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Aim: To document the challenges of developing and executing an interviewer-driven survey questionnaire in an ethnically diverse and deprived social housing area undergoing reconstruction in Denmark. Methods: The survey was initially planned to be conducted in three waves (before, during and after reconstruction of the housing area), based on a questionnaire covering health, wellbeing and social relations. The first two waves took place in 2018 and 2019 (invited n =~600 per wave) and the third wave will be conducted once the reconstruction is finalised. The approach to the third wave is under revision by the research team. The questionnaire was translated from Danish into the seven most common languages in the housing area. A bilingual interview team went door to door interviewing residents. Field notes were collected systematically during each wave to document the process. Results: The response rates were 35% (n =209) and 22% (n =132) for waves 1 and 2, respectively. There was an overall decrease in response rates between waves 1 and 2 for all language groups, but particularly for Arabic and Turkish-speaking men. The most frequently stated reasons for non-participation included illness and language barriers. The key lessons learnt were that overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers to conducting research among residents in this social housing area requires time and resources. Conclusions: Several challenges are associated with conducting a survey in ethnically diverse and deprived social housing areas. Documenting the challenges and learning from experience are both important, in order to include this hard-to-reach population in health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To investigate the effects of objectively measured smartphone interactions on indicators of mental well-being among men and women in a population of young adults. Methods: A total of 816 young adults (mean±SD age 21.6±2.6 years; 77% men) from the Copenhagen Network Study were followed with objective recordings of smartphone interactions from calls, texts and social media. Participants self-reported on loneliness, depressive symptoms and disturbed sleep at baseline and in a four-month (interquartile range 75–163 days) follow-up survey. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the association between smartphone interactions and mental well-being separately for men and women. Results: A higher number of smartphone interactions was associated with lower levels of loneliness at baseline and the same pattern appeared for depressive symptoms, although this was less pronounced. A high level of smartphone interaction was associated with lower levels of disturbed sleep for men, but not for women. In follow-up analyses, a high versus low level of smartphone interaction was associated with an increase in loneliness and depressive symptoms over time for women, but not for men. Conclusions: Smartphone interactions are related to better mental well-being, which may be attributed to the beneficial effects of an underlying social network. Over time, accommodating a large network via smartphone communication might, however, have negative effects on mental well-being for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The loss of both hearing and vision (dual sensory loss) affects communication and potentially challenges the ability to maintain healthy social relations. The aim of this study was to examine the association between severity of sensory loss and relational strain among older adults with acquired dual sensory loss. Method: Data were collected through a national cross-sectional questionnaire survey and an administrative database. A total of 302 individuals with functional dual sensory loss ⩾50 years of age participated (66% response). Relational strain was measured as the perceived experience of excessive demands, worries, and conflicts with children, other relatives, or the personal support worker. Data were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Results: No associations between severity of dual sensory loss and excessive demands from or worries for children, other relatives, or personal support workers were found. Participants with total blindness and profound deafness had significantly higher odds for experiencing conflicts with children (odds ratio [OR] = 3.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.02, 9.38]) and the personal support worker (OR = 4.18, 95% CI = [1.23, 4.28]) compared to participants with residuals of both senses. Discussion: Individuals with total blindness and profound deafness might require special attention in rehabilitation to support them in maintaining healthy social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Round-the-clock use of smartphones holds a potential for awakenings and/or shorter sleep duration, which may have adverse health consequences. We aim to describe overnight smartphone activity among young adults and to characterize those with smartphone interrupted sleep in terms of sleep impairment and mental and physical health indicators. Methods: We use unique objective high-resolution information on timing of smartphone activity (based on >250,000 phone actions) continuously monitored over a four-week period among 815 young adults combined with indicators of mental and physical health. Results: We find substantial overnight smartphone activity. More than 12% had smartphone activity in the middle of the night (3 to 5 hours after self-reported bedtime) and 41% had smartphone interrupted sleep on at least one weekday during a 4-week period. Those with frequent smartphone interrupted sleep had on average 48 minutes shorter self-reported sleep duration and higher body mass index, whereas there were no differences in physical or mental health symptoms. Conclusions: The substantial smartphone activity during bed hours among young adults may pose a public health challenge and especially the relation to overweight warrants close attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male factor infertility is associated with an increased risk of disease and mortality, which has been related to markers of chronic systemic inflammation. