TY - JOUR T1 - Biopsychosocial Risk Profiles among African American and Non-Hispanic White Adults: Findings from The Health and Retirement Study. JF - The Journals of Gerontology: Series A Y1 - 2022 A1 - Karen D Lincoln A1 - Ann W Nguyen KW - cellular aging KW - Health Disparities KW - race KW - Telomeres AB -
BACKGROUND: Compared to Whites, African Americans have elevated risk for earlier onset fatal and non-fatal chronic conditions and accelerated aging. Despite these persistent race disparities, the causes remain poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to define a biopsychosocial risk typology that might explain accelerated aging in African Americans.
METHODS: Analyses were based on the African American and White subsample of the Health and Retirement Study (N=8,269). Latent class analysis was used to identify risk types. Chronic health conditions, salivary telomere length (STL), emotional support from family, negative interaction with family, early life adversities, and discrimination were used as class indicators. Latent class multinomial logistic regression was used to identify racial and demographic differences in risk type membership.
RESULTS: Three distinct risk types were identified: high risk, health risk, and psychosocial risk. African Americans were more likely than Whites to be assigned to the high risk type characterized by chronic health conditions, shorter STL, strained social relationships and high psychosocial stress. African Americans were less likely than Whites to be assigned to the health risk type characterized by chronic health conditions, shorter STL, optimal social relationships and low psychosocial stress.
CONCLUSIONS: The biopsychosocial risk typology accounted for population heterogeneity, identified high-risk profiles and modifiable factors within risk types that can inform current clinical interventions. The risk types also revealed different patterns of risk and resilience factors and shed light on the interplay between telomere length, stress exposure, chronic disease and accelerated aging in African Americans.
VL - 77 IS - 2 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Genomic data measures and methods: a primer for social scientists T2 - Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (Ninth Edition)Handbooks of Aging Y1 - 2021 A1 - Erin B Ware A1 - Jessica Faul ED - Kenneth F Ferraro ED - Deborah Carr KW - epigenetics KW - Genetics KW - Genomics KW - Telomeres AB - Recent advances in the field of genetics have produced a multitude of genomic data, which researchers are integrating increasingly into social science research. In this chapter, we discuss types of genomic data arising from the technological advances in the field of genetics including genome-wide variant data, DNA methylation, and telomere length. We outline several statistical genetics methodologies used to assess relationships between genomics and specific outcome such as genome-wide association studies, gene-region based tests, epigenetic aging clocks, and pathway enrichment tests. We highlight important social, epidemiological, and statistical considerations for incorporating genomics in the field of aging. Finally, we discuss what is on the horizon for aging, social science, and genomics. JF - Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (Ninth Edition)Handbooks of Aging PB - Academic Press SN - 978-0-12-815970-5 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Association of sleep quality with telomere length, a marker of cellular aging: A retrospective cohort study of older adults in the United States JF - Sleep Health Y1 - 2020 A1 - Iloabuchi, Chibuzo A1 - Innes, Kim E. A1 - Sambamoorthi, Usha KW - Biology of aging KW - Biomarkers KW - Population Health KW - sleep quality KW - Telomeres AB - BackgroundSleep quality is a risk factor for age-related diseases, and although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, the effects of poor sleep quality on telomere length (TL) may play a role.ObjectiveThe objective of the study was to evaluate the independent association between sleep quality and salivary TL in a large sample of older adults.DesignWe adopted a retrospective cohort design, and participants comprised 5,268 adults drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. We used the 2006 (baseline) and 2008 (follow-up) waves. Baseline sleep quality was assessed using 4 Likert scale questions (trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, waking up too early and not being able to fall sleep again, and feeling well rested in the morning). The TL was assessed using the T/S ratio, a continuous variable. The associations between sleep quality and T/S were assessed using multivariable ordinary least squares regressions. All analyses were adjusted for demographics, lifestyle characteristics, psychosocial, and other factors.ResultsOverall, 16% reported never feeling well rested in the morning; 25.7% of respondents always had trouble waking during