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• Reducing modifiable risk factors could prevent the onset of cognitive decline. • Physical multimorbidity–cognitive function association was mediated by depression. • Routine screening for depression in multimorbidity patient may delay dementia onset. This paper explores the role of depressive symptoms (mediator/moderator) in the association between physical multimorbidity (exposure) and cognitive function (outcome) among older adults in the three most populous middle-income countries. This study used cross-sectional data from China (2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study), India (2017/2018 Longitudinal Ageing Study in India), and Indonesia (2014/2015 Indonesian Family Life Survey), with a total sample of 73,199 respondents aged ≥ 45 years. Three domains of cognitive tests were harmonised across surveys, including time orientation, word recall, and numeracy. The four-way decomposition analysis assessed the mediation and interaction effects between exposure, mediator/moderator, and outcome, adjusted for covariates. The mean age of the respondents (in years) was slightly younger in Indonesia (56.0, SD = 8.8) than in China (59.5, SD = 9.3) and India (60.0, SD = 10.5). The proportion of male respondents was 49.3 % in China, 47.3 % in India, and 47.5 % in Indonesia. Respondents in China had the highest mean cognitive function z scores (54.7, SD = 19.9), followed by India (51.1, SD = 20.0) and Indonesia (51.0, SD = 18.4). Physical multimorbidity was associated with lower cognitive function in China and India (p < 0.0001), with 48.4 % and 40.0 % of the association explained by the mediating effect of depressive symptoms ('overall proportion due to mediation'). The association was not found in Indonesia. Cognitive functions were lower among individuals with physical multimorbidity, and depressive symptoms mainly explained the association. Addressing depressive symptoms among persons with physical multimorbidity is likely to have not only an impact on their mental health but could prevent cognitive decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Elderly being married, acquiring resources and, practicing higher social action enjoy higher degree of social capital. • Elderly with higher degree of social capital are seen to experience better quality of life and healthy aging. • Social capital is signifcanly associated to lowering functional limitation, depression among eldelry. • High access to psychological resources regarding controlling important things in life put profound impact on the quality of life. • Emerging need to highlight the component of social capital in framing policy for elderly in India. Abstract Background Lacuna in contemporary Indian academic research highlights the need to investigate the component of social capital and health outcome among elderly individuals in Indian context. Study endeavors to investigate prevalence of health indicators: self-rated good health(SRH), functional limitation, depression and quality of life(QoL) and the illustrative effects of social capital on elderly health outcome and QoL. Methods Nationally representative cross-sectional data from WHO Study on global AGEing and adults health (SAGE) India 2007 is used. Individuals aged 50+ are included where logistic regression is used to estimate the effect of social capital along with other co-founders on SRH, functional limitation, and depression. Linear regression model is used to analyse evaluates the impact of social capital with other co-founders on QoL among elderly. Results The multivariate analysis shows that SRH is associated with age, female, those having education, higher social-action with strong trust, safety and higher psychological resources. Depression among elderly is significantly related to age, gender, education level, higher wealth, strong sociability. QoL is inversaly related to age, gender, being muslim. A positive association of QoL is observed with higher education, having wealth, and strong social capital component like currently married, civic engagement, social-action, trust solidarity,and strong psychological resources. Conclusion The paper presents evidence that social capital significantly associated with SRH, lower depression, better functional health and higher quality of life. Hench forth policy makers should construct social policy where elderly feel safe and trusty surrounding, that can involved them into main stream as a productive resource of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The study investigates the association between food security and physical frailty among older adults in India. • Older adults with food insecurity had a higher likelihood of physical frailty. • Physical frailty was found to increase with age and was higher among non-working older adults, older adults with poor SRH status, multimorbidity and ADL and IADL disability. • Education had a protective effect against physical frailty among older adults. Food security can be directly linked to nutritional status and either directly or indirectly, it has an impact on health status and well-being of the population. Physical frailty is one of the most important phenotypes used to understand the vulnerable nature of older adults. This paper examined the association between food security and physical frailty in older adults. We used data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI, 2017-18), wave-1. The sample size was 31,464 older adults aged 60 years and above. Physical frailty was assessed using the modified version of frailty phenotype proposed by Fried and colleagues. Multivariable logistic regression was used to establish the association between food insecurity with physical frailty. A proportion of 30.65% of older adults were frail in this study. Older adults with food insecurity had higher prevalence of exhaustion (12.1% vs 6.5%), unintentional weight loss (65.5% vs 5.1%), and weak grip strength (8.6% vs 7.9%) in comparison to their food secure counterparts. After adjusting for a large number of confounders, older adults who reported food insecurity had significantly higher odds of being frail [AOR: 2.68; CI: 2.26-3.19] in comparison to older adults with no food insecurity. The study showed that food insecurity is associated with physical frailty among older adults in India. It is suggested that food security programs in the country may be considered as an effective strategy to prevent physical frailty among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Identifying the decline in functional ability and preventing disability is the critical element of the quality of life of an old age. However, the lack of contextual scale to assess the decline in functional capacity is a major issue. Objective of this study is to design the functional ability assessment scale for elderly people in India and test its psychometric properties. Random sample of 659 individuals above 60 years of age from western part of India was recruited. This paper outlines the construction, reliability and validity of a newly developed 14 item scale named as Pune-Functional Ability Assessment Tool (Pune-FAAT). The factors were extracted using the principal component analysis. Two-factor-structure of scale was accepted after applying the K1 rule, scree plot and parallel analysis method. The two factor structure yielded variance of 64.4%. The psychometric properties of the scale were examined using confirmatory factor analysis. The scale has an excellent reliability (Cronbach's α 0.928) and very good test–retest reliability (r =0.884). Each subscale demonstrated good internal consistency (Subscale I – Cronbach's α 0.938 and Subscale II – Cronbach's α 0.762). Excellent convergent validity with Standford's health assessment questionnaire (r =0.959). Discriminant validity was very good as FAAT index showed significant difference in young adults (mean±SD 1.11±0.24) and older adults (mean±SD 1.69±0.70). This new measure is a potentially valuable research tool for investigating older adult's functional ability to perform basic and complex daily activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]