TY - JOUR T1 - Social stressors associated with age-related T lymphocyte percentages in older US adults: Evidence from the US Health and Retirement Study. JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Y1 - 2022 A1 - Klopack, Eric T A1 - Eileen M. Crimmins A1 - Cole, Steve W A1 - Seeman, Teresa E A1 - Carroll, Judith E KW - Aging KW - Immunosenescence KW - socioeconomic status KW - Stress AB -

Exposure to stress is a risk factor for poor health and accelerated aging. Immune aging, including declines in naïve and increases in terminally differentiated T cells, plays a role in immune health and tissue specific aging, and may contribute to elevated risk for poor health among those who experience high psychosocial stress. Past data have been limited in estimating the contribution of life stress to the development of accelerated immune aging and investigating mediators such as lifestyle and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. This study utilizes a national sample of 5,744 US adults over age 50 to assess the relationship of social stress (viz., everyday discrimination, stressful life events, lifetime discrimination, life trauma, and chronic stress) with flow cytometric estimates of immune aging, including naïve and terminally differentiated T cell percentages and the ratio of CD4 to CD8 cells. Experiencing life trauma and chronic stress was related to a lower percentage of CD4 naïve cells. Discrimination and chronic stress were each associated with a greater percentage of terminally differentiated CD4 cells. Stressful life events, high lifetime discrimination, and life trauma were related to a lower percentage of CD8 naïve cells. Stressful life events, high lifetime discrimination, and chronic stress were associated with a higher percentage of terminally differentiated CD8 cells. High lifetime discrimination and chronic stress were related to a lower CD4:CD8 ratio. Lifestyle factors and CMV seropositivity partially reduced these effects. Results identify psychosocial stress as a contributor to accelerating immune aging by decreasing naïve and increasing terminally differentiated T cells.

VL - 119 IS - 25 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sex, Race, and Age Differences in Prevalence of Dementia in Medicare Claims and Survey Data JF - The Journals of Gerontology: Series B Y1 - 2021 A1 - Zhu, Yingying A1 - Chen, Yi A1 - Eileen M. Crimmins A1 - Julie M Zissimopoulos KW - cognitive tests KW - diagnosis codes KW - neuropsychological assessment KW - racial/ethnic minorities KW - Trends AB - This study provides the first comparison of trends in dementia prevalence in the US population using three different dementia ascertainments/data sources: neuropsychological assessment, cognitive tests, and diagnosis codes from Medicare claims.We used data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study and Aging, Demographics and Memory Study, and a 20% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries. We compared dementia prevalence across the three sources by race, gender, and age. We estimated trends in dementia prevalence from 2006 to 2013 based on cognitive tests and diagnosis codes utilizing logistic regression.Dementia prevalence among older adults aged 70 and above in 2004 was 16.6% (neuropsychological assessment), 15.8% (cognitive tests), and 12.2% (diagnosis codes). The difference between dementia prevalence based on cognitive tests and diagnosis codes diminished in 2012 (12.4% and 12.9% respectively), driven by decreasing rates of cognitive test-based and increasing diagnosis codes-based dementia prevalence. This difference in dementia prevalence between the two sources by sex and for age groups 75 to 79 and 90 and above vanished over time. However, there remained substantial differences across measures in dementia prevalence among blacks and Hispanics (10.9 and 9.8 percentage points respectively) in 2012.Our results imply that ascertainment of dementia through diagnosis may be improving over time, but gaps across measures among racial/ethnic minorities highlight the need for improved measurement of dementia prevalence in these populations. VL - 76 SN - 1079-5014 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Social hallmarks of aging: Suggestions for geroscience research JF - Ageing Research Reviews Y1 - 2020 A1 - Eileen M. Crimmins KW - Biological age – chronological age KW - Hallmarks of aging KW - Social determinants of aging AB - This paper focuses on the idea that there are clear social hallmarks of aging including low lifetime socioeconomic status, adversity in childhood and adulthood, being a member of a minority group, adverse health behaviors, and adverse psychological states. The “Social Hallmarks of Aging” are analogous to the “Geroscience Hallmarks of Aging” in reflecting a set of underlying and interrelated social causes of multiple agerelated health outcomes. This paper presents empirical work incorporating the social hallmarks of aging with indicators of multiple biological hallmarks of aging as well downstream biology in explaining a range of health outcomes in order to show the relative strength of the associations of social and biological measures with important health outcomes. Social factors are strongly related to physical and cognitive functioning and multimorbidity in this older population and this remains true when the significant number of biological measures are controlled. This can be interpreted to mean that a significant amount of social variance in age-related health outcomes is not explained by these measures of biology. Indicators of the geroscience hallmarks of aging only relate modestly to the variability in human health outcomes. Attention to the social hallmarks related to human aging can usefully be incorporated into work on the biological hallmarks of aging to make greater progress in understanding human aging. VL - 63 SN - 1568-1637 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Social characteristics and health status of exceptionally long-lived Americans in the Health and Retirement Study. JF - J Am Geriatr Soc Y1 - 2011 A1 - Jennifer A Ailshire A1 - Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez A1 - Eileen M. Crimmins KW - Age Factors KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Female KW - Geriatric Assessment KW - Health Status KW - Humans KW - Longevity KW - Longitudinal Studies KW - Male KW - Social Class KW - Sociology KW - United States AB -

