Elevated inflammation in late life: Predictors and outcomes .
详细信息
- 作者：Alley ; Dawn Elizabeth.
- 学历：Doctor
- 年：2006
- 导师：Crimmins, Eileen M.
- 毕业院校：University of Southern California
- 专业：Gerontology.;Health Sciences, Public Health.;Health Sciences, Epidemiology.
- ISBN：9780542927799
- CBH：3238304
- Country：USA
- 语种：English
- FileSize：1153851
- Pages：127
文摘
The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relationships between inflammation, age, and social, biological, and disease characteristics in order to increase our understanding about the pathways through which inflammation rises with age and increases risk for poor health outcomes. Previous research suggests that elevated inflammation, as indicated by serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP), is associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, disability, and mortality. However, research on the determinants of inflammation in older people is limited. Furthermore, we have only a very limited understanding of the mechanisms through which inflammation affects disease processes.;First, in order to investigate CRP differences by socioeconomic status, multinomial logistic regression models were performed using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002 (N=6946) to estimate the probability of differing clinical CRP levels by poverty status. Results demonstrate that individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds have an 82% greater chance of having very high CRP (>10mg/L), and much of this association is accounted for by differences in the prevalence of recent illness, poor health behaviors, and chronic disease. Next, two waves from the InCHIANTI study (N=709) were used to investigate the stability of inflammatory markers over a three-year period. Both IL-6 and CRP were moderately reproducible, and baseline values were the strongest predictor of subsequent change. Finally, in order to investigate the association between inflammation and cognitive decline, three waves of the MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging (N=846) were used to estimate growth curve models predicting change in cognitive function. IL-6 and CRP were moderately associated with baseline differences in some cognitive measures, but were not associated with the rate of cognitive decline. However, elevated IL-6 was related to the risk of incident declines in mental status, suggesting that the relationship between high IL-6 and subsequent cognitive impairment may be related to an underlying pathology. Taken together, these results suggest that increases in IL-6 and CRP are related to a range of factors, including acute illness, health behaviors, and chronic conditions, that have important health effects late in life.