Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis-code-based algorithms to identify fall injuries in Medicare data are useful for ascertaining outcomes in interventional and observational studies. However, these algorithms have not been validated against a fully external reference standard, in ICD-10-CM, or in Medicare Advantage (MA) data. METHODS: We linked self-reported fall injuries leading to medical attention (FIMA) from the Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) trial (reference standard) to Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) and MA data from 2015-2019...

In the brain, environmental changes, such as neuroinflammation, can induce senescence, characterized by the decreased proliferation of neurons and dendrites and synaptic and vascular damage, resulting in cognitive decline. Senescence promotes neuroinflammatory disorders by senescence-associated secretory phenotypes and ROS. In human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMVECs), we demonstrate that chronological aging and irradiation increase death-associated protein kinase 3 (DAPK3) expression. To confirm the role of DAPK3 in HBMVEC senescence, we disrupted DAPK3 activity using small interfering RNA (siRNA) or a dominant-negative mutant (DAPK3-P216S), which reduced cellular senescence phenotypes, as assessed by changes in tube formation, senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity, and cell proliferation...

BACKGROUND: Despite significant support system disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about the relationship between social support and symptom burden among older adults following COVID-19 hospitalization. METHODS: From a prospective cohort of 341 community-living persons aged ≥60 years hospitalized with COVID-19 between June 2020-June 2021 who underwent follow-up at 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge, we identified 311 participants with ≥1 follow-up assessment...

BACKGROUND: The relationship of claims-based frailty index (CFI), a validated measure to identify frail individuals using Medicare data, and frailty measures used in clinical practice has not yet been fully explored. METHODS: We identified community-dwelling participants of the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) whose CFI scores could be calculated using linked Medicare claims. We calculated 9 commonly used clinical frailty measures from NHATS in-person examination: Study of Osteoporotic Fracture Index (SOF), FRAIL Scale, Frailty Phenotype, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), Vulnerable Elder Survey-13 (VES-13), Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI), Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS), and 40-item Frailty Index (FI)...

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether older adults with preclinical Alzheimer disease (AD) experience changes in postural sway compared to those without preclinical AD. The purpose of this study was to understand the effect of dual tasking on standing balance, or postural sway, for people with and without preclinical AD. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a longitudinal cohort study. Participants were cognitively normal older adults with and without preclinical AD...

BACKGROUND: Everyday discrimination-experiences of being treated unfairly based on background characteristics like race-is linked to poor physical and mental health throughout the lifespan. Whether more experiences of discrimination are associated with higher odds of being hospitalized in older African Americans has not been explored. METHODS: Community-dwelling participants from three longitudinal cohort studies (N=446, age 65+ years, with discrimination scores and ≥12 months of linked Medicare claims were included...

BACKGROUND: The associations of age at orthostatic hypotension onset with incident myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and dementia remain unknown. This study aimed to examine whether younger onset age of orthostatic hypotension was associated with higher risks of incident MI, stroke, and dementia. METHODS: Data were obtained from the UK Biobank. Information on the diagnosis of orthostatic hypotension, MI, stroke, and dementia was collected at baseline (2006-2010) and follow-ups (median=13 years)...

BACKGROUND: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is one of the most frequent non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the pathogenesis of EDS is unclear, and there is a lack of information on plasma biomarkers for EDS in PD. We aimed to investigate the plasma biomarkers of EDS in a large PD cohort. METHODS: A total of 159 PD patients were included in the prospective cohort study and followed up annually for three years. Plasma biomarkers including glial fibrillary acidic protein, amyloid-beta, p-tau181, and neurofilament light chain (NfL), were measured using an ultrasensitive single-molecule array (SimoaTM) technology at each visit...

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the association between previous incarceration and various geriatric and chronic health conditions among adults 50 and older in the United States. METHODS: Data came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health - Parent Study (AHPS) collected in 2015-2017, including 2,007 individuals who participated in the parent study (Parent Sample) and 976 individuals who participated in the spouse/partner study (Spouse/Partner Sample)...