the night; and 12.8% always had trouble waking up too early in the morning. Respondents who never felt rested in the morning had significantly shorter TL than those who always felt rested in the morning (adjusted beta = -0.08, standard error = 0.03, p < 0.01). The composite sleep measure was not significantly associated with shorter TL.ConclusionsIn this cohort of older adults, not feeling well rested in the morning was significantly and inversely associated with TL; however, the composite measure of sleep quality was not significantly associated with TL. These findings suggest a potential connection between one of the measures of impaired sleep and reduction in TL, a marker of cellular aging that has been linked to multiple chronic conditions. SN - 2352-7218 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sex differences in the association between salivary telomere length and multimorbidity within the US Health & Retirement Study JF - Age and Ageing Y1 - 2019 A1 - Niedzwiedz, Claire L. A1 - Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal A1 - Pell, Jill P. A1 - Smith, Daniel J. KW - Comorbidity KW - Genetics KW - Telomeres KW - Women and Minorities AB - Background Telomere length is associated with several physical and mental health conditions, but whether it is a marker of multimorbidity is unclear. We investigated associations between telomere length and multimorbidity by sex. Methods Data from adults (N = 5,495) aged ≥50 years were taken from the US Health and Retirement Study (2008–14). Telomere length was measured in 2008 from salivary samples. The cross-sectional associations between telomere length and eight chronic health conditions were explored using logistic regression, adjusting for confounders and stratified by sex. Logistic, ordinal and multinomial regression models were calculated to explore relationships between telomere length and multimorbidity (using a binary variable and a sum of the number of health conditions) and the type of multimorbidity (no multimorbidity, physical multimorbidity, or multimorbidity including psychiatric problems). Using multilevel logistic regression, prospective relationships between telomere length and incident multimorbidity were also explored. Results In cross-sectional analyses, longer telomeres were associated with reduced likelihood of lung disease and psychiatric problems among men, but not women. Longer telomeres were associated with lower risk of multimorbidity that included psychiatric problems among men (OR=0.521, 95% CI: 0.284 to 0.957), but not women (OR=1.188, 95% CI: 0.771 to 1.831). Prospective analyses suggested little association between telomere length and the onset of multimorbidity in men (OR=1.378, 95% CI: 0.931 to 2.038) nor women (OR=1.224, 95% CI: 0.825 to 1.815). Conclusions Although telomere length does not appear to be a biomarker of overall multimorbidity, further exploration of the relationships is merited particularly for multimorbidity including psychiatric conditions among men. VL - 48 UR - https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/48/5/703/5511442 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Social Relationships and Salivary Telomere Length Among Middle-Aged and Older African American and White Adults. JF - Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Y1 - 2019 A1 - Karen D Lincoln A1 - Donald A Lloyd A1 - Ann W Nguyen KW - African Americans KW - Social Relationships KW - Telomeres KW - Women and Minorities AB -Objectives: A common mechanism underlying premature morbidity may be accelerated biological aging as reflected by salivary telomere length (STL). This study examined the extent to which social relationships, both positive and negative, can be protective or confer risk relative to biological aging.
Method: Data from the Health and Retirement Study and multiple regression were used to examine cross-sectional associations between STL, self-reported social support, and negative interaction (e.g., conflict, criticism) with family in a nationally representative sample of African American and non-Hispanic White middle-aged and older adults (N = 4,080).
Results: Social support from family was associated with shorter STL. Negative interaction with family had no main effect on STL but interactions characterized by high social support and more frequent negative interactions were associated with longer STL. Negative interaction with family was negatively associated with STL for African Americans and Whites but the magnitude of the effect was greater for African Americans.
Discussion: Study findings highlight the role of social relationships in physiological deterioration among middle-aged and older adults and identify a potential mechanism whereby race is linked to accelerated biological aging. Findings highlight the importance of considering positive and negative aspects of social relationships to understand the consequences of social connections for cellular aging in diverse populations.
