| ObjectiveTo proposed an index of physiological,psychological and social dimensions of the Aging Measurement of healthy people in the perspective of epidemiology and human health.To investigate the variation tendency of telomere length of peripheral blood leukocytes in healthy people of different sequential age,and to establish the quantitative relationship between telomere length and the Aging Measurement score.To shed light on the quality of life in different age groups and to provide support and basis for aging evaluation for predicting and preventing chronic diseases and senile diseases.MethodThrough literature searching,collection of internationally recognized summary scales and popular science scales,expert consultation and group discussion to form item pool;Combining item response theory,six statistic methods including frequency analysis,dispersion method,correlation coefficient,factor analysis,Cronbach's alpha,discriminate analysis were applied to screen and revise the item pool.Method according to analytic hierarchy process(APH),aging index and multi-dimensions were given different weights by way of importance;Internal consistency coefficient,split half coefficient,test-retest reliability and factor analysis were used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the scale;We adopted real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR to detect the telomere length;Correlation coefficient method was applied to analyze the relationship between telomere length with the Aging Measurement score and every dimension score in order to make comprehensive appraisal on the aging.Result1.According to the principles and methods of establishing item pool,we collect a total of 170 items,dividing them into three dimensions about physical,psychological,social fields.The preliminary scale contains 67 items of physical dimension,69 items of psychological dimension,34 items of social dimension.The remaining 97 items through experts and group members' discussion are more refined and simplified,41?items of physical dimension,34 items of psychological dimension,22 items of social dimension among them.Reducing by 42.9%compared with the original items,which coincidence with the principle of smaller quantity,better quality.2.Through methods of frequency distribution,dispersion,correlation coefficient,factor analysis,Cronbach's alpha and discriminate analysis,the scale contains 62 items in the finally.Among them physical dimension has 25 items,including appearance(10 items),sensorimotor(7 items),functional status(8 items);psychological dimension has 21 items,including cognitive function(7 items),emotional aspect(7 items),character aspect(7 items)and social dimension has 16 items,including social relations(6 items),social adaptation(4 items),social support(6 items).3.We applied analytic hierarchy process to calculate the weight of each dimension according to the expert opinion with a result comparing the importance of each dimension that the weight of physiological dimension is 0.5936,psychological dimension is 0.2493 and social dimension is 0.1571.4.The value of "Cronbach alpha" about Aging Measurement Scale was 0.898,the split-half coefficient was 0.861,the test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.872.Factor analysis was used to evaluate the construct validity of the constructed index system.A total of three common factors were extracted,and the cumulative variance contribution was 46.44%.The correlation coefficient between each dimension and total score were in the range of 0.8 to 0.9.5.A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed in an empirical study on the scene and 457 of them were effective,with an efficiency of 91.4%.Therewere 231 males(50.5%)and 226 females(49.5%),the ratio of male to femalewas 1.02:1;The age ranged from 18 to 88 years.The mean age was(43.05 ± 15.43)years,and there was no significant difference between men and women in age(t=1.42,P=0.16>0.05).Therange of total Aging Measurement score was 13.54 to 35.02 with an average of 23.28±4.50;the range of physiological score was 13.65 to 39.01 with an average of 25.51±5.19;the range of psychological score was 11.66 to 30.91 with an average of 20.80±4.34.the range of social score was 9.64 to 26.85 with an average of 18.80±3.58;The total score(r=0.863,P<0.01),physiological dimension(r=0.812,P<0.01),psychological dimension(r=0.876,P<0.01)and social dimension(r=0.766,P<0.01)were positively correlated with age.The average of telomere length was 1.13±0.30(T/S),and it was negatively correlated with age(r = 0.516,P<0.01),which can beconcluded that telomere length shortens with age gradually.Telomere length indifferent age groups was statistically significant different(F=84.62,P<0.01).Total score(r =-0.54,P<0.01),physiological score(r = 0.50,P<0.01),mental score(r =0.57,P<0.01),social score(r = 0.54,P<0.01)were negatively correlated with telomere length which means that the scale has a good criterion validity to aging and it can be evaluated the aging degree health of human body.ConclusionThe index systems of the Aging Measurement Scale which was establishedbased on literature collection,reading recognized scale and popular science scale,expert and group members' discussion were of good independence,well distinction and high representation.The reliability and validity of the scale was ideal.The empirical study confirmed that the relationship between telomere length and age was negatively correlated which meaned that telomere length was shortened with age.The total score and each dimension showed a positive correlation with age;which meaned the score increased with age.The score exhibited negatively correlation with telomere length,showing that the scale has goodvalidity which can be used to evaluate the aging degree of the health human.The Aging Measurement Scale was in line with the understanding of aging inthe field of medical and health care by WHO and other government,which was according with the aging index of Chinese population.It will have a goodapplication value and bright prospect. |
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