Parminder Raina

McMaster University | McMaster · Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Objective and ApproachThe Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is the largest national longitudinal cohort study, following ~50,000 adults across 10 provinces for at least 20 years. Health Data Research Network (HDRN) Canada is a distributed pan-Canadian network including members in all 13 provinces and territories. In February 2021, the org...

We investigated the prevalence and population attributable fraction (PAF) of 12 potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia in middle-aged and older Canadians. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 30,097 adults aged 45 to 85 with baseline data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (2011‒2015). Risk factors and associated relative ri...

Background: Identification and assessment of modifiable risk factors for dementia is a public health priority in Canada and worldwide. We investigated the prevalence and population attributable fraction (PAF) of 12 potentially modifiable risk factors for all-cause dementia in middle-aged and older Canadians. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional...

As the COVID-19 pandemic impacted mental health, this longitudinal study examined the effect of age-friendly communities (AFC) action plan on older adults’ depressive symptoms. Using the CLSA, the CLSA COVID-19 Questionnaire study, survey of Canadian municipalities, and the census, the depressive symptoms trajectories were modeled with multilevel m...

Introduction The prevalence of mild and major neurocognitive disorders (NCDs), also referred to as mild cognitive impairment and dementia, is rising globally. The prevention of NCDs is a major global public health interest. We sought to synthesize the literature on potentially modifiable risk factors for NCDs. Methods We conducted an umbrella revie...

This study aimed to develop an efficient data collection and curation process for all drugs and natural health products (NHPs) used by participants to the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). The three-step sequential process consisted of (a) mapping drug inputs collected through the CLSA to the Health Canada Drug Product Database (DPD), (b...

Objectives Urban greenness has been shown to confer many health benefits including reduced risks of chronic disease, depression, anxiety, and, in a limited number of studies, loneliness. In this first Canadian study on this topic, we investigated associations between residential surrounding greenness and loneliness and social isolation among older...

Decreased muscle strength and physical function often precede disability, nursing home admission, home care use, and mortality in older adults. Normative values for commonly used physical performance-based tests are not widely available for older adults but are required for clinicians and researchers to easily identify individuals with low performa...

Frailty prevalence estimates vary considerably (4.0% to 59.1% in one review). Understanding these differences and what drives frailty among individuals could lead to more focused interventions. Breaking frailty into subdomains and exploring their relationships is one approach to this. A 127-item overall Frailty Index (FI) based on data collected on...

Background Physical frailty accelerates the timing of both subsequent disability and death; however, evidence regarding the impact of frailty on the period from disability onset to death and sex differences of this impact is lacking. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship among physical frailty, disability, death, and sex differences...

Objectives Determine whether levels of anxiety and depression, cognitive ability, and self-quarantining during and prior to the pandemic predict decreases in perceived functional ability. Design and Setting Longitudinal data collected from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) COVID-19 Questionnaire Study (2020) and core CLSA study (Foll...

Population aging will challenge us to integrate technology, health sciences, social sciences, business, and public and patient engagement into our research to be truly successful and impactful. Here we describe how the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging – an interdisciplinary Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario -- cultivated...

Introduction In population-based research, disease ascertainment algorithms can be as accurate as, and less costly than, performing supplementary clinical examinations on selected participants to confirm a diagnosis of a neurocognitive disorder (NCD), but they require cohort-specific validation. To optimise the use of the Canadian Longitudinal Stud...

Background Preserving and enhancing mobility is an important part of healthy ageing. Life-space mobility is a construct that captures actual mobility within the home and the community. The objective of this systematic review was to synthesise the measurement properties and interpretability of scores produced by life-space mobility measures in commu...

Objectives The objective of this systematic review was to synthesise the psychometric properties of measures of perceived mobility ability and related frameworks used to define and operationalise mobility in community-dwelling older adults. Methods We registered the review protocol with PROSPERO (CRD42022306689) and included studies that examined...

Mobility is often referred to as a ‘sixth vital sign’ because of its ability to predict critical health outcomes in later adulthood. In the World Health Organization (WHO) World Report on Aging and Health, mobility is described as movement in all its forms whether powered by the body or a vehicle. As such, mobility encompasses basic physical action...

Complex research challenges facing society today require an integrative approach, therefore, interdisciplinary research is now required more often. By creating interdisciplinary research communities, we facilitate communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing between researchers from different fields. It can however be difficult to create int...

Background Prevalence of overall cognitive impairment based on each participant’s performance across a neuropsychological battery is challenging; consequently, we define and validate a dichotomous cognitive impairment/no cognitive indicator (CII) using a neuropsychological battery administered in a population-based study. This CII approximates the...

Background and Objectives Restrictions implemented to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 impacted older adults’ ability to engage in social and physical activities. We examined mental health outcomes of older adults reporting worsened ability to be socially and physically active during the pandemic. Research Design and Methods Using logistic re...

Municipalities can foster the social participation of aging adults. Although making municipalities age-friendly is recognized as a promising way to help aging adults stay involved in their communities, little is known about the key components (e.g., services and structures) that foster social participation. This study thus aimed to identify key age...

