Background: Assessing change and comparing groups requires high quality and invariant scales. However, there is limited evidence of simultaneous longitudinal and gender measurement invariance for depression scales. This evidence is even more scant with long-established panel studies from low and middle-income countries. Methods: In this paper, we used three waves (years 2002, 2005, and 2009) of a nationally representative panel study to examine the psychometric properties of the modified Calderon Depression Scale (CAL-DM)—a one-item exclusion of a depression scale designed for a population residing in a middle-income country (i.e., Mexico). Our analytical sample included 16,868 participants: 7,696 men and 9,172 women. Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), we first examined overall fit in each wave, and then we tested time, gender, and time-gender measurement invariance across three waves. We also estimated and compared depression score means by gender and time. Finally, we examined the association between depression scores and self-rated health. Results: Our analyses indicated the CAL-DM is a robust scale, suitable for time, gender, and time by gender comparisons. Mean comparisons exemplified how the scale can be used as a latent variable or a summative score. Women have higher depression scores than men and the gap is narrowing from 3.4 in 2002 to 2.5 in 2009. Conclusions: The CAL-DM is a reliable instrument to measure depression in the Mexican general population that can be used for epidemiological research. Our results will contribute to a burgeoning line of research that examines the social determinants of depression, and the risk factors associated with different individuals’ depression trajectories over the life course.

Background/Objectives: Genetic factors contribute to the physiopathology of obesity and its comorbidities. This study aimed to investigate the association of the SNPs ABCA1 (rs9282541), ADIPOQ (rs2241766), FTO (rs9939609), GRB14 (rs10195252), and LEPR (rs1805134) with various clinical, anthropometric, and biochemical variables. Methods: The study included 396 Mexican mestizo individuals with obesity and 142 individuals with normal weight. Biochemical markers were evaluated from peripheral blood samples, and SNP genotyping was performed using PCR with TaqMan probes. A genetic risk score (GRS) was computed using an additive model. Results: No significant associations were found between the SNPs ABCA1, ADIPOQ, FTO, and LEPR with obesity. However, the T allele of the GRB14 SNP was significantly associated with obesity (χ² = 5.93, p = 0.01; OR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.08–2.12). A multivariate linear regression model (adjusted R-squared: 0.1253; p < 0.001) predicting LDL-c levels among all participants (n = 538) identified significant (p < 0.05) beta coefficients for several anthropometric and biochemical variables, as well as for the GRS. Additionally, the interaction between the GRS and the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) showed a negative beta coefficient (BC = −26.5307; p = 0.014). Participants with a WHR < 0.839 showed no effect of GRS on LDL-c concentration, while those with a WHR > 0.839 exhibited a greater effect of GRS (~9) at lower LDL-c concentrations (~50 mg/dL) and a lesser effect of GRS (~7) at higher LDL-c concentrations (~250 mg/dL). Conclusions: A significant interaction between genetics and WHR influences LDL-c in Mexicans, which may contribute to the prevention and clinical management of dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease.

Policy makers are concerned about the socio-economic consequences of population ageing. Policies often rely on estimations of support ratios based solely on the population age structure. We estimate Generational Support Ratios (GSRs) considering health heterogeneity of the population age 60+ and education heterogeneity of their offspring. We explore the effect of a public policy that changes the education of a targeted sub-group of women when they are young on their health once they become older, taking into account changes in demographic processes (i.e.marriage, fertility, offspring's education). We used the model presented by Kyeet al.for the Korean context and examine the Mexican context. Our paper has three objectives. First, by applying this framework to the Mexican context we aim to find that improvements in women's education may mitigate the negative consequences of population ageing directly and indirectly through subsequent demographic behaviours that altogether affect GSRs. Second, by making a cross-national comparison between Korea and Mexico, we aim to quantify how policies of educational expansion have different impacts in contexts in which the population age 60+ have universal access to health care compared to contexts in which access to health care is selective. Third, by comparing cross-nationally we aim to show how differences in family processes across countries alter the pathways through which improvements in education affect GSRs.