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between male factor infertility and low-grade inflammation and furthermore to examine the lifetime prevalence of male factor infertility and overall infertility (also including female and couple infertility). The study population consisted of 2140 members of the Metropolit 1953 Danish Male Birth Cohort who had participated in the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank data collection in 2009-2011. Information on male factor infertility and overall infertility was obtained from a questionnaire, and low-grade inflammation was evaluated as the highest plasma levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha in the population. The level of interleukin-6 was significantly higher among men with male factor infertility compared with other men adjusted for potential confounders. This was not found for the two other inflammatory markers. The lifetime prevalence of male factor infertility and overall infertility were 10.2% and 17.9%, respectively. The findings suggest that male factor infertility might be associated with an increased level of interleukin-6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established that socioeconomic position (SEP) and social relations impact physical function and mortality in old age. Due to differential vulnerability, few social relations may lead to greater decline in physical function and mortality among older people with low compared to high SEP. The aim was to investigate whether older people with few social relations experience greater decline in physical function and mortality when also subject to low financial assets? The study population included 4060 older people aged 75 or 80 years at baseline in 1998-1999. Social relations at baseline and physical function at baseline and after 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5 years were obtained from questionnaires. Financial assets at baseline and mortality during 10 years of follow-up were obtained from registers. Analyses of the associations between financial assets combined with social relations and decline in physical function and mortality, respectively, were conducted. Among males, but not females, low financial assets and few social relations were associated with the greatest decline in physical function. Yet, interaction only reached significance between financial assets and visits. Among males and females, low financial assets and few social relations were associated with the highest mortality. Interactions only reached significance between financial assets and visits for females and social activity for males. In conclusion, few social relations implied greater decline in physical function among older males and higher mortality among older males and females with low financial assets; however, the study only supports the presence of differential vulnerability for visits and social activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The mechanisms underlying the social gradient in physical functioning are not fully understood. Cumulative physiological stress may be a pathway. The present study aimed to investigate the association between highest attained school education and physical performance in late midlife, and to determine to what extent cumulative physiological stress mediated these associations. Methods The study is based on data from the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank (CAMB; n=5467 participants, aged 48-62 years, 31.5% women). School education was measured as highest examination passed in primary or secondary school (3 categories). Cumulative stress was operationalised as allostatic load (AL), and measured as the number of biological parameters (out of 14) in which participants scored in the poorest quartile. Physical performance included dynamic muscle performance (chair rise ability, postural balance, sagittal flexibility) and muscle strength (jump height, trunk extension and flexion, and handgrip strength). Results Among women, higher school education was associated with better performance in all physical performance tests. Among men, higher school education was associated with better performance only in chair rise and jump height. AL partially mediated the association between school education and physical performance, and accounted only for 2-30% of the total effect among women. Similar results were observed among men for chair rise and jump height. Conclusions These results might indicate that AL plays a minor role in the association between school education and late midlife dynamic muscle performance in both men and women, and in muscle strength among women [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous methods examining the Multiple Fatigue Inventory-20 (MFI-20) fatigue questionnaire have been limited to classical test theory, for example, factor analytic approaches. We employed modern test theory to further strengthen the construct validity of the MFI-20 fatigue in a sample of healthy late-midlife subjects. Five subdimensions of perceived fatigue were examined in n = 7,233 subjects: general fatigue, physical fatigue, reduced activity, reduced motivation, and mental fatigue. Fatigue burden was compared across age groups (aged 48-52 vs. 57-63) and gender. Mokken item response theory was used to investigate dimensionality, monotonicity, and invariant item ordering (IIO). In both age groups, as well as by gender, the Motivation domain presented with weak scalability, suggesting that caution be exercised when interpreting sum scores. For all groupings, the strongest scaling properties were observed in the General Fatigue domain. However, the General Fatigue domain did not meet the property of IIO. Two domains (for all groupings) did meet the minimum criteria for the property of IIO: Physical Fatigue and Activity. Introducing model parameters for items served to enhance the interpretive power of the MFI-20, allowing for the identification of the most optimal scales. Poorly performing items were more easily identified, and person ability was assessed more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background Few studies have examined the relationship between stressful social relations in private life and all-cause mortality. Objective To evaluate the association between stressful social relations (with