Theodore D. Cosco

Simon Fraser University · Department of Gerontology

Background: Half a century after the inception of the term "successful aging (SA)," a consensus definition has not emerged. The current study aims to provide a comprehensive snapshot of operational definitions of SA. Methods: A systematic review across MedLine, PsycInfo, CINAHL, EMBASE, and ISI Web of Knowledge of quantitative operational defini...

Objectives The aim of the current study was to conduct a systematic review of lay perspectives of successful ageing (SA), synthesise these data using a metaethnographic framework and to provide a snapshot of extant lay perspectives of SA. Design A systematic review of layperson perspectives of SA was conducted across MEDLINE, PsycInfo, CINAHL, EMB...

Many studies and models of successful aging unfortunately neglect the process of death and dying. According to Cosco and colleagues, this neglect impedes the ability of researchers to examine predictors and possible interventions for successful aging throughout the course of life.

Background: Twitter is an increasingly popular means of research dissemination. I sought to examine the relation between scientific merit and mainstream popularity of general medical journals. Methods: I extracted impact factors and citations for 2014 for all general medical journals listed in the Thomson Reuters InCites Journal Citation Reports...

This chapter provides insights into large-scale longitudinal studies that focus on the process of resilience at different points in time—from infancy to adulthood. Included are studies from the United States, Canada, Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, Africa, and Germany. Individual attributes associated with successful coping among high...

Background: The longitudinal rates of cognitive decline among aging populations are heterogeneous. Few studies have investigated the possibility of implementing prognostic models to predict cognitive changes with the combination of categorical and continuous data from multiple domains. Objective: Implement a multivariate robust model to predict...

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 For the first time in Canada, the population of people over the age of 65 exceeds those under 15 years old. With the aging of our population, there is a growing urgency to improve the mental wellbeing of the older adult population in Canada. It is important to understand the factors that affect the mental wellbeing of the diverse populat...

Internet use has been suggested to have a crucial effect on older adults’ quality of life; however, few studies have investigated the underlying mechanisms in the relationship between internet use and life satisfaction among older adults. Employing multiple linear regression models and mediation analysis with 2019 Chinese Social Survey (CSS) data,...

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...

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 Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a spectrum of adversities that have affected older adults disproportionately. This paper examines older adults with multimorbidity using longitudinal data to ascertain why some of these vulnerable individuals coped with pandemic-induced risk and stressors better than others – t...

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...

Mobile health (mHealth)—that is, use of mobile devices, such as mobile phones, monitoring devices, personal digital assistants, and other wireless devices, in medical care—is a promising approach to the provision of support services. mHealth may aid in facilitating monitoring of mental health conditions, offering peer support, providing psychoeduca...

This Viewpoint describes how open innovation has been used by communities to support individual and community health and discusses how scientists and clinicians could apply this idea- and resource-sharing strategy to generate breakthrough advances that may extend the life span of people with serious mental illness (SMI).

Background and Objectives To assess which forms of supervised exercise are effective in reducing psychological stress in older adults. Research Design Systematic Review. Methods Four electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and SportDiscus) were searched in February of 2021. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) investigating supervi...

Objectives This study compared two approaches to analyzing bidirectional associations between aspects of cognition—specifically, verbal memory and fluency—and depression using multi-wave longitudinal data. The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) does not distinguish between- versus within-person variation, whereas the random-intercepts CLPM (RI-CLPM) p...

Canada is a relatively young, geographically-diverse country, with a larger proportion of the population aged over 65 than under 15. Increasing alongside the number of ageing Canadians is the number of older adults that live with mental health challenges. Across the life course, one in five Canadians will experience a mental health disorder with ma...

Background: This systematic review synthesizes the most recent neuroimaging procedures and machine learning approaches for the prediction of conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Re...

One in five older adults experience symptoms of depression and anxiety. Digital mental health interventions are promising in their ability to provide researchers, mental health professionals, clinicians, and patients with personalised tools for assessing their behaviour and seeking consultation, treatment, and peer support. This systematic review l...

