ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2021
Health Heterogeneity in Older Adults: Exploration in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.
Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Systematic review of research barriers, facilitators, and stakeholders in long-term care and geriatric settings, and a conceptual mapping framework to build research capacity.BMC geriatrics · 2023Pooled it
- The prevalence and outcomes of frail older adults in clinical trials in multiple myeloma: A systematic review.Blood cancer journal · 2023Pooled it
- Resistance Training with Blood Flow Restriction Compared to Traditional Resistance Training on Strength and Muscle Mass in Non-Active Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Tai chi or health education for older adults with hypertension: effects on mental health and psychological resilience to COVID-19.Aging & mental health · 2023Trial
- Self-management difficulties in Swedish older adults and associations with sociodemographic factors, number of conditions, depression and health status.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Neuromuscular junction failure in sarcopenia is linked to NaV1.4 loss and reversed by ClC-1 inhibition.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Corneal Nerve Fiber Morphology and Biological Age in Healthy Adults.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- BAGE: a Bayesian framework for age prediction based on PBMC gene expression data.BMC bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Association between physical resilience and self-perceptions of aging among Chinese community-dwelling older adults: a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Statistical Methods in Aging Research: Improving Current Practices and Embracing Emerging Approaches.Annual review of statistics and its application · 2026Article
- The Participation of Older Persons in the Adoption of Age-Friendly Care Models in Hospital Settings: A Scoping Review.Nursing & health sciences · 2026Article
- Age-related thymic involution: Mechanistic insights and rejuvenating approaches to restore immune function.Science advances · 2026Review
- Impact of lifestyle factors on quantitative motor and cognitive performance: insights from a longitudinal study on healthy ageing.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Association of mitochondrial oxidative capacity with physical fitness in ageing: the Baltimore longitudinal study of ageing.Age and ageing · 2026Article
- Spatial analysis of healthcare services availability and demand for people aged 65 and over in Québec.Research in health services & regions · 2026Article
- Observational
- Average performance and performance variability on a brief functional fine motor test reflect distinct behavioral constructs in aging.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Multi-Cohort Federated Learning Shows Synergy in Mortality Prediction for MRI-Based and Metabolomics-Based Age Scores.Journal of healthcare informatics research · 2025Article
- Clinical and environmental factors, functional status, and multimorbidity-stratifying progression and prognosis of multimorbidity, frailty, and disability: the Age-It Research Program.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Mismatch between echocardiography-predicted cardiac age and chronologic age: insights from the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundA widely held dictum in aging research is that heterogeneity in health increases with age, but the basis for this claim has not been fully investigated. We examined heterogeneity at different ages across health characteristics to describe variation and trends; we investigated the comparative importance of between-age versus within-age heterogeneity.
designThis was a cohort study.
settingCommunity-dwelling older adults.
participantsA total of 30,097 adults aged 45 to 86 years, from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, were included. MEASUREMENTS: Thirty-four health characteristics in eight domains (physical measures, vital signs, physiological measures, physical performance, function/disability, chronic conditions, frailty, laboratory values) were assessed cross-sectionally. We used regression models to examine heterogeneity in health characteristics (using absolute deviation) and domains (using effective variance) in relation to age. Comparison between between-age and within-age heterogeneity was quantified by estimating the age threshold at which the former exceeds the latter.
resultsOf the 34 health characteristics, 17 showed increased heterogeneity, 8 decreased, and 9 no association with age. The associations between heterogeneity and age increased generally but were nonlinear for most domains and nonmonotonic for some. We observed peak heterogeneity at approximately 70 years. Between-age heterogeneity, compared with within-age heterogeneity, was most important for forced expiratory volume in 1 second and grip strength but varied across characteristics.
conclusionOverall health heterogeneity increases with age but does not uniformly increase across all variables and domains. Heterogeneity in aging reinforces the need for geriatric assessment and personalized care, depending on which health characteristics are assessed, their measurement properties, and their referent group. Our findings suggest further research to develop improved single-dimension and multidimensional instruments, as well as specific vital and laboratory reference ranges for older adults.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.