Introduction
Rao et al.’s study “Obesity and Healthy Aging” aimed to determine how obesity might impact healthy aging and the well-being of individuals. The study employs the quantitative design, descriptive statistics, and characteristics of a particular population group to collect necessary data and draw a conclusion. The authors do not report any ethical issues or procedures necessary to avoid them.
General Description of the Study
The study does not have a formulated research question. Instead, Rao et al. (2018) assume that obese individuals will have higher rates of multimorbidity compared to their peers with average weight. The investigation used cross-sectional data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Purposive sampling methods were used to create a pool of participants. The number of participants comprised 21241 recruited using a survey (Rao et al., 2018). The inclusion criteria implied an age range of 55 to 85 to collect the necessary data.
Major Variables
The study was conducted by using the following variables: socioeconomic characteristics, behavioral characteristics, health characteristics, social health, functional health, mental health, and well-being (Rao et al., 2018). Every variable was supported with a specific and reliable measure. The data collected from the participants were interpreted using statistical tools, descriptive analyses, and chi-square analyses (Rao et al., 2018).
The authors also created logistic regression models to visualize results. The results prove that obesity is one of the leading causes of multimorbidity, which is proven by other research works. For clinical practice, findings can be used to reduce the risks of acquiring undesired conditions among older adults.
Conclusion
Altogether, the analyzed quantitative study is reliable and relevant. The authors use an effective research design and sufficient participants to investigate the chosen issue. The data acquired during research correlates with other research works focusing on the same question. For this reason, the credibility of the findings can be admitted.
Reference
Rao, D. P., Patel, P., Roberts, K. C., & Thompson, W. (2018). Obesity and healthy aging: social, functional and mental well-being among older Canadians. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada, 38(12), 437–444. Web.