Purpose The mapping of drug and natural health product (NHP) data to standardized terminologies is central to its analysis. This study aimed to develop an efficient data collection and curation process for all drug and NHP used by Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) participants. Methods The 3-step sequential data collection and curation p...

Background: Neighborhood deprivation and depression have been linked to epigenetic age acceleration. The next-generation epigenetic clocks including the DNA methylation (DNAm) GrimAge, and PhenoAge have incorporated clinical biomarkers of physiological dysregulation by selecting cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites that are associated with risk factor...

Background: Previous sarcopenia definitions have poor discriminatory accuracy for identifying people with/without relevant health outcomes, and poor agreement between methods of operationalizing sarcopenia criterion. The 2020 Sarcopenia Definitions and Outcomes Consortium (SDOC) definition recommends grip strength (absolute, or standardized to bod...

Background Older adults have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and related preventative measures undertaken during the pandemic. Given clear evidence of the relationship between loneliness and health outcomes, it is imperative to better understand if, and how, loneliness has changed for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whom...

Municipalities can foster the social participation of aging adults. Although making municipalities age-friendly is recognized as a promising way to help aging adults stay involved in their communities, little is known about the key components (e.g., services and structures) that foster social participation. This study thus aimed to identify key age...

Background and aims: Performance-based tests of mobility or physical function such as the Timed Up and Go (TUG), gait speed, chair-rise, and single-leg stance (SLS) are often administered using different protocols in aging populations, however, the reliability of their assessment protocols is not often considered. The purpose of this study was to...

Background: decreased muscle strength and physical function often precede disability, nursing home admission, home care use and mortality in older adults. Normative values for commonly used physical performance-based tests are not widely available for older adults but are required for clinicians and researchers to easily identify individuals with...

Background The Life-Space Assessment (LSA) can compliment traditional physical performance measures of mobility by accounting for the interaction between individuals and their environment. However, there are no studies that have generated percentile curves showing sex-stratified reference values in a large population-based sample of community-dwell...

As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic prolongs, documenting trajectories of the socioeconomic gradient of mental health is important. We describe changes in the prevalence and absolute and relative income-related inequalities of mental health between April and December 2020 in Canada. We used data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Ag...

Background: Symptom persistence in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients, also known as Long COVID or Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19, is not well characterized or understood, and few studies have included non-COVID-19 control groups. Methods: We used data from a cross-sectional COVID-19 questionnaire (September-December 2020) linked to baseline (2...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affected access to health care services in Canada; however, limited research examines the influence of the social determinants of health on unmet health care needs during the first year of the pandemic. The objectives of this study were to describe unmet health care needs during the first year of the pandemic and...

Introduction: Research on the health of older Veterans in Canada is an emerging area. Few population-based studies in Canada have included older Veterans as a specific group of interest. This paper describes a cohort of self-identified Veterans within the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Materials and methods: Using data from the CLS...

Background People with obesity are at increased risk of chronic stress, and this may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are also associated with both obesity and stress, and may modify risk of stress among people with obesity. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the associations between...

Research examining the association between exposure to a wide range of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and accelerated biological aging in older adults is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of ACEs, both as a cumulative score and individual forms of adversity, with epigenetic age acceleration assessed using the D...

Metabolic processes can influence disease risk and provide therapeutic targets. By conducting genome-wide association studies of 1,091 blood metabolites and 309 metabolite ratios, we identified associations with 690 metabolites at 248 loci and associations with 143 metabolite ratios at 69 loci. Integrating metabolite-gene and gene expression inform...

Background frailty imparts a higher risk for hospitalisation, mortality and morbidity due to COVID-19 infection, but the broader impacts of the pandemic and associated public health measures on community-living people with frailty are less known. Methods we used cross-sectional data from 23,974 Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging participants who...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to healthcare services in Canada. Research prior to the pandemic has found that depression and anxiety symptoms were associated with increased unmet healthcare needs. The primary objective of this study was to examine if mental health was associated with perceived access to healthcare during the p...

Background: Chronic cough is a common troublesome condition and accounts for a high burden on quality of life. Previous data investigating the mortality associated with chronic cough has been derived in patients with chronic bronchitis. No data exists on chronic dry cough. Therefore, we investigated if chronic dry and productive cough is independe...

Aging research is increasingly seeking to solve complex challenges in a context where discovery to implementation and impact may take decades. Design thinking is an approach to problem solving that can accelerate impact by incorporating multiple perspectives, including those of interdisciplinary colleagues, stakeholders and end-users (including old...

COVID-19 has negatively affected the mental health and well-being of adults, and thus it is important to examine potential factors which may influence mental health during the pandemic. We thus examined the association between pet ownership and depression/anxiety symptoms based on mental health disorder status during the COVID-19 pandemic. We inclu...

Importance The measurement of laboratory biomarkers plays a critical role in managing patients with COVID-19. However, to date most systematic reviews examining the association between laboratory biomarkers and mortality in hospitalized patients early in the pandemic focused on small sets of biomarkers, did not account for multiple studies includin...

