The long-term association between exposure to wartime bombing earlier in life and post-traumatic stress later in life among today's older Vietnamese population.

This analysis examines the relationship between exposure to American wartime bombardments earlier in life and later-life PTSD among current surviving Vietnamese aged 59+. It also assesses whether the relationship varies by military status during the war - formal military, informal military, or civilian - and whether associations are explained by exposure to violence and malevolent conditions. Data link survey responses from the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study to provincial-wide level bombing intensity using U.S. Department of Defense records from the Theater History of Operations Vietnam database. PTSD measured using nine items from the PTSD Checklist. Analyses employ multivariate logistic quantile regression. Findings examined for a sample of 2290 Vietnamese survivors and a subsample of 736 Vietnamese that moved at least once during wartime. Results show a robust and significant positive association between province-wide bombing intensity and later-life PTSD scores. Interaction effects indicate civilians have overall lower levels of PTSD than those that were in the formal or informal military, but the association between bombing and PTSD is stronger among civilians. Much of the association is a function of exposure to violence and less is a function of exposure to malevolent conditions. Findings confirm earlier studies that have shown severe deleterious impacts of war trauma, and arial bombardments particularly, on long-term psychological health, while extending extant literature to civilian populations living in Vietnam during intense aerial bombing episodes.

Cognitive function following early life war-time stress exposure in a cohort of Vietnamese older adults.

Although Alzheimer's Disease is a leading cause of death in Vietnam and other post-conflict, low- and middle-income countries, aside from studies of veterans in western populations, research on war-related violence and deprivation as risk factors for cognitive disorders remains sparse. Using data from the Vietnam Health and Aging Study, which relied upon a multistage probability sample of 2447 older adults residing in districts of northern Vietnam differentially exposed to wartime bombing and numerous war-related stressors, this paper investigates associations between early-life war-related stressors and later-life cognitive function in a cohort whose transition to adulthood took place during the American-Vietnam War. Relationships among experiences of severe childhood hunger, war-related violence and environmental hardships, military service, and cognitive function in an analytical sample of 2162 Vietnamese older adults are estimated using quantile regression. Cognitive function is assessed by a modified Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score. Analyses also address posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cardiovascular health, and health behaviors as potential mediators between early life war-related stressors and current cognitive function. Results indicate that experiences of severe hunger in childhood and environmental hardships are associated with poorer cognitive function in older adulthood. PTSD, cardiovascular risk (i.e., hypertension) and disease (i.e., stroke), each of which is heightened by exposure to wartime stressors, are associated with lower cognitive scores. Results suggest that certain war exposures, like involvement in combat duties, are associated with higher cognitive function scores, suggesting that military service either positively selects for cognitive function, or certain forms of service may impart cognitive resilience. Following recent calls to incorporate population-specific stressors to advance explanatory models of cognitive function, these findings suggest that it is critical to assess the enduring scars and resilience of armed conflict in global efforts to understand, prevent, and treat cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's Disease, and related dementias.

Weathering within war: Somatic health complaints among Vietnamese older adults exposed to bombing and violence as adolescents in the American war.

OBJECTIVE: People living in war may experience deteriorating health via weathering (wear and tear) from long-term exposures to psychosocial and environmental stressors. Weathering embodied in somatic health complaints may illuminate the effects of war on health. METHODS: We investigate whether wartime stress exposures occurring during adolescence and early adulthood affect weathering in late adulthood via linear regression with data from the Vietnamese Health and Aging Study (VHAS). VHAS is a cross-sectional study wherein investigators surveyed 2447 adults aged 60+ in four districts of northern and central Vietnam in 2018. These same individuals ranged in age from seven to 52 in 1965, with most having been in adolescence or early adulthood at the peak of the American war in Vietnam (1965-1975). The sample used for this study (n = 2254) were participants in the first VHAS wave in 2018. RESULTS: We find older Vietnamese adults exposed to higher-intensity provincial bombing suffer more numerous somatic health complaints (unstandardized ß = 0.005, SE = 0.001, p = 0.001). Additionally, greater health complaints emerge among older adults whose most intense bombing exposures were at younger ages of adolescence (< age 15) as compared to those whose peak exposures were in older ages (19-25) (unstandardized ß = 0.62 95%, SE = 0.19, p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that age of exposure to armed conflict is a critical determinant of weathering across the life course.

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

OBJECTIVES: This 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. METHOD: The 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. RESULTS: LCA 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.

The Impact of Early Life War Exposure on Mental Health among Older Adults in Northern and Central Vietnam.

Most Vietnamese young adults who experienced the American War were exposed to war-related violence, which can exert a lifelong impact. We analyze survey data collected among northern and central Vietnamese older adults in the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study (N = 2,447) to examine the association between various war traumas, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation. Informed by life course and stress process perspectives, we use structural equation models with multiple mediators to analyze the relationship between mental health outcomes and five types of wartime stress exposure: loss of family and friends, witnessing death, malevolent living conditions, life threat, and moral injury. Our findings reveal enduring mental health impacts of war among survivors. Wartime stress exposure's influence on mental health is mediated by recent comorbidities and stressful life events. Loss of family members, witnessing death, and malevolent living conditions during war are particularly salient risks for psychological distress.

Assessing exposure to war-related traumatic events in older Vietnamese war survivors.

