scholarly journals How Are Epigenetic Modifications Related to Cardiovascular Disease in Older Adults?

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (18) ◽  
pp. 9949
Author(s):  
Mojgan Gharipour ◽  
Arya Mani ◽  
Mona Amini Baghbahadorani ◽  
Camila Kellen de Souza Cardoso ◽  
Shayesteh Jahanfar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
Epigenetic Modification ◽  
Epigenetic Modifications ◽  
Preventive Strategy ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Life Course

The rate of aging has increased globally during recent decades and has led to a rising burden of age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). At the molecular level, epigenetic modifications have been shown recently to alter gene expression during the life course and impair cellular function. In this regard, several CVD risk factors, such as lifestyle and environmental factors, have emerged as key factors in epigenetic modifications within the cardiovascular system. In this study, we attempted to summarized recent evidence related to epigenetic modification, inflammation response, and CVD in older adults as well as the effect of lifestyle modification as a preventive strategy in this age group. Recent evidence showed that lifestyle and environmental factors may affect epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, histone acetylation, and miRNA expression. Several substances or nutrients such as selenium, magnesium, curcumin, and caffeine (present in coffee and some teas) could regulate epigenetics. Similarly, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, air pollutants, psychological stress, and shift working are well-known modifiers of epigenetic patterns. Understanding the exact ways that lifestyle and environmental factors could affect the expression of genes could help to influence the time of incidence and severity of aging-associated diseases. This review highlighted that a healthy lifestyle throughout the life course, such as a healthy diet rich in fibers, vitamins, and essential elements, and specific fatty acids, adequate physical activity and sleep, smoking cessation, and stress control, could be useful tools in preventing epigenetic changes that lead to impaired cardiovascular function.

Abstract 14677: Distribution of 10- and 30-year Predicted Risks for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in the United States: NHANES 2015 to 2018

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilay S Shah ◽  
Hongyan Ning ◽  
Amanda Perak ◽  
Norrina B Allen ◽  
John T Wilkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Risk Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Ascvd Risk ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Predicted Risk

Introduction: Premature fatal cardiovascular disease rates have plateaued in the US. Identifying population distributions of short- and long-term predicted risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) can inform interventions and policy to improve cardiovascular health over the life course. Methods: Among nonpregnant participants age 30-59 years without prevalent CVD from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2015-18, continuous 10 year (10Y) and 30 year (30Y) predicted ASCVD risk were assigned using the Pooled Cohort Equations and a 30-year competing risk model, respectively. Intermediate/high 10Y risk was defined as ≥7.5%, and high 30Y risk was chosen a priori as ≥20%, based on 2019 guideline levels for risk stratification. Participants were combined into low 10Y/low 30Y, low 10Y/high 30Y, and intermediate/high 10Y categories. We calculated and compared risk distributions overall and across race-sex, age, body mass index (BMI), and education using chi-square tests. Results: In 1495 NHANES participants age 30-59 years (representing 53,022,413 Americans), median 10Y risk was 2.3% and 30Y risk was 15.5%. Approximately 12% of individuals were already estimated to have intermediate/high 10Y risk. Of those at low 10Y risk, 30% had high 30Y predicted risk. Distributions differed significantly by sex, race, age, BMI, and education (P<0.01, Figure ). Black males more frequently had high 10Y risk compared with other race-sex groups. Older individuals, those with BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 , and with ≤high school education had a higher frequency of low 10Y/high 30Y risk. Conclusions: More than one-third of middle-aged U.S. adults have elevated short- or long-term predicted risk for ASCVD. While the majority of middle-aged US adults are at low 10Y risk, a large proportion among this subgroup are at high 30Y ASCVD risk, indicating a substantial need for enhanced clinical and population level prevention earlier in the life course.

scholarly journals Harmonisation and Between-Country Differences of the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire in Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Ourry ◽  
Natalie L. Marchant ◽  
Ann-Katrin Schild ◽  
Nina Coll-Padros ◽  
Olga M. Klimecki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
International Comparisons ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Behavioural Determinants ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
The Life Course