U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28486613?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Stress and salivary telomere length in the second half of life: A comparison of life-course models JF - Advances in Life Course Research Y1 - 2019 A1 - Willis, Margaret A1 - Ursula M. Staudinger A1 - Factor-Litvak, Pam A1 - Calvo, Esteban KW - Biomarkers KW - Depressive symptoms KW - Telomeres VL - 39 JO - Advances in Life Course Research ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Association of telomere length with general cognitive trajectories: a meta-analysis of four prospective cohort studies JF - Neurobiology of Aging Y1 - 2018 A1 - Zhan, Yiqiang A1 - Clements, Mark S. A1 - Rosebud O. Roberts A1 - Vassilaki, Maria A1 - Druliner, Brooke R. A1 - Boardman, Lisa A. A1 - Ronald C Petersen A1 - Chandra A Reynolds A1 - Nancy L Pedersen A1 - Hägg, Sara KW - Cognitive Ability KW - Gender Differences KW - Telomeres AB - To investigate the association of telomere length (TL) with trajectories of general cognitive abilities, we used data on 5955 participants from the Sex Differences in Health and Aging Study and the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging in Sweden, and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, and the Health and Retirement Study in the United States. TL was measured at baseline, while general cognitive ability was assessed repeatedly up to 7 occasions. Latent growth curve models were used to examine the associations. One standard deviation increase of TL was associated with 0.021 unit increase (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.001, 0.042) of standardized mean general cognitive ability. After controlling for sex, the point estimate remained similar (0.019) with a wider CI (95% CI: 0.002, 0.039). The association was attenuated with adjustment for educational attainment (0.009, 95% CI: 0.009, 0.028). No strong evidence was observed for the association of TL and decline in general cognitive ability. Longer TL was associated with higher general cognitive ability levels in the age-adjusted models but not in the models including all covariates, nor with cognitive decline. VL - 69 UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S019745801830160Xhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S019745801830160X?httpAccept=text/xmlhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S019745801830160X?httpAccept=text/plain JO - Neurobiology of Aging ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Does Telomere Length Indicate Biological, Physical and Cognitive Health Among Older Adults? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study. JF - Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences Y1 - 2018 A1 - Lauren L Brown A1 - Yuan S Zhang A1 - Colter Mitchell A1 - Jennifer A Ailshire KW - Biomarkers KW - Cognitive Ability KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Telomeres AB - Telomere length (TL) has been suggested as a biomarker that can indicate individual variability in the rate of aging. Yet, it remains unclear whether TL is related to recognized indicators of health in an aging, older nationally representative sample. We examine whether TL is associated with 15 biological, physical and cognitive markers of health among older adults ages 54+. TL was assayed from saliva using quantitative PCR (T/S ratio) in the 2008 Health and Retirement Study (n=4,074). We estimated probability of high risk levels across indictors of health by TL and age-singly and jointly. TL was associated with seven indicators of poor functioning: HDL and total cholesterol, cystatin C, pulse pressure, BMI, lung function, and walking speed. However, after adjusting for age, associations were substantially attenuated; only associations with cholesterol and lung function remained significant. Additionally, findings show TL did not add to the predictive power of chronological age in predicting poor functioning. While TL may not be a useful clinical marker of functional aging in an older adult population, it may still play an important role in longitudinal studies in young and middle aged populations that attempt to understand aging. VL - 73 IS - 7 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29346517?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Spousal concordance in telomere length: New evidence from older adults in the US. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2018 A1 - Jason M. Fletcher KW - Biomarkers KW - Couples KW - Marriage KW - Telomeres AB - Telomere length (TL) has been associated with a range of aging outcomes as well as mortality. Recent research has shown both high heritability (~70%) of TL as well as moderate spousal similarity (r~0.3) using European datasets. This paper explores the level of spousal concordance in telomere length in the Health and Retirement Study, a national sample of adults in the US. The results show that the spousal correlations are lower (r~0.11). Regression-based associations in TL in the US are low (beta~0.08) and also vary by the number of times respondents have been married, where spouses married a single time have higher associations in TL (beta~.12) than spouses married more once (beta~0.03). I also find variation in spousal TL association levels based on husband's education level. These findings suggest the possibility of both assortative mating patterns related to telomere length as well as likelihood of shared environmental factors that cause TL similarity in people who are socially connected. VL - 13 IS - 11 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30383762?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Discrimination and Telomere Length Among Older Adults in the United States. JF - Public Health Reports Y1 - 2017 A1 - Sze Y Liu A1 - Ichiro Kawachi KW - Discrimination KW - Older Adults KW - Racial/ethnic differences KW - Telomeres AB -OBJECTIVES: Chronic stress from experiencing discrimination can lead to long-term changes in psychological and physiologic responses, including shorter leukocyte telomere length. We examined the association between leukocyte telomere length and variations in the association by race or type of discrimination.
