Biosocial Surveys (2008) / Chapter Skim
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5 An Overview of Biomarker Research from Community and Population-Based Studies on Aging--Jennifer R. Harris, Tara L. Gruenewald, and Teresa Seeman
5 An Overview of Biomarker Research from Community and Population-Based Studies on Aging--Jennifer R. Harris, Tara L. Gruenewald, and Teresa Seeman
Pages 96-135
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From page 96... ...
Gruenewald, and Teresa Seeman T he goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of findings from community-based studies that have profitably incorporated bio markers along with more traditional interview data to address important questions regarding factors that affect health risks at older ages. The focus on older age stems from a series of activities (National Research Council, 1997, 2001a)
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From page 97... ...
We have organized the wide range of findings generated from the studies reviewed according to a number of critical thematic areas that emerged during our review. These include biomarkers and aging, genetic and environmental influences on risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD)
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From page 98... ...
up. Home urinary norepinephrine, epinephrine, the top third associated with more specimen cortisol and dopamine, resting and of this age successful aging collections -- postural blood pressure, waist/hip group in terms (i.e., maintenance phlebotomist ratio, peak flow rate (Mini-Wright of physical of higher cognitive collected meter)
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. Cardiovascular Representative Longitudinal cohort Clinic-based Resting and postural blood pressure, Health Study (CHS, sample of 5,000 study of risk factors collection ankle-arm index, fasting glucose, 1989; Fried et al., adults, ages for coronary heart of blood for insulin, 2-hour oral glucose tolerance 2001)
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from a prior study of community overnight visit total/HDL cholesterol, DHEAS, longitudinal relocation. to General salivary cortisol, waist/hip ratio, BMI.
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Women's Health WHAS I: cohort Longitudinal Home-based Fasted glucose, markers of and Aging Studies of women (n cohorts, followed specimen inflammation, growth factors (IGF(WHAS)
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variation in normal aging. Origins of Variance Swedish 5-wave longitudinal Blood samples Albumin, calcium, total cholesterol, in the Oldest-Old: twins ages study, measurements for clinical HDL cholesterol, creatinine, gammaOctogenarian Twins 80 and older.
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based. Study of Dementia Twins born in Cross-sectional, Collected in Whole blood, serum, plasma, DNA, in Swedish Twins or before 1935, 1998-2001.
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There is a growing literature in the behavioral sciences literature linking social and behavioral factors (ranging from sociocultural and neighborhood influences to interpersonal relations) to biomarkers and health (Berkman and Kawachi, 2000; Cacioppo, Hughes, Waite, Hawkley, and Thisted, 2006; Hawkley, Masi, Berry, and Cacioppo, 2006; House, Landis, and Umberson, 1988; Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2005; Ryff and Singer, 2001; Uchino, Cacioppo, and Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996; Wen, Hawkley, and Cacioppo, 2006)
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From page 105... ...
Examples of studies that have used clinic-based protocols successfully include the Women's Health and Aging Studies I and II, the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. Studies using home-based protocols include the MacArthur Study of Successful Aging (Berkman et al., 1993)
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From page 106... ...
In addition to expected findings showing that biochemical values deviate under disease states common among the elderly, a number of biological risk factors exhibit patterns of increasing risk with age, including blood pressure, glucose, and markers of inflammation and homocysteine, each of which is associated with risks for one or more common diseases of aging, such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, hip fracture, depression, and dementia (Nilsson et al., 2003a, 2003b)
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. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Risk Factors for CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE In certain respects, the strategy behind biomarker research reflects an endophenotype (intermediary phenotype)
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Twin and family studies provide ample evidence that biological risk factors (biomarkers) for cardiovascular disease, such as serum lipids and apolipoproteins, are also influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors.
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HARRIS, TARA L GRUENEWALD, AND TERESA SEEMAN 109 and environmental factors on cardiovascular risk factors in different countries (see Iliadou and Sneider, 2004, for a review)
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. A growing literature further indicates that health effects of social relationships persist importantly into older age, with evidence linking greater social integration or engagement to lower risks for cognitive decline (Bassuk, Glass, and Berkman, 1999; Seeman, Lusignolo, Albert, and Berkman, 2001a)
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HARRIS, TARA L GRUENEWALD, AND TERESA SEEMAN 111 risk has yielded evidence of an inverse relationship between levels of positive social engagement and cumulative risk for both men and women (Seeman, Singer, Ryff, and Levy-Storms, 2002)
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. Data from the Normative Aging Study also point to the potential importance of hostility as a factor affecting patterns of biological risk as well as major health outcomes.