Objectives: This paper examines the longitudinal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults (65+) with multimorbidity on levels of depression, anxiety, and perceived global impact on their lives. Methods: Baseline (2011-2015) and Follow-up 1 (2015-2018) data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), and the Baseline and Exit wa...

Purpose: The capacity to recover motor function with pathology or age-related decline is termed physical resilience. It is unknown what outcome domains are captured with existing measurement instruments. Thus, this scoping review aimed to identify measurement instruments for physical resilience, identify research gaps, and make recommendations for...

Although older adults may experience health challenges requiring increased care, they often do not ask for help. This scoping review explores the factors associated with the help-seeking behaviors of older adults, and briefly discusses how minority ethnic populations can face additional challenges in help-seeking, due to factors such as language ba...

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...

During the pandemic, technology-mediated communication was one of the few ways to maintain social and community connections. We explored how the pandemic impacted older adults’ use and appraisal of technology. In a random sample of 407 older adults (M age = 81.1 years; range 65-105 years) almost half (n = 161) reported they changed how they used te...

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...

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...

Background Many central initiatives to improve digital maturity and interoperability in the NHS started after 2015. There are few prior assessments of digital maturity and interoperability. Methods Freedom of Information Act requests were sent to all English Acute NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to obtain information regarding d...

Background : The literature suggests depressive symptoms differ in a non-linear fashion across adulthood and are more commonly reported in women as compared to men. Whether these trends are observed across countries in population-based cohorts is unclear. Methods : Cross-sectional observational study of approximately 138,000 women and men between...

A large body of literature has examined the relationship between social isolation and mental health in older adults. However, only a few studies have examined the mediating effects of aging attitudes on this relationship. This study investigated the impact of objective isolation (family isolation, friend isolation, and community isolation), and sub...

Objectives: We describe the evaluation of remote training, an innovative use of technology to maintain older adults' virtual connection with their community and socialization, which were disrupted by the pandemic. Remote training was conducted via telephone using principles of cognitive rehabilitation and delivered by trained clinicians. Methods:...

Background The world has changed dramatically since the beginning of 2020 due to COVID-19. As a result of the pandemic, many older adults are now experiencing an increased and unprecedented amount of psychological stress. Physical activity has been found to be an evidence-based means of combating stress among older adults to promote their quality o...

Introduction Family members have traditionally been relied on to provide informal care to older adults. However, social and demographic changes are resulting in rising numbers of kinless and isolated elderly who are unable to rely on familial caregiving and are without assistance in navigating complex systems of health and social services. Research...

Background The Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is a commonly used psychometric scale of depression. A four-factor structure (depressed affect, positive affect, somatic symptoms, and interpersonal difficulties) was initially identified in an American sample aged 18 to 65. Despite emerging evidence, a latent structure has no...

Unstructured: One of the most at-risk groups during the COVID-19 crisis are older adults, especially those who live in congregate living, seniors' care facilities, are immune-compromised, and/or have other underlying illnesses. Measures used to contain the spread of the virus are far-reaching and older adults were amongst the first groups to have...

Context Extant literature highlights how many individuals display resilient trajectories following spinal cord injury (SCI), exhibiting positive psychological adjustment. In the absence of a universal definition, it is agreed that resilience is demonstrated when individuals have better-than-projected outcomes when considering the level of adversity...

BACKGROUND Technology has become the most critical approach to maintain social connectedness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older adults (over age 65) are perceived as most physiologically vulnerable to COVID-19 and at risk of secondary mental health challenges related to social isolation imposed by virus containment strategies. To mitigate concerns...

Background: Background: Technology has become the most critical approach to maintain social connectedness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older adults (over age 65) are perceived as most physiologically vulnerable to COVID-19 and at risk of secondary mental health challenges related to social isolation imposed by virus containment strategies. To mit...

