Investigating the Bidirectional Associations of Adiposity with Sleep Duration in Older Adults: The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)

Cross-sectional analyses of adiposity and sleep duration in younger adults suggest that increased adiposity is associated with shorter sleep. Prospective studies have yielded mixed findings, and the direction of this association in older adults is unclear. We examined the cross-sectional and potential bi-directional, prospective associations between adiposity and sleep duration (covariates included demographics, health behaviours, and health problems) in 5,015 respondents from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), at baseline and follow-up. Following adjustment for covariates, we observed no significant cross-sectional relationship between body mass index (BMI) and sleep duration [(unstandardized) B?=??0.28?minutes, (95% Confidence Intervals (CI)?=??0.012; 0.002), p?=?0.190], or waist circumference (WC) and sleep duration [(unstandardized) B?=??0.10?minutes, (95% CI?=??0.004; 0.001), p?=?0.270]. Prospectively, both baseline BMI [B?=??0.42?minutes, (95% CI?=??0.013; ?0.002), p?=?0.013] and WC [B?=??0.18?minutes, (95% CI?=??0.005; ?0.000), p?=?0.016] were associated with decreased sleep duration at follow-up, independently of covariates. There was, however, no association between baseline sleep duration and change in BMI or WC (p?>?0.05). In older adults, our findings suggested that greater adiposity is associated with decreases in sleep duration over time; however the effect was very small

Wilfred Burchett and the UN command's media relations during the Korean War, 1951-52

Wilfred A. Burchett was perhaps the most controversial foreign correspondent of the Cold War era. An Australian by birth, he wrote for British and French newspapers, but spent much of his career reporting from the other side of the "bamboo curtain." Although his dispatches often had a propagandist purpose, his account of the U.S. Army's media relations during the protracted Korean armistice negotiations continues to exert a significant influence over the academic literature. This article looks at the reasons for this influence and critically examines Burchett's claim that the U.S. military engaged in a concerted effort to mislead the public by lying about, and sometimes suppressing, what was really happening in the truce talk

Sleep duration and mortality among older adults in a 22-year follow-up study: an analysis of possible effect modifiers

The aim of this study was to assess the relationship of sleep duration and all-cause mortality among 2,449 Polish community-dwelling older citizens of Krakow observed during 22 years of follow-up. In particular, the role of some demographic, psychosocial and health-related conditions were investigated in terms of modification effect. In the prospective study, background information was gathered by face-to-face interview. Vital data were obtained from the population registry. Cox regression models were used to assess the role of sleep duration in mortality, in the analyses of potential effect modifiers and the shape of the relationship. Sleep duration was observed to be a significant predictor of all-cause mortality. Life-weariness, functional activity, total number of chronic diseases and age (65–79, 80+) were found to be effect modifiers for the relationship between sleep duration and mortality. Further investigation showed a U-shaped mortality risk associated with the duration of sleep among individuals with a high level of life-weariness, high functional activity and in individuals aged 80 and over. On the other hand, a linear relationship between longer sleep duration and mortality was observed among older people with no experience of life-weariness, without chronic diseases, with medium functional activity and aged 65–79, but also among those who reported three and more chronic conditions. Results of our study support available evidence showing the relationship between sleep duration and mortality among older adults and suggest that any public health intervention in this area should consider also other coexisting modifiable psychosocial and functional determinants