Background: The Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) assesses complex mental activity across the life-course and has been associated with brain and cognitive health. The different education systems and occupation classifications across countries represent a challenge for international comparisons. The objectives of this study were four-fold: to adapt and harmonise the LEQ across four European countries, assess its validity across countries, explore its association with brain and cognition and begin to investigate between-country differences in life-course mental activities.Method: The LEQ was administered to 359 cognitively unimpaired older adults (mean age and education: 71.2, 13.2 years) from IMAP and EU-funded Medit-Ageing projects. Education systems, classification of occupations and scoring guidelines were adapted to allow comparisons between France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom. We assessed the LEQ's (i) concurrent validity with a similar instrument (cognitive activities questionnaire - CAQ) and its structural validity by testing the factors' structure across countries, (ii) we investigated its association with cognition and neuroimaging, and (iii) compared its scores between countries.Results: The LEQ showed moderate to strong positive associations with the CAQ and revealed a stable multidimensional structure across countries that was similar to the original LEQ. The LEQ was positively associated with global cognition. Between-country differences were observed in leisure activities across the life-course.Conclusions: The LEQ is a promising tool for assessing the multidimensional construct of cognitive reserve and can be used to measure socio-behavioural determinants of cognitive reserve in older adults across countries. Longitudinal studies are warranted to test further its clinical utility.

scholarly journals KEEPING THINGS, BUT ONLY FOR A WHILE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S362-S363
Author(s):  
David J Ekerdt
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Museum Objects ◽  
Entire World ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Aging Adults ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract The life course is accomplished by material culture held as a convoy of possessions, but also sustained by public affordances and amenities that include the artifacts and artworks to be found in museums. In both places—household and museum—objects come and go, but there is mainly keeping. The difference lies in the capacity to keep things indefinitely: it is virtue for museums but a predicament for households of aging adults. Museums model ideals of permanence and responsibility toward things, ideals that, in the long run, households can only faintly attain. For older adults and for gerontologists, preservation is the wrong lesson to take away from the galleries. Rather, what we can learn there is how single, selected things can show, in a thoughtful way, an entire world of ideas and universe of meaning. No need to keep it all—and forever—but we can honor things while we can. ​

scholarly journals Dietary Supplements: Which Place between Food and Drugs?

Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
Catherine Féart
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Dietary Supplements ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Dietary Habits ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Global Burden ◽  
Aging Societies ◽  
The Life Course

Healthy dietary habits and food choices, a part of lifestyle, are recognized as major environmental factors for the prevention of non-communicable chronic diseases over the life course; their modifiable features promise a reduced socio-economic global burden load in aging societies [...]

Volunteerism and the Life Course: Investigating Age-Related Agendas for Action

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen M. Omoto ◽  
Mark Snyder ◽  
Steven C. Martino
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Life Course

Sexy till I die: What applied theatre can offer in approaches to sexual health

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-375
Author(s):  
Leah Tidey
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
The Social ◽  
Applied Theatre ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract For older adults in Canada, too often shame and silence describe their experiences of sexual health. With more citizens over the age of 65 than ever before and increasing rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in older adults, we are facing a serious issue. Applied theatre offers an innovative approach to deconstructing social stigma in sexuality across the life course, whereby new understandings and perceptions may emerge for people of all ages. The usefulness, gaps and application of three different approaches to sexual health issues are examined to highlight innovations in addressing sexual health and critique ageist, sexist and heteronormative assumptions through a feminist, critical pedagogy lens. The analysis culminates in a proposed outline for an intergenerational, community-based theatre project to address the social stigma of sexuality across the life course entitled You're Doing What?! At Your Age?!