Introduction Despite evidence that illustrates the unmet healthcare needs of older adults, there is limited research examining their help-seeking behaviour, of which direct intervention can improve patient outcomes. Research in this area conducted with a focus on ethnic minority older adults is also needed, as their help-seeking behaviours may be i...

Background While childhood social risk factors appear to be associated with adult obesity, it is unclear whether exposure to multiple childhood social risk factors is associated with accelerated weight gain during adulthood. Methods We used the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, a British population-based birth coh...

Background & aim The aim of this systematic review was to quantify the association between frailty and COVID-19 in relation to mortality in hospitalised patients. Methods Medline, Embase, Web of Science and the grey literature were searched for papers from inception to 10th September 2020; the search was re-run in Medline up until the 9th December...

Background: There is a high prevalence of older adults experiencing depression and anxiety. In response to heightened demands for mental health interventions that are accessible and affordable, there has been a recent rise in the number of digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) that have been developed and incorporated into mental health treat...

A comprehensive analysis of associations between physical fitness and brain structure in young adulthood is lacking, and further, it is unclear the degree to which associations between physical fitness and brain health can be attributed to a common genetic pathway or to environmental factors that jointly influences physical fitness and brain health...

Background & aim The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact upon older people; the frailty construct has been used to assess risk of poor outcomes in many settings. The aim of this systematic review was to quantify the association between frailty and COVID-19 in relation to mortality in hospitalised patients. Methods Medline, Embase a...

A comprehensive analysis of associations between physical fitness and brain structure in young adulthood is lacking, and further, it is unclear the degree to which associations between physical fitness and brain health can be attributed to a common genetic pathway or to environmental factors that jointly influences physical fitness and brain health...

Background: The world has changed dramatically since the beginning of 2020 due to COVID-19. As a result of the pandemic, many older adults are now experiencing an increased and unprecedented amount of psychological stress. Physical activity has been found to be an evidence-based means of combating stress among older adults to promote their quality...

BACKGROUND There is a high prevalence of older adults experiencing depression and anxiety. In response to heightened demands for mental health interventions that are accessible and affordable, there has been a recent rise in the number of digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) that have been developed and incorporated into mental health treatm...

Background There is a high prevalence of older adults experiencing depression and anxiety. In response to heightened demands for mental health interventions that are accessible and affordable, there has been a recent rise in the number of digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) that have been developed and incorporated into mental health treatm...

UNSTRUCTURED One of the most at-risk groups during the COVID-19 crisis is older adults, especially those who live in congregate living settings and seniors’ care facilities, are immune-compromised, and/or have other underlying illnesses. Measures undertaken to contain the spread of the virus are far-reaching, and older adults were among the first g...

The literature on non-genetic peripheral biomarkers for major mental disorders is broad, with conflicting results. An umbrella review of meta-analyses of non-genetic peripheral biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia, including first-episode psychosis. We incl...

UNSTRUCTURED Our manuscript discusses the importance of designing the digital mental healthcare ecosystem through the combinational approach of user-centered design and community engaged research. As the world is redesigning their mental health care due to COVID-19, this manuscript will offer a roadmap on how to use important elements of design to...

Background: Funding bodies increasingly require researchers to write lay summaries to communicate projects' real-world relevance to the public in an accessible way. However, research proposals and findings are generally not easily readable or understandable by non-specialist readers. Many researchers find writing lay summaries difficult because th...

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder commonly associated with deficits of cognition and changes in behavior. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the prodromal stage of AD that is defined by slight cognitive decline. Not all with MCI progress to AD dementia. Thus, the accurate prediction of progression to Alzheimer's,...

Scientific understanding of the associations between socio-economic adversity and other domains such as health and psychosocial functioning may be improved by employing extensive, prospective life course data to model inter-individual heterogeneity in socio-economic trajectories. This study applied Latent Class Growth Analysis to derive a typology...