BACKGROUND: Circulating levels of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been associated with frailty among Koreans (a population with a high intake of fish), but whether this association exists in Western populations with low fish intake is unknown. The present study examined the hypothesis that the prevalence of frailty was inversely associated with plasma levels of n-3 PUFAs, with the intake of oily fish, and with fish oil supplementation in older adults in the UK. METHODS: UK Biobank including 79,330 adults aged ≥ 65 years with dietary data, and 18,802 participants with plasma fatty acid data were used...

Aging is characterized by a progressive loss of cellular functions that increase the risk of developing chronic diseases, vascular dysfunction, and neurodegenerative conditions. The field of geroscience has identified cellular and molecular hallmarks of aging that may serve as targets for future interventions to reduce the risk of age-related disease and disability. These hallmarks include genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, deregulated nutrient-sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication...

The proportion of older adults in the U.S. is growing, and the older adult population is also becoming increasingly diverse. However, there are limited data on the aging process and older adults in underserved populations. Equitable participation in research studies on aging, the research workforce, and the healthcare workforce is critical to improve health outcomes for the entire U.S. population. Health disparities frameworks offer researchers and healthcare professionals the tools to develop and evaluate aging research that addresses all levels of analysis and domains of influence...

The inaugural Canadian Conferences on Translational Geroscience were held as two complementary sessions in October and November 2023. The conferences explored the profound interplay between the biology of aging, social determinants of health, the potential societal impact of geroscience and the maintenance of health in aging individuals. Although topics such as cellular senescence, molecular and genetic determinants of aging and prevention of chronic disease were addressed, the conferences went on to emphasize practical applications for enhancing older people's quality of life...

BACKGROUND: Although the role of the vascular component in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease is widely accepted and retinal vascular abnormalities are commonly observed in Parkinson's disease patients, evidence connecting retinal vascular disorders with the risk of developing Parkinson's disease is limited. We aimed to investigate the association between retinal vascular occlusion and the risk of developing Parkinson's disease in people over 60 years using a nationwide cohort...

BACKGROUND: It is imperative for public health to identify the factors that contribute to the progression of sarcopenia among middle-aged and older adults. Our study aimed to investigate the association between pain characteristics and the progression to sarcopenia and its subcomponents among middle-aged and older adults in China. METHODS: We included 5568 participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). All participants completed assessments for pain characteristics and sarcopenia...

BACKGROUND: Older adults are prone to live alone and feel lonely. The main objective of this study was to assess the associations of loneliness and living alone with cardiovascular disease (CVD) among community-dwelling older individuals in China. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal analysis on 3661 participants aged over 65 years from the latest 2014 and 2018 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the associations of loneliness and living alone with CVD risk, with adjustment for confounding factors...

There is consistent evidence that immune response declines with aging, with wide inter-individual variability and a still unclear relationship with the development of frailty. To address this question we assessed the role of immune resilience (capacity to restore immune functions), operationalized as the neutrophil-to-lymphocytes ratio (NL-ratio) and monocytes-to-lymphocytes ratio (ML-ratio), in the pathway that from robust status shifts to pre-frailty and frailty, and finally to death. The InCHIANTI study enrolled representative samples from the registry lists of two towns in Tuscany, Italy...

Alzheimer's disease is strongly linked to metabolic abnormalities. We aimed to distinguish amyloid-positive people who progressed to cognitive decline from those who remained cognitively intact. We performed untargeted metabolomics of blood samples from amyloid-positive individuals, before any sign of cognitive decline, to distinguish individuals who progressed to cognitive decline from those who remained cognitively intact. A plasma-derived metabolite signature was developed from Supercritical Fluid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (SFC-HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics...

Several population-based studies have reported that higher serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels are associated with brain morphological changes. However, no population-based studies have examined the relationship between serum NT-proBNP and various regional brain volumes in detail. We here analyzed the brain MRI data of 1,201 community-dwelling Japanese aged ≥65 years. Regional gray matter volumes (GMV) and intracranial volume (ICV) were estimated by applying voxel-based morphometry (VBM) methods...

BACKGROUND: Mechanistic factors on the pathway to improving independent ambulatory ability among hip fracture patients by a multicomponent home-based physical therapy intervention that emphasized aerobic, strength, balance, and functional training are unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of two different home-based physical therapy programs on muscle area and attenuation (reflects muscle density) of the lower extremities, bone mineral density, and aerobic capacity...