Play moods across the life course in SKAM fandom

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Line Nybro Petersen ◽  
Vilde Schanke Sundet
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Target Audience ◽  
Fan Studies ◽  
Fan Communities ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Fan Practices ◽  
The Life Course

This article considers fans’ playful digital practices and focuses on the play moods that are co-constructed in online fan communities. We analyse how these play moods are negotiated across the life course for participating fans. Play moods are closely tied to the playful modes of fan practices, and by gaining a greater understanding of the moods that fans engage in at different stages of their life course we gain new insights into fan play as it relates to issues of age-related norms in fan communities. Specifically, this article analyses the Norwegian teenage streaming drama SKAM (Shame) (NRK, 2015‐17), which was produced for a target audience of 16-year-old Norwegian girls but ended up capturing the hearts of people of all ages across Scandinavia and internationally. This study is based on interviews with 43 Scandinavian fans aged between 13 and 70. The participants were all active on social media (Facebook, Instagram, the show’s blog, etc.) while the show was on the air and the interviews offers insights into issues of age-appropriateness as it relates to fan practices. As such, fans ‘police’ both themselves and each other based on perceptions of age, while also engaging in practices that are by nature playful and may be considered subjectively and culturally ‘youthful’ or ‘childish’. The article combines theory of play and fan studies with a focus on the life course and cultural gerontology in order to highlight these tendencies in the SKAM fandom.

Health in a ‘post-transition’ Australia: adding years to life or life to years?

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Begg
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Primary Prevention ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Health Expectancy ◽  
Average Life Span ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Life Course

Objective To explore the likely impact of future trajectories of morbidity and mortality in Australia. Methods Estimates of mortality and morbidity were obtained from a previous assessment of Australia’s health from 1993 to 2003, including projections to 2023. Outcomes of interest were the difference between life expectancy (LE0) and health-adjusted life expectancy (i.e. absolute lost health expectancy (ALHE0)), ALHE0 as a proportion of LE0 and the partitioning of changes in ALHE0 into additive contributions from changes in age- and cause-specific mortality and morbidity. Results Actual and projected trajectories of mortality and morbidity resulted in an expansion of ALHE0 of 1.22 years between 1993 and 2023, which was equivalent to a relative expansion of 0.7% in morbidity over the life course. Most (93.8%) of this expansion was accounted for by cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer; of these, the only unfavourable trend of any note was increasing morbidity from diabetes. Conclusions Time spent with morbidity will most likely increase in terms of numbers of years lived and as a proportion of the average life span. This conclusion is based on the expectation that gains in LE0 will continue to exceed gains in ALHE0, and has important implications for public policy. What is known about the topic? Although the aging of Australia’s population as a result of declining birth and death rates is well understood, its relationship with levels of morbidity is not always fully appreciated. This is most noticeable in the policy discourse on primary prevention, in which such activities are sometimes portrayed as having unrealised potential with respect to alleviating growth in health service demand. What does this paper add? This paper sheds new light on these relationships by exploring the likely impact of future trajectories of both morbidity and mortality within an additive partitioning framework. The results suggest a modest expansion of morbidity over the life course, most of which is accounted for by only three causes. In two of these (cardiovascular disease and cancer), the underlying trends in both mortality and morbidity have been favourable for some time due, at least in part, to success in primary prevention. What are the implications for practitioners? Although there may be good arguments in favour of a greater focus on primary prevention as currently practiced, reducing overall demand for health services is unlikely to be one of them. To make such an argument valid, policy makers should consider shifting their attention to the effectiveness of primary prevention as it relates to causes other than cardiovascular disease and cancer, particularly those with a predominantly non-fatal impact, such as diabetes and degenerative diseases of old age.

scholarly journals FAMILY-MEMBER LOSS AS A CUMULATIVE BURDEN FOR HEALTH AMONG BLACK AND WHITE OLDER ADULTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S604-S604
Author(s):  
Rachel Donnelly
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Family Member ◽  
Functional Limitations ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Cardiometabolic Health ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Family Loss ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract The health consequences of multiple family member deaths across the life course has received less attention in the bereavement literature. Moreover, recent research shows that black Americans are more likely than white Americans to lose multiple family members. I analyze longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2014) to assess how multiple family member losses across the life course are associated with declines in health among older adults. Findings suggest that multiple family losses prior to midlife are associated with a number of indicators of poor health (e.g., functional limitations, cardiometabolic health) and steeper declines in health as individuals age. Losses after midlife additionally undermine health declines for older adults. Thus, family member loss functions as a cumulative burden of stress across the life course that erodes health in mid- and later-life. Family loss disproportionately burdens black Americans and serves as a unique source of disadvantage for black families.

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