This chapter provides a rationale for the theme of this book, an overarching conceptual framework, and summarizes and integrates the other 11 chapters. It will also detail the Friesen Conference, entitled “Understanding and Fostering Resilience in Older Adults,” held at Simon Fraser University, June 10–11, 2019, that served as a springboard for thi...

In this chapter, we review six quantitative approaches to examining resilience in the context of aging. We categorize these approaches based on the distinct statistical methods that are used to operationally define resilience: estimating “buffering” effects of hypothesized protective factors in the effect modification approach, scale construction i...

This chapter integrates resilience frameworks (Richardson, J Clin Psychol 58:307–321, 2002; Wister et al., Int J Aging Hum Dev 82:290–313, 2016) with processes of adaptation articulated in the Selective Optimization and Compensation (SOC) model (Baltes and Baltes, Successful aging: perspectives from the behavioral sciences. Cambridge University Pre...

Older aged adults face many adversities over the later life course. This edited volume will address the ways in which seniors bounce back from different types and combinations of adversity – termed “resilience”. While research has been accumulating that identifies inherent abilities and external resources needed to adapt and navigate stress-inducin...

Previous research has illustrated that lifestyle is correlated with widowhood and subjective well-being amongst older people; however, few studies have examined the mediating effects of lifestyle behaviors on the relationship between widowhood and subjective well-being. As China has a large number of widowed older people, we sought to examine which...

Some lines of evidence have indicated that immune dysregulation could play a role in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, results have been inconsistent across studies. Thus, a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies measuring immune mediators in participants with OCD compared to healthy controls (HC) was cond...

Objective Recently, there has been a growing interest in examining forms of illness-related resilience. This study examines associations between lifestyle behavioral factors and multimorbidity resilience (MR) among older adults. Methods Using baseline data from the Comprehensive Cohort of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, we studied 6,771...

Introduction Decompressive hemicraniectomy is a lifesaving measure in malignant middle cerebral artery infarction; however, this leaves patients with a skull defect. There is variability of helmet use in this patient group across Britain. We aimed to examine whether (1) specialist physiotherapist were more confident mobilising a patient with hemipa...

The proliferation of mobile, online, and remote monitoring technologies in digital geriatric mental health has the potential to lead to the next major breakthrough in mental health treatments. Unlike traditional mental health services, digital geriatric mental health has the benefit of serving a large number of older adults, and in many instances,...

Context: As a result of increases in life expectancy and decreases in fertility, the proportion of the population entering later life has increased dramatically in recent decades. When faced with age-related challenges, some older adults respond more positively to adversity than would be expected given the level of adversity that they have experien...

Worldwide, there is an unprecedented and ongoing expansion of both the proportion of older adults in society and innovations in digital technology. This rapidly increasing number of older adults is placing unprecedented demands on health care systems, warranting the development of new solutions. Although advancements in smart devices and wearables...

Background There are substantial socioeconomic inequalities in functional limitations in old age. Resilience may offer new insights into these inequalities by identifying constellations of factors that protect some individuals from developing functional limitations despite socioeconomic adversity. Methods Data from 1973 participants in the Medical...

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the fastest growing proportion of older adults in the world, the majority of whom are women. Global health agendas, however, continue to deprioritise older women's health issues, including the incidence of and mortality from non-communicable disease (NCDs). This is the first systematic review to address the...

Background Physical resilience is the ability to optimize or recover motor function in the face of disease, injury, or aging-related decline. Greater knowledge of how some individuals regain or maintain function despite pathology may help identify protective factors and approaches that promote healthy aging. To date, a scoping review on physical re...

Objective: The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is a 20-item, self-report metric intended to measure depression. Despite being one of the most popular depression scales, the psychometric properties, specifically the underlying factor structure of the scale, have come under scrutiny. The latent structure of a scale is a key...

RÉSUMÉ L’isolement social a retenu l’atte