BACKGROUND: Though studies measuring war-related stressors and resultant trauma among U.S. military veterans are abundant, few studies address how wartime stressors affect military veterans native to warzones. Even fewer assess the stress exposure and resulting trauma experienced by Vietnamese civilians. This study aimed to construct a scale to quantify wartime stress exposure that is relevant for civilians and military veterans who survived the American War in Vietnam. METHODS: The study analyzed data from a novel source, the Vietnam Health and Aging Study, which surveyed older men and women residing in central and northern Vietnam. We used a combination of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with posthoc tests of reliability and validity to derive measures for assessing exposure to war-related traumatic events. RESULTS: We found that a mix of exposure to death, combat, inhospitable living conditions, and forced displacement comprises the traumatic events that potentially contribute to posttraumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems. However, the particular mix of stressful experiences constituting war trauma differs for civilians, veterans of the formal military, and former members of paramilitary organizations. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the need for distinct but parallel approaches to measuring war-related stressors for populations of veterans and civilians exposed to war in their home countries and the need for greater public attention to the potential lingering trauma of noncombatants.

War across the life course: examining the impact of exposure to conflict on a comprehensive inventory of health measures in an aging Vietnamese population.

BACKGROUND: The majority of evidence indicates that exposure to war and other traumatic events continue to have negative impacts on health across the life course. However, existing research on health effects of war exposure primarily concentrates on short-term impacts among veterans in high-income countries sent elsewhere to battle. Yet, most wars situate in lower- and middle-income countries, where many are now or will soon be entering old age. Consequently, the current burden of exposure to war has ignored an important global population. METHODS: The Vietnam Health and Aging Study (VHAS) is a longitudinal study designed to examine historical exposure to highly stressful events during the American War. Two modes of data collection, involving a sample of 2447 individuals aged 60+ years in northern Vietnam, took place between May and August 2018. Using this first wave of data, we generate indexed measures of war exposure and analyze their associations with a set of 12 health outcomes, accounting for confounding variables. RESULTS: Results indicate that greater exposure to three types of war exposure (death and injury, stressful living conditions, and fearing death and/or injury) in earlier life is associated with worse health in later-life across a large number of health outcomes, such as number of diagnosed health conditions, mental distress, somatic symptoms, physical functioning, post-traumatic stress symptoms and chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support a life course theory of health and point to long-term effects of war on health that require detailed attention.

A Life Course Perspective on the Wartime Migrations of Northern Vietnamese War Survivors.

Research addressing conflict and migration has made great strides in explaining the relationship between violence and migration. However, it commonly lacks individual-level data on exposure to war. We use survey data from the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study to examine the associations between war-related violence exposure during the American War and the wartime migrations of northern Vietnamese war survivors. Using multilevel mixed-effects count models, we investigate three groups of factors influencing migration-war-related events, economic circumstances, and demographic and life course factors-to explore the relationship between war exposure and migration, inclusive of deployments, economic moves, and displacements. Our findings indicate that the effects of war exposure, socioeconomic status, and demographic characteristics diverge for different types of migration. These findings, framed within the life course and historical context, suggest the need to thoughtfully delineate both war exposures and traditional causes of migration to understand the diverse types of mobility occurring during periods of armed conflict.

Is war hard on the heart? Gender, wartime stress and late life cardiovascular conditions in a population of Vietnamese older adults.

Populations in the global south are disproportionately exposed to the stressors of development, disaster and armed conflict, all of which heighten cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We consider how war-related stressors exert a lasting influence upon population health, in particular the cardiovascular health of war survivors now entering older adulthood. Data come from the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study conducted among 2447 northern Vietnamese adults age 60 and older. We conduct survey-adjusted logistic regression analyses to examine the associations among respondents' wartime exposure to combat and physical threat, malevolent environment conditions, and four CVD conditions (hypertension, dyslipidemia, heart disease, and stroke). We examine posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as it mediates the association between wartime stress exposures and late life CVD, and gender as it moderates the relationship between wartime stressors and CVD. We find that exposure to wartime combat and violence, as well as malevolent living conditions, exhibit significant, positive associations with cardiovascular conditions. These associations are mediated by the severity of recent PTSD symptoms. For certain CVD conditions, particularly hypertension, the associations between wartime stressors and late life cardiovascular conditions diverge across gender with women experiencing a greater penalty for their exposure to war-related stressors than their male counterparts. We conclude that the stressors of war and resultant PTSD, widespread in this cohort of Vietnamese older adults who endured myriad forms of war exposure during their young adulthood, exhibit modest, yet significant associations with late-life cardiovascular conditions. Women, especially those exposed to wartime violence and combat, bear this CVD burden alongside men.

Building walls or opening borders? Global immigration policy attitudes across economic, cultural and human security contexts.

Using data from the World Values Survey for 51 countries, we conduct a multi-level analysis with mixed effects multinomial logistic regression models to explore the effects of economic context, cultural context, and national security events on immigration policy attitudes. Analyses of attitudes towards immigration to date have been limited in key respects: the scope has been mostly restricted to Western Europe and the Americas; limited attention has been paid to institutional and sociopolitical features of the macro-context; and national security events have been rarely taken into account. We propose a theoretical framework incorporating three overarching contextual domains. We find support for two of the three contextual domains. Contrary to our expectation, macro-level economic context shows no association immigration policy attitudes, and socio-cultural context evinces unexpected patterns. However, in the national security domain, recent terrorist events demonstrate a consistent association with anti-immigration policy attitudes.