The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging: A Vehicle for Research on Aging in Older Veterans

Autor: Christina Wolfson, Danielle E Gauvin, Juliana Schulz, Sandra Magalhaes, Catherine M Tansey, Anthony Feinstein, Alice Aiken, Brittany Scarfo, Jason Middleton, Parminder Raina, Linda VanTil, Istvan Molnar-Szakacs
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Military Medicine.
ISSN: 1930-613X
0026-4075
DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usad012
Popis: 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 CLSA baseline assessment (2011-2015), we describe sociodemographic and health characteristics along with military-related variables in a cohort of Veterans in Canada. We also estimate the number of Canadian and non-Canadian Veterans living in Canada at the time of the CLSA baseline data collection. Results We estimate that at the CLSA baseline, there were 718,893 (95% confidence interval [CI], 680,033-757,110) Canadian Veterans and 185,548 (95% CI, 165,713-205,100) non-Canadian Veterans aged 45-85 years living in Canada. Veterans were older and predominantly male compared to non-Veterans in the CLSA. Following age and sex adjustment, the distribution of sociodemographic and health characteristics was similar across all groups. The majority (> 85%) of participants in each comparison group reported self-rated general and mental health as excellent, very good, or good. Following age and sex adjustment, most characteristics across groups remained similar. One exception was mental health, where a greater proportion of Veterans screened positive for depression and anxiety relative to non-Veterans. Conclusions Using CLSA baseline data, we estimate the number of older Veterans in Canada and present descriptive data that highlight interesting differences and similarities between Veterans and non-Veterans living in Canada. Canadian and non-Canadian Veterans in the CLSA are presented separately, with the latter group having not been previously studied in Canada. This paper presents a snapshot of a cohort of self-identified Veterans within the CLSA at study baseline and highlights the potential of the CLSA as a vehicle for studying the aging Veteran population in Canada for years to come.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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