Detecting Risk For Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Among Older Bereaved Women Using Text-based Analysis in the Nurses' Health Study II.

Details

• Alternative Title:
  American Journal of Epidemiology, 2025, v. 195, no. 5: Detecting Risk For Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Among Older Bereaved Women Using Text-based Analysis in the Nurses' Health Study II.
• Journal Article:
  American Journal of Epidemiology
• Personal Author:
  Hillcoat, Alexandra ; Jeon, Elaine D. ; Shrestha, Maleeka ; Jha, Shaili C. ; Kang, Jae H. ; Rich-Edwards, Janet W. ; Denckla, Christy A.
• Description:
  We analyzed free-text narratives about recent bereavement experiences from 1997 women aged 55-73 years (M = 65.9, SD = 4.4) enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II to identify associations between text characteristics and postbereavement mental health. We applied covariate-adjusted linear mixed effects models to assess the association between word count and expression of positive vs negative sentiment (emotional valence) in first-person bereavement narratives and standardized Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) total, anxiety, and depression symptom scores over 6 months, stratified by loss of a partner or child vs a close other. Emotional valence was quantified using the Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner (VADER) algorithm. Among women bereaved of a close other, word count was positively associated with log PHQ-4 total (0.06 SD 95% CI, 0.02-0.09), anxiety (0.05 SD 95% CI, 0.02-0.09), and depression (0.06 SD 95 % CI, 0.03-0.09) symptom scores. Negatively scored emotional valence was associated with elevated log PHQ-4 total (-0.05 SD 95% CI, -0.08 to -0.01), anxiety (-0.04 SD 95% CI, -0.08 to 0.00), and depression (-0.04 SD 95% CI, -0.07 to -0.01) symptom scores. Estimated associations among women bereaved of a partner or child were elevated but underpowered. Qualitative approaches in epidemiologic cohorts offer promise in identifying novel characteristics associated with bereavement outcomes among older women.
• Content Notes:
  Author manuscript
• Subjects:
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Bereavement
  • Aged
  • Middle Aged
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Risk Factors
• Keywords:
  • Qualitative
  • bereavement
  • anxiety
  • depression
  • qualitative
• Source:
  American Journal of Epidemiology, 2025, v. 195, no. 5
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaf056
• ISSN:
  0002-9262 ; 1476-6256
• Pubmed ID:
  40083290
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC13137610
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  K23 MH117278/MH/NIMH NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 CA176726/CA/NCI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 HL145386/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K23MH117278/MH/NIMH NIH HHSUnited States/ ; 75D30120P08670/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/ ; U01 HL145386/NH/NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 CA176726/NH/NIH HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Pages in Document:
  1210-1221 (22 pdf pages)
• Volume:
  195
• Issue:
  5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/261599/cdc_261599_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 982.64 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0a321456eca8446e8b4aaa940948d2dbfd630b365fe73a569707afaade0913bb62cd35d5f436b210a8a8e378a4b9795d07ee6b162a88eb8fbb320f3aa166b905