Biosocial Pathways Affecting Health and Aging in the Health and Retirement Study

Chair(s)

• 

  Eric Klopack, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

  Postdoctoral Scholar
  Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
  University of Southern California
  Los Angeles, California, United States

Discussant(s)

• 

  Helen Meier, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers)

  Assistant Research Scientist
  Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research
  University of Michigan
  Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

• 

  Mateo Farina, PHD (he/him/his)

  Assistant Professor
  Human Development and Family Sciences
  University of Texas at Austin
  Austin, Texas, United States
• 

  Qiao Wu

  PhD Candidate
  Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
  University of Southern California
  Los Angeles, California, United States

  Slides
• JF

  Jessica Faul, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers)

  Research Associate Professor
  Survey Research Center
  University of Michigan
  Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

  Slides
• TS

  Trey Smith, BS (he/him/his)

  Bioinformatician
  Institute for Social Research
  University of Michigan
  Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

  Slides

Representative population studies, like the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), are gathering large amounts of biomarker and multi-omic data. This presents a unique opportunity to investigate how population-level aging effects is driven by social inequality. This research has the capacity to uncover targets for intervention that could result in extending longevity and healthy life span and reducing inequalities in aging. There has been substantial research and progress in identifying biological processes underlying age-related decline, morbidity, and mortality (the so-called biological hallmarks of aging); however, despite this progress, demographic, social, and psychological factors (the so-called social hallmarks of aging) are substantially associated with cognitive aging and ADRD above-and-beyond genetic and biological factors There is, therefore, a need for research that carefully integrates the social and biological hallmarks of the human aging processes. This symposium highlights research that investigates interactions between biological and social processes that lead to inequalities in health and aging among older adults utilizing recently released data from the HRS Venous Blood Study (a nationally representative sample of US adults over age 55). Included are papers investigating the role of timing of childhood adversity in affecting adult DNA methylation patterns, how childhood parental loss is associated with accelerated epigenetic aging, how socioeconomic status patterns expression of genes related to inflammation and cellular senescence, and how sets of age-related biomarkers can explain sociodemographic inequalities in mortality. These studies contribute to an emerging literature integrating social and biological sciences to better understand inequalities in the aging process.

Presentations:

• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

  Pathways Linking Parental Death Before 18 to Accelerated Epigenetic Aging
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Mateo Farina, PHD (he/him/his) – University of Texas at Austin
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

  Demographic Correlates of Aging-Related Gene Expression Levels Among Older Americans
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Qiao Wu – University of Southern California
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

  A Structured Approach to Evaluating Life Course Influences on DNA Methylation Age Acceleration
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Jessica Faul, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers) – University of Michigan
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

  BMI Polyepigenetic Scores Predict Future Chronic Conditions and Cholesterol
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Trey Smith, BS (he/him/his) – University of Michigan