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For example, in the MacArthur Study of Successful Aging, stored DNA has been used to assess telomere length, and analyses now under way are examining both relationships to subsequent health risks and predictors of TL. Behavior genetics Following the human genome project there has been a tremendous shift in the focus of behavioral genetic research that has moved this field more squarely into the realm of biomarker research.
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. Although linkage studies per se do not constitute strict biomarker research, the effort to identify biomarkers of complex behaviors is becoming more and more common, as illustrated by a recent special issue of Behavior Genetics, 36(1)
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After the initial discovery of the role of ApoE-4 for dementia, numerous works have examined the role of ApoE and the ApoE-4 variant in trajectories of normal aging as well as in the pathogenesis of other diseases. For example, analysis of stored samples in the MacArthur study confirmed that ApoE status is predictive of cognitive declines in this initially highfunctioning cohort (Bretsky, Guralnik, Launer, Albert, and Seeman, 2003)
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From page 116... ...
For example, analysis from the MacArthur Successful Aging Study revealed that the presence of the ApoE-4 allele was associated with greater declines in cognitive performance (based on detailed assessments of major domains of cognitive function, including naming, spatial recognition, praxis, and executive function) over a seven-year follow-up among the more educated but not among those with less than high school education; risks for cognitive decline were highest and comparable for those with and without the ApoE-4 allele (Seeman et al., 2005)
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However, ApoE-4 influences are more consistently reported for episodic versus working memory. Two other genes with mixed support as genetic risk factors for Alzheimer disease, A2M (alpha-2-macroglobulin)
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Data from the OCTO-Twin study revealed lower homocysteine values among those with intact cognitive function, a finding that contrasts results regarding dementia. These findings overlap somewhat with those from the MacArthur Study of Successful Aging and the NAS, both of which found that high levels of homocysteine and low levels of vitamin B and folate were associated with cognitive decline (Kado et al., 2005; Tucker, Qiao, Scott, Rosenberg, and Spiro, 2005)
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From page 119... ...
and IL-6 predict incident mobility disability, with those individuals with high levels of both biomarkers being at greatest risk. Loss of muscle strength and muscle mass may be one pathway involved in relationships between inflammation and physical disability, as high circulating levels of inflammatory biomarkers are associated with low muscle strength and muscle mass in study participants (Visser et al., 2002; Yende et al., 2006)
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, which has been associated with a number of indicators of health and functioning in study participants. Those with lower vitamin E levels were less likely to be frail (as assessed by an index of weight loss, low energy, slow gait, low grip strength, and low physical activity; Ble et al., 2006)
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. indices of cumulative biological risk Using available biomarker data, investigators associated with the MacArthur study have been among the leaders in efforts to develop operational indices of allostatic load (AL)
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. Using the MacArthur Study of Successful Aging protocols, the Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study (SEBAS)
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Findings linking aspects of life situations to major biological risk factors provides important evidence on two fronts. First, it provides validation for various biopsychosocial models of aging and helps elucidate biological pathways through which social, psychological, and behavioral factors affect trajectories of aging and risks for various health outcomes.
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in shaping patterns of biological risk and health trajectories. As also outlined in other chapters, data collection for other studies, such as the Health and Retirement Study and the reassessments currently under way for the Taiwan SEBAS study, will offer yet additional national and cross-national data, including socioeconomic, psychosocial, and biological data, that can be used to replicate and extend findings outlined here.
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. The normative aging study: An interdisciplinary and longitudinal study of health and aging.
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. The role of APOE ε4 in longitudinal cognitive decline in an elderly cohort: MacArthur studies of success ful aging.
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. A prospective analysis of risk factors for white matter disease in the brain stem: The Cardiovascular Health Study.
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. Risk factors for 5-year mortality in older adults: The Car diovascular Health Study.
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. The associations be tween socioeconomic status, allostatic load and measures of health in older Taiwanese persons: Taiwan social environment and biomarkers of aging study.
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. Increase in epinephrine excretion is associated with cognitive decline in elderly men: MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging.
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. Relations of bone and blood lead to cognitive function: The VA Normative Aging Study.
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. Disability, physical activity, and muscle strength in older women: The Women's Health and Aging Study.
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. Exploring a new concept of cumulative biological risk -- allostatic load and its health consequences: MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging.
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. High homocysteine and low B vitamins predict cognitive decline in aging men: The Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study.
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. Interleukin-6 as a predictor of cognitive function and cognitive decline: MacArthur Studies of Success ful Aging.
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