Social Inequalities in Inflammation: Age Variations in Older Persons.

OBJECTIVE: Systemic inflammation is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and inequalities by race/ethnicity, gender, and education have been documented. However, there is incomplete knowledge as to how these disparities present across age, especially in late life. This study assesses whether differences in C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, are contingent on age among older persons.

METHOD: Data are from the 2006/2008 Health and Retirement Study ( n = 10,974) biomarker assessment. CRP was regressed on interactions between age and other status characteristics.

RESULTS: Racial/ethnic differences in inflammation do not vary significantly by age. However, gender and education differences are greatest at younger ages and then narrow steadily with increasing age.

DISCUSSION: There is considerable heterogeneity in how disparities in inflammation present across age and characteristics such as race/ethnicity, gender, and education. Understanding status differences in the influence of age on factors affecting late-life health is useful for health disparities research.