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the social characteristics and physical, functional, mental, and cognitive health of exceptional survivors in the United States and how the experience of exceptional longevity differs according to social status.

DESIGN: Nationally representative longitudinal study of older Americans.

SETTING: United States.

PARTICIPANTS: One thousand six hundred forty-nine men and women born from 1900 to 1911 from the Health and Retirement Study: 1,424 nonsurvivors who died before reaching the age of 97 and 225 exceptional survivors who survived to age 97 and older.

MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported data on sociodemographic characteristics, social environment, physical and mental health, and physical and cognitive function.

RESULTS: At baseline, exceptional survivors were more likely to live independently and had fewer diseases, better mental health, and better physical and cognitive function than those who did not survive to age 97. Exceptional survivors experienced declines from baseline in all health domains upon reaching 97 years of age, but between one-fifth and one-third of exceptional survivors remained disease free, with no functional limitations or depressive symptoms, and one-fifth retained high cognitive function. Of exceptional survivors, men were healthier than women, and whites were generally healthier than nonwhites. Highly educated exceptional survivors had better cognitive function than their less-educated counterparts.

CONCLUSION: On average, exceptional survivors are relatively healthy and high functioning for most of their lives and experience health declines only upon reaching maximum longevity. Heterogeneity in the population of exceptionally old adults indicates that, although many individuals reach maximum longevity in a state of poor health and functioning, a considerable portion of exceptional survivors remain healthy and high-functioning even in very old age.

PB - 59 VL - 59 IS - 12 N1 - Ailshire, Jennifer A Beltran-Sanchez, Hiram Crimmins, Eileen M United States Journal of the American Geriatrics Society J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011 Dec;59(12):2241-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03723.x. U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22188072?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3470876 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Socioeconomic Differentials in Mortality and Health at the Older Ages JF - Genus Y1 - 2005 A1 - Eileen M. Crimmins KW - Demographics KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Healthcare PB - LXI VL - 61 IS - 1 U4 - MORTALITY/socioeconomic Status/health outcomes ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Significance of Socioeconomic Status in Explaining the Racial Gap in Chronic Health Conditions JF - American Sociological Review Y1 - 2000 A1 - Mark D Hayward A1 - Eileen M. Crimmins A1 - Toni Miles A1 - Yang, Yu KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Net Worth and Assets AB - Using Wave 1 (1992) and Wave 2 (1994) of the Health and Retirement Study the researchers try to detect the differences in life without health problems between different races so as to understand disparities in mortality rate and quality of life. Do Blacks have a higher risk of acquiring chronic health impairments of all types? How do differences in social conditions produce differences in the prevalence of fatal chronic diseases among races? The researchers notice that Blacks have a lower chance of surviving to middle age then do Whites. Blacks have a far greater level of morbidity in middle age, as well as, chances in having multiple fatal disease conditions. The author s give possible reasons for their findings, with much of it based on social status and life events. PB - 65 VL - 65 U4 - Health Status/Economic Status ER -