partner, children, other family, friends and neighbours, respectively) and all-cause mortality in a large population-based study of middle-aged men and women. Further, to investigate the possible modification of this association by labour force participation and gender. Methods We used baseline data (2000) from The Danish Longitudinal Study on Work, Unemployment and Health, including 9875 men and women aged 36– 52 years, linked to the Danish Cause of Death Registry for information on all-cause mortality until 31 December 2011. Associations between stressful social relations with partner, children, other family, friends and neighbours, respectively, and all-cause mortality were examined using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for age, gender, cohabitation status, occupational social class, hospitalisation with chronic disorder 1980–baseline, depressive symptoms and perceived emotional support. Modification by gender and labour force participation was investigated by an additive hazards model. Results Frequent worries/demands from partner or children were associated with 50–100% increased mortality risk. Frequent conflicts with any type of social relation were associated with 2–3 times increased mortality risk. Interaction between labour force participation and worries/demands (462 additional cases per 100 000 person-years, p=0.05) and conflicts with partner (830 additional cases per 100 000 person-years, p<0.01) was suggested. Being male and experiencing frequent worries/demands from partner produced 135 extra cases per 100 000 person-years, p=0.05 due to interaction. Conclusions Stressful social relations are associated with increased mortality risk among middle-aged men and women for a variety of different social roles. Those outside the labour force and men seem especially vulnerable to exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including Danish Occupational Social Class measure, the Copenhagen Social Relations Questionnaire (CSRQ) and aging.

Aims: Relational strain may be a risk factor for relapse after smoking cessation whereas social support may be protective. This study aimed to assess which aspects of social relations were associated with smoking abstinence among ever-smokers. Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire study included data from two large Danish cohorts: One including younger women (n=10,107) and one including older men (n=21,091) and women (n=23,800). Structural and functional relations with different counterparts were measured. Results: Contact with and support from close counterparts tended to be associated with an increased probability of being smoking abstinent, and contact with or support from more distant counterparts tended to be associated with a decreased probability of being smoking abstinent. Although not completely consistent across all three samples, more frequently meeting too many demands from the partner or other relatives seemed to be associated with a decreased probability of abstinence. The patterns for strain measured as worries or conflicts were less clear. Conclusions: Smoking abstinence was associated with structural and functional measures of social relations and depended on the closeness of the persons constituting the relations. Further knowledge about these associations could lead to a potential in involving social relations in smoking cessation programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Individuals perceiving high social support tend to perceive better adjustment to infertility. However, it remains unclear whether this benefit is affected by the actual disclosure of the infertility condition. The present study aimed to examine the role of disclosure of fertility status in moderating the relationship between perceived social support and fertility-related stress. The study population (N = 698) was drawn from a longitudinal cohort design of Danish men and women beginning fertility treatment with a 12-month follow-up. Participants were 698 subjects (364 women and 334 men) who completed self-administered questionnaires measuring perceived social support at T1, and fertility status disclosure and fertility stress at T2. Results indicated that when infertility is not disclosed to at least a close relationship, the beneficial effects of social support on both social and personal stress cease to exist. Also, when participants perceived high social support, higher levels of social and personal stress were associated with keeping infertility a secret within close relationships, but when low social support was perceived, high social and personal stress levels were associated with disclosing infertility to all close relationships. Findings from this study provide evidence that the prospective relationship between social support and fertility-related stress is moderated by the decision of disclosing infertility. Infertility health professionals can help couples in deciding to which contexts they should disclose their infertility by assessing social support. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the study "Increasing Response to Postal Questionnaires," by Phil Edwards, Ian Roberts and Mike Clarke published in the Volume 36, 2007 issue.

Objective: We investigated whether social relations at work were associated with incident dementia in old age. Methods: One thousand five hundred seventy-two occupationally active men from the Copenhagen Male Study Cohort were followed from 1986 to 2014. Participants underwent a clinical examination at baseline and answered questionnaires on whether they (1) had possibilities to be in contact with coworkers, (2) could get along with coworkers, and (3) were satisfied with supervisor. Poisson regression was used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR). Results: Two hundred forty five (15.6%) men were diagnosed with dementia during an average of 15.8 years of follow-up. After adjusting for potential confounders, limited contact with coworkers was associated with a higher risk of dementia (IRR=2.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14 to 5.44), but the other two measures were not. Conclusions: Our data partially support that social relations at work are associated with incident dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]