METHODS: Our study consisted of 3868 US-born non-Hispanic black (hereinafter, black) and non-Hispanic white (hereinafter, white) adult participants from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study biomarker sample with complete sociodemographic and discrimination information. We examined major lifetime unfair treatment and everyday discrimination. Coarsened exact matching matched exposed and unexposed participants on several sociodemographic factors. Coarsened exact matching creates analytic weights for the matched data sets. We applied weighted linear regression to the matched data sets. We conducted 2 subanalyses in which we matched on potential mediators-physical activity, smoking status, and obesity-and examined if racism was associated with shorter telomere length compared with other attributes. All analyses were stratified by race.
RESULTS: We found no difference in telomere length for black and white participants reporting major lifetime unfair treatment (β = 0.09; 95% CI, -0.33 to 0.15) or everyday discrimination (β = 0.04; 95% CI, -0.12 to 0.40). Everyday discrimination was associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length among black people (β = -0.23; 95% CI, -0.44 to -0.01) but not among white people (β = 0.05; 95% CI, -0.01 to 0.10). Matching on potential mediators generally decreased the effect estimate among black people.
CONCLUSIONS: Experiencing everyday discrimination was associated with shortened telomere length among older black adults. Further research is needed to understand the adverse physiologic effects of discrimination to create effective interventions.
ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The link between discrimination and telomere length in African American adults. JF - Health Psychology Y1 - 2017 A1 - Daniel B Lee A1 - Eric S Kim A1 - Enrique W Neblett KW - Discrimination KW - Racial/ethnic differences KW - Telomeres KW - Women and Minorities AB -OBJECTIVE: Prior work shows that discrimination is associated with a wide array of negative health outcomes. However, the biological mechanisms through which this link occurs require more study. We evaluated the association between discrimination and leukocyte telomere length (LTL; a biological marker of systemic aging).
METHOD: Cross-sectional data were from the Health and Retirement study, a study of people aged 51+ in the United States, and included 595 African American males and females. Multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate whether discrimination was independently associated with LTL. We also considered the role of potential confounders including sociodemographic factors, health factors, depressive symptoms, and stress.
RESULTS: High discrimination was associated with shorter LTL after controlling for sociodemographic factors (b = -.034, SE = 0.14, p = .017). This association persisted in analyses that further adjusted for health factors, depressive symptoms, and stress.
