A Model of Accelerated Aging: Social, Political, Economic, Environmental, and Biological Factors' Effects on Osteoporosis, High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein, and Telomere Length

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R15 · $389,611 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Abstract Osteoporosis, due to aging, is a significant public health concern across the world because of the association with fractures. Fractures are expected to be increasingly costly for the government and individuals in the United States due to the large aging population of Baby Boomers. Accelerated aging may further compound these effects, yet our understanding of the causes of accelerated aging is incomplete. Prolonged stress from social, economic, biological, environmental, and political factors appears to cause an increase in inflammatory biomarkers, such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP). Many such stressors have also been linked to osteoporosis and shortened telomere length (STL), but definitive answers about whether these outcomes are a consequence of increased inflammation are missing because most studies have focused only on a subset of potential stressors and have not explored the wide range of variables that could potentially affect these indicators. In this study we develop a holistic model of the relationship among biological, social, economic, political, and environmental stressors, inflammation (measured via CRP), and osteoporosis and STL (as indicators of accelerated aging), which is a novel contribution to the field. We consider the possibility of heterogeneous treatment effects of inflammation on outcomes. We further create a disease risk score tool for use in public health or clinical settings to assess the risk of accelerated aging for osteoporosis and STL, that can incorporate CRP values from CRP point-of-care testing and is based on exposure to relevant stressors. To accomplish these aims we analyze data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), in combination with contextual data from the following sources: 1) the HRS Contextual Data Resource (HRS-CDR), 2) The Dynamics of State Policy Liberalism, 1936-2014 (political data), 3) Environmental Protection Agency (air quality), and 4) Environmental Working Group (EWG) (water-quality data). We expect our findings to shift how researchers and clinicians think about stressors by considering a variety of sources and evaluating how those stressors affect inflammation and osteoporosis and STL. Furthermore, our disease risk score tool has the potential to change the way clinicians practice preventive medicine and reduce health disparities as a result.

Key facts

NIH application ID
9880678
Project number
1R15AG063330-01A1
Recipient
UNIVERSITY OF LA VERNE
Principal Investigator
Christine Ann Broussard
Activity code
R15
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$389,611
Award type
1
Project period
2020-02-15 → 2024-01-31