit their research to the Collection on ‘The impact of early-life/childhood circumstances or conditions on the health of older adults’.

Background Childhood adverse experience has been linked with poor health outcomes across the life course. Nevertheless, whether such an association or direction could be projected to older people’s life remains still unclear and needs to generate more evidence, particularly in India. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the association of childhood socio-economic status and health with depressive symptoms amongst middle- aged and older adults in India. Methods The data for the study was drawn from national representative survey “Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI)” Wave I, 2017–2018 in order to conduct cross-sectional study. Multivariable regression analysis was used to examine the association of childhood socioeconomic status and health with depressive symptoms in the older population. Results Poor childhood health was significantly and positively associated with depressive symptoms (AoR: 1.56, CI: 1.19, 2.04). Likewise, respondents who were bedridden for a month during their childhood had high odds of developing depressive symptoms (AoR: 1.16 CI: 1.01, 1.34). In addition to this, the odds of having depressive symptoms increased significantly among the average (AoR: 1.28 CI: 1.08, 1.51) and poor childhood socioeconomic status group (AoR: 1.31 CI: 1.11, 1.55) as compared to the higher socioeconomic category. Conclusions Childhood socioeconomic status and health have a significant role in determining mental health in later life. Results suggest that considering childhood socioeconomic status and health is important while diagnosing depression in older population in order to identify the significant associated factors in early childhood and thus help in preventing depressive symptoms in later life.

Background Both late-life depression and childhood maltreatment have become major global public health issues, given their prevalence and social-economic and health consequences. However, previous studies have solely focused on the relationship of childhood maltreatment to average levels of depressive symptoms. The current study addresses this gap of knowledge by simultaneously examining the impacts of childhood intra- and extra-familial maltreatment on age trajectories of depressive symptoms in later life in the Chinese context. Methods Hierarchical linear models were applied to data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011–2018, N  = 12,669 individuals aged 45 to 80, comprising N  = 43,348 person-years). Depressive symptoms were measured by the CES-D-10 scale. Childhood intra-familial maltreatments were measured by physical abuse and emotional neglect, while extra-familial maltreatment was measured by peer bullying. All analyses were conducted separately by gender in Stata 16. Results Childhood extrafamilial peer bullying (β = 1.628, p  < 0.001), and intrafamilial physical abuse (β = 0.746, p  < 0.001) and emotional neglect (β = 0.880, p  < 0.001) were associated with higher later-life depressive symptoms levels in the whole sample. Peer bullying differences in depressive symptoms widened with age for both men and women. Physical abuse differences in depressive symptoms remained stable over the life course among men but increased among women. Emotional neglect differences in depressive symptoms decreased with age among men, while it increased first and then decreased among women. Conclusions Findings in this study suggest that childhood maltreatment is not only associated with later-life poorer mental health but contributes to increasing inequalities in mental health as people age, especially among peer-bullying victims and women.

Background Hypertension is prevalent in China. Hypertensive patients suffer from many health problems in life. Hypertension is a common chronic disease with long-term and lifelong characteristics. In the long run, the existence of chronic diseases will affect the patient’s own health beliefs. However, people’s health beliefs about Hypertension are not explicit. Therefore, it is vital to find a suitable instrument to comprehend and improve the health beliefs of hypertensive patients, thus, better control of blood pressure and improvement of patient’s quality of life are now crucial issues. This study aimed to translate the Hypertension Belief Assessment Tool (HBAT) into Chinese and examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Hypertension Belief Assessment Tool in hypertensive patients. Methods This is a cross-sectional study. We translated the HBAT into Chinese and tested the reliability and validity of the Chinese version among 325 hypertensive patients. Results The Chinese version of the scale contains 21 items. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed six factors and explained 77.898% of the total variation. A six-factor model eventually showed acceptable fit indices in the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). With modified Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the fit indices were Chi-square/Degree of Freedom (CMIN/DF) = 2.491, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.952, Incremental Fit Index (IFI) = 0.952, Root-mean-square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.068, Tucker Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.941. The HBAT exhibits high internal consistency reliability (0.803), and the scale has good discriminant validity. Conclusion The results suggest that the HBAT is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the beliefs of Chinese hypertensive patients.

Background According to Swedish law, older adults in Sweden should be able to live a good, safe, and independent life with social and healthcare provided, based on their individual needs. In assisted living in Swedish eldercare the environment affects the older adults’ ability to participate in decision-making and strengthens their ability to feel meaningfulness. The ability of staff working in social and healthcare to invite older adults to participate varies. It is important to examine how older adults perceive their situation, as caregivers in eldercare tend to focus on routine work and experience difficulties in meeting the individual needs of older adults. The aim of this study was to explore how older adults in assisted living experienced participation in daily activities. Methods A qualitative interview study was conducted in two municipalities in the western part of Sweden. An exploratory and inductive design was used. Individual interviews were conducted with 11 older adults living in two different assisted living facilities. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results The interviews resulted in three themes: Being involved , Sense of well-being, and Influenced by the context. The older adults’ experiences of participation were interpreted as feelings of being involved in daily life activities, and how they felt involved in their own care and nursing. Participation created prerequisites for well-being. Sense of well-being could be related to feelings of security and social community. The organisation and work environment of the healthcare staff had a great impact on their ability to increase the participation of the older adults. The older adults were aware of the everyday work situation of the providers of social and healthcare and were Influenced by the context. Discussion/conclusion Important conditions for a good quality of life and participation for the older adults are to be treated with respect, receive information, and be able to choose. The older adults expressed several good ideas for improvements and a willingness to be involved in the development of the organisation at different levels. It is essential to invite older adults in assisted living to participate in the design of care and nursing.