CONCLUSION: Results suggest that discrimination experiences accelerate biological aging in older African American males and females, alike. This finding helps advance our understanding of how discrimination generates greater disease vulnerability and premature death in African Americans. (PsycINFO Database Record
VL - 36 IS - 5 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28425738?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Processes linking religious involvement and telomere length. JF - Biodemography and Social Biology Y1 - 2017 A1 - Terrence D. Hill A1 - Preeti Vaghela A1 - Christopher G. Ellison A1 - Rote, Sunshine KW - Religion KW - Telomeres AB -Although numerous studies suggest that religious involvement is associated with better health and longer life expectancies, it is unclear whether these general patterns extend to cellular aging. The mechanisms linking indicators of religious involvement with indicators of cellular aging are also undefined. We employed longitudinal data from the 2004 and 2008 Health and Retirement Study, a national probability sample of Americans aged 50 and older, to test whether average telomere length varied according to level of religious attendance. We also tested several potential mechanisms. Our results showed that respondents who attended religious services more frequently in 2004 also exhibited fewer stressful events, lower rates of smoking, fewer symptoms of depression, and lower levels of C-reactive protein in 2008. Respondents who increased their level of attendance from 2004 to 2008 also exhibited lower rates of smoking in 2008. Although religious attendance was not directly associated with telomere length, our mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects through depression and smoking, but not stressful events or C-reactive protein. We conclude that religious attendance may promote telomere length indirectly by reducing symptoms of depression and the risk of smoking. There was no evidence to support stressful events or C-reactive protein as mechanisms of religious attendance.
VL - 63 IS - 2 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28521619?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - THES T1 - Examining Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Physical Disability Disparities in US Midlife and Older Adults. T2 - Biobehavioral Health Y1 - 2016 A1 - Amy D Thierry KW - Chronic stress KW - Disabilities KW - Telomeres AB - US population projections estimate that the number of adults over the age of 65 will double by 2050. In addition, chronic conditions and associated physical disability are increasing, particularly among racial/ethnic minorities. Although the role of psychosocial factors has been acknowledged in promoting development of physical disability, there is a dearth of research examining if chronic stress contributes to disparities. Therefore, three studies examined chronic stress-associated biobehavioral mechanisms that may explain higher rates of disability in black and Mexican American midlife and older adults compared to whites. Data used in these studies were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal survey of a nationally representative sample of US adults over the age of 50. Using data from the 2006 HRS wave of data collection, the first study examined differences in prevalence of eight chronic stressors by race/ethnicity and gender. Then, the relationship between number of chronic stressors and number of physical disabilities, measured as difficulty with functional limitations, activities of daily living (ADLs), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), was tested. Differences in the chronic stress-disability relationship were assessed by race/ethnicity and gender. Because unhealthy behaviors may be used as mechanisms to cope with stress, a second study using 2006 HRS data tested if unhealthy behavior-related risk factors—including currently smoking, heavy drinking, and being obese—moderated the relationship between chronic stress and physical disability. The contribution of unhealthy behaviors to racial/ethnic and gender disparities in physical disability outcomes, net of age, SES, and health status, was also assessed. Lastly, a third study assessed if telomere length, a biomarker of cellular age that may shorten from exposure to stress, may be implicated in physical disability development. This study tested the relationship between telomere length measured in 2008 and change in number of physical disabilities across a 6-year study period. Analytic results demonstrated that, on average, blacks and Mexican Americans reported more chronic stressors than whites. Overall, chronic stress was positively associated with physical disability. The gap in number of ADLs and IADLs between blacks and whites widened with increasing numbers of chronic stressors, while the number of these disabilities in Mexican Americans was less dependent upon chronic stress. Unhealthy behavioral risk factors moderated the chronic stress-disability relationship for ADLs and IADLs, such that increasing disability and number of chronic stressors were more pronounced in individuals with one or more unhealthy behavioral risks. Lastly, individuals with longer telomeres accumulated fewer disabilities over time. However, this relationship was found only in adults over 65, and did not depend on race/ethnicity or gender. Results from these three studies suggest that chronic stress may differentially increase risk for physical disability in blacks, and unhealthy