Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34637517›Full record

ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2022

Early-Life War Exposure and Later-Life Frailty Among Older Adults in Vietnam: Does War Hasten Aging?

Zachary Zimmer, Kim Korinek, Yvette Young, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Tran Khanh Toan

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. War Trauma and Strength: A Qualitative Study of Participants in the Vietnamese Insights into Cognitive Aging Program.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Zachary ZimmerDepartment of Gerontology and Family Studies and Global Aging and Community Initiative, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Kim KorinekDepartment of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Yvette YoungDepartment of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Bussarawan TeerawichitchainanDepartment of Sociology and Centre for Family and Population Research, National University of Singapore, Singapore.ORCID 0000-0002-6177-3213
Tran Khanh ToanDepartment of Family Medicine, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
University of Utah · USHanoi Medical University · VNMount Saint Vincent University · CANational University of Singapore · SG

Funding

Health and Aging Post Conflict: War's Ending Effects Among Survivors in VietnamR01AG052537 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · PI KORINEK, KIM · 2017 to 2021
$2.8M
Canadian Institutes for Health Research Project 175309National Institute of Aging #1R01AG052537NIA NIH HHS R01 AG052537
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThis study aimed to assess the nature and degree of association between exposure to potentially traumatic wartime experiences in early life, such as living in a heavily bombed region or witnessing death firsthand, and later-life frailty.

methodThe Vietnam Health and Aging Study included war survivors in Vietnam, 60+, who completed a survey and health exam between May and August 2018. Latent class analysis (LCA) is used to construct classes exposed to similar numbers and types of wartime experiences. Frailty is measured using a deficit accumulation approach that proxies biological aging. Fractional logit regression associates latent classes with frailty scores. Coefficients are used to calculate predicted frailty scores and expected age at which specific levels of frailty are reached across wartime exposure classes.

resultsLCA yields 9 unique wartime exposure classes, ranging from extreme exposure to nonexposed. Higher frailty is found among those with more heavy/severe exposures with a combination of certain types of experiences, including intense bombing, witnessing death firsthand, having experienced sleep disruptions during wartime, and having feared for one's life during war. The difference in frailty-associated aging between the most and least affected individuals is more than 18 years. DISCUSSION: War trauma hastens aging and warrants greater attention toward long-term implications of war on health among vast postconflict populations across the globe.

Indexed as

FrailtyAgedAgingHumansVietnamVietnam ConflictWar ExposureArmed conflictBiological agingDeveloping countriesLatent class analysisTrauma

Identifiers

PMID34637517
PMCPMC9757073
OpenAlexW3207053052

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

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.