Objective To examine proportions and predictors of change in alcohol intake and binge drinking during the first 2 waves of the COVID-19 pandemic among middle-aged and older participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) COVID-19 Questionnaire Study. Methods A total of 28,559 (67.2% of the potential sample) CLSA participants consen...

Objective: To summarize evidence from published systematic reviews evaluating the effect of polypharmacy interventions on clinical and intermediate outcomes. It also summarizes the adverse events that may occur as a result of these interventions. Data sources: A literature search was conducted using the electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, CINA...

Background: The indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in older adults, such as stress, are unknown. We sought to describe the stressors and perceived consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults in Canada and to evaluate differences by socioeconomic factors. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the Cana...

Objectives Body composition changes that occur with aging pose unique health risks to older adults. The current World Health Organization (WHO) body mass index (BMI) cut-points may not accurately reflect health risks in older adults (65+). Prior findings suggest those classified as overweight may be conferred survival advantages. This study aims to...

Chronic Cough is a common troublesome condition, but risk factors for developing chronic cough are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between mental health disorders, personality traits and chronic cough. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging is a prospective, nationally generalizable, random sample of ad...

Objectives Some studies suggest that residential surrounding greenness is associated with improved mental health. Few of these studies have focussed on middle-aged and older adults, explored the modifying effects of social determinants of health, or accounted for the extent to which individuals interact with their neighbourhood environments. Metho...

Purpose The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) Comprehensive cohort was established to provide unique opportunities to study the genetic and environmental contributions to human disease as well as ageing process. The aim of this report was to describe the genomic data included in CLSA. Participants A total of 26 622 individuals from the C...

French speakers have a 4% lower incidence of chronic cough than English speakers in the CLSA, but English speakers from Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia also have a lower risk of developing chronic cough https://bit.ly/3qAd3Mf.

Identifying those least willing to receive COVID-19 vaccine is critical for increasing uptake via targeted outreach. We conducted a survey of 23,819 Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging participants from September 29 to December 29, 2020, to assess factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine willingness and reasons for willingness or lack thereof. Amo...

Objectives Studies on informal caregiving during the COVID-19 pandemic have mainly focused on sub-groups of caregivers using cross-sectional or convenience samples, limiting the generalizability of findings. Conversely, this longitudinal study examines the effects of the pandemic and caregiving factors on depressive symptoms and anxiety over nine m...

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of overall cognitive impairment based on each participant’s performance across a neuropsychological battery is challenging; consequently, we define and validate a dichotomous cognitive impairment/no cognitive indicator (CII) using a neuropsychological battery administered in a population-based study. This CII approximates the...

Background Low lung function is associated with high mortality and adverse cardiopulmonary outcomes. Less is known of its association with broader health indices such as self-reported respiratory symptoms, perceived general health, and cognitive and physical performance. The present study seeks to address the association between forced expiratory v...

Objectives To examine: (1) the associations of functional disability and behavioural risk factors with social participation; and (2) whether the association between functional disability and social participation is modified by co-occurrence of behavioural risk factors. Design A cross-sectional analysis of data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study...

Importance The association of COVID-19 not requiring hospitalization with functional mobility in community-dwelling adults above and beyond the impact of the pandemic control measures implemented in 2020 remains to be elucidated. Objective To evaluate the association between a COVID-19 diagnosis and change in mobility and physical function of adul...

Introduction: COVID-19 is an international public health crisis with more than 132 million infections worldwide. Beyond acute infection, emerging data indicate patients diagnosed with COVID-19 may experience persistent sequelae similar to survivors of sepsis or acute respiratory syndromes, including mobility limitations and fatigue. However, there...

LAY SUMMARY Little is known about the mental health of Veterans as they get older. How does the mental health and aging process of Veterans compare to people who have not served in the military? The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is a long-term national study of the aging adult population in Canada. A total of 51,338 participants acros...

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, with over 233 million confirmed cases and over 4.6 million deaths globally as of September 20211. Although many studies have reported worse mental health outcomes during the early weeks of the pandemic, some sources suggest a gradual decrease in a...

Introd uction Understanding how influenza vaccine uptake changed during the 2020/2021 influenza season compared to previous pre-pandemic seasons is a key priority, as is identifying the relationship between prior influenza vaccination and COVID-19 vaccine willingness. Methods We analyzed data from a large, nationally representative cohort of Canad...

COVID-19 has had an extreme effect on older people. Now more than ever we need collaborative approaches to address complex issues within research on aging. However, the pandemic has dramatically changed the way we conduct, interact, and organize research within interdisciplinary groups. This paper describes a case study of how an interdisciplinary...

COVID-19 has had an extreme effect on older people. Now more than ever we need collaborative approaches to address complex issues within research on aging. However, the pandemic has dramatically changed the way we conduct, interact, and organize research within interdisciplinary groups. This paper describes a case study of how an interdisciplinary...

Background Restrictions implemented to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 have affected the ability of many older adults to engage in social and physical activities. We examined the mental health outcomes for older adults whose ability to be socially and physically active was reduced during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Data from...