behavioral risks may exacerbate disability development. Finally, telomere length may be involved in the disablement process such that shorter telomeres may promote the development of disability over time. JF - Biobehavioral Health PB - Pennsylvania State University CY - Happy Valley, PA VL - Ph.D. UR - https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/bg257f05g ER - TY - MGZN T1 - How Childhood Trauma Can Cause Premature Aging Y1 - 2016 A1 - Jeffrey T Kullgren KW - Aging KW - Childhood adversity KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Premature Aging KW - Telomeres JF - TIME UR - http://time.com/4516605/telomeres-aging-childhood/ ER - TY - THES T1 - A study of telomere length as a prospective biomarker of cancer risk T2 - Public Health Sciences Y1 - 2016 A1 - Zhang, Chenan KW - Cancer screenings KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Older Adults KW - Risk Factors KW - Telomeres AB - This dissertation is comprised of two peer-reviewed articles and one manuscript, aiming to identify knowledge gaps in terms of the role of telomere length as a biomarker of cancer. Individuals with relatively short telomeres in peripheral blood cells have been shown in epidemiological studies to be at increased risk for mortality and cancer, leading investigators to hypothesize that telomere length and attrition over the life-course is a critical mechanism underlying cancer and many other age-related health conditions. However, such associations are not consistent across all cancers or even within cancer types, with some studies showing null, or even opposite associations. Furthermore, due to the cross-sectional nature of case-control studies, from which most associations of telomere length and cancer risk are obtained, it is possible that telomere shortening occurs after diagnosis (due to the cancer itself or treatment effects), or is confounded by other common risk factors, and therefore may not be a true biomarker of subsequent cancer risk. I employed three strategies for addressing these potential issues: 1) use genetic polymorphisms that influence telomere length as proxies for telomere length to estimate associations between telomere length and cancer risk; 2) perform careful adjustment of potential confounders of the telomere length-cancer association, including the assessment of time-varying effects on smoking, a potential telomere length correlate; and 3) utilize a prospective study design in which baseline telomere length is measured prior to the development of any adverse health outcomes. In the first study of this dissertation (Chapter 2), I used a Mendelian randomization approach to estimate the associations between nine telomere length-associated SNPs and risk for five common cancer types (breast, lung, colorectal, ovarian and prostate cancer, including subtypes) using data on 51,725 cases and 62,035 controls. The long TL genetic score was significantly associated with increased risk of lung adenocarcinoma (P=6.3E -15), with an estimated odds ratio of 2.78. Under Mendelian randomization assumptions, this estimate was interpreted as the odds ratio for lung adenocarcinoma corresponding to a 1000 base pair increase in telomere length. The SNP score was not associated with other cancer types or subtypes. In the second study of this dissertation (Chapter 3), I estimated the associations between telomere length (measured by quantitative PCR using saliva DNA) and concurrent and past smoking status, reported biennially for up to 16 years prior to telomere length measurement, using data from the Health and Retirement Study (n=5,624). Smoking was associated with shorter telomere length when using prospective data on smoking status among men and women, but the association was strongly attenuated in cross-sectional analyses among men. This attenuation was largely due to a higher rate of smoking cessation during the study period among males with shorter telomere length compared to males with longer telomere length. Short telomere length was also associated with poorer overall health in men, suggesting that male smokers with short telomere length were more likely to quit smoking due to poor health. Analyses of years since cessation, smoking duration, and pack-years all support the hypothesis that increased cigarette use shortens telomere length. In the third study of this dissertation (Chapter 4), I investigated the association between arsenic exposure and telomere length, and the association between telomere length and incident arsenical skin lesion in the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS) in Araihazar, Bangladesh. In this prospective study, baseline telomere length was assessed in skin lesion-free subjects who were followed for up to 12 years. No association was observed between baseline arsenic exposure and telomere length. However, we observed higher incident skin lesion risk with shorter telomere length (Ptrend =4.6E-5), with odds ratios of 3.05, 1.30, and 1.21 for the first (shortest), second, and third telomere length quartiles compared to the longest. The role of telomere length as a biomarker of cancer appears to be striking yet nuanced. Addressing the existing knowledge gaps is a critical step towards clarifying the causal relationship between telomere length and cancer, and ultimately, improving cancer prediction and prevention. JF - Public Health Sciences PB - The University of Chicago CY - Chicago VL - Ph.D. SN - 9781339873671 UR - http://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1799644690?accountid=14667 ER -