Measuring stress and epigenetic aging among Black older adults in community-based longitudinal studies of aging

项目摘要 压力是健康和衰老中种族/民族差异的基本途径。黑人老年人的经验 在他们的生命过程中，压力更大，年龄比其他群体更快，这一点可以从大多数疾病的发病时间更早得到证明。 疾病和生物、身体和认知功能的下降。其中一个潜在的机制 将压力与多种与年龄有关的疾病联系起来的是表观遗传变化，现在被称为“老年人的标志之一”。 老化”大量不同的国家数据集投入了时间和金钱来收集DNA甲基化 （DNAm）--表观遗传变化的一种常用测量方法--在多种族样本中，提供了机制性的见解 个体对环境压力的分子反应，这些压力是疾病过程的基础， 我们对健康方面的社会差异所体现的生物过程的理解。整合 表观遗传学到人口水平的种族为基础的健康差距的研究是重要的，因为不平等， 种族/少数民族人口的快速老龄化以及不同研究中对DNAm的巨大投资 设计、种族/民族、祖先和不同年龄。建议的项目比较应力， 黑人和非洲血统老年人各年龄段的人体测量、生物学和表观遗传年龄特征 健康与退休研究（HRS）和长寿研究中的队列（10岁和长寿） 非裔美国人家庭的压力（SOLSAA）坐在基因组数据革命的风口浪尖上， 建议将确保我得到我需要的培训，作为一个生物社会老年学家独立工作与社会 压力，生物社会和表观遗传数据在不同的数据集的老年黑人成年人，并实现目标 在这份提案中。通过K 01职业发展奖，我将联合收割机结合我的丰富经验 研究压力和衰老方面的种族/民族差异，并将获得分子生物学方面的额外培训， 生物信息学、流行病学、表观遗传机制、生物伦理学和专业发展。圣地亚哥 州立大学公共卫生学院是接受培训期间所需技能的理想场所 考虑到多学科性质和通过联合博士课程与UCSD的密切联系， 斯坦老龄化研究所和圣地亚哥阿尔茨海默病资源中心以及可用性 课程，并从遗传流行病学，社会基因组学和生物信息学的领导者指导。 完成培训和研究目标后，将编写科学报告和出版物， 数据成功竞争R 01资金，整合纵向DNAm数据（目前正在收集） 在不同的，纵向队列研究老龄化与生命历程的压力和纵向健康结果。这 该项目将改善黑人社区的老龄化措施，提供更准确的老龄化情况 体验.这项研究还将支持老龄化研究的范式转变，将医学框架与 以黑人为中心的社会框架，挑战种族化的健康叙述，提高我们对 老龄化，并支持黑人人口中老龄化资源规划的洞察力。

PROJECT SUMMARY Stress is a fundamental pathway to race/ethnic variation in health and aging. Black older adults experience more stressors over their life course and age faster than other groups as evidenced by earlier onset of most diseases and declines in biological, physical and cognitive functioning. One of the underlying mechanisms connecting stress to multiple age-related diseases is epigenetic changes, now termed one of the “hallmarks of aging.” Large, diverse national data sets have invested time and money in collecting DNA methylation (DNAm)—a common measure of epigenetic changes—in multiethnic samples, providing mechanistic insights into an individual’s molecular response to environmental stressors that underlie disease processes and inform our understanding of the biological processes through which social disparities in health manifest. Integrating epigenetics into population-level race-based health disparities research is important given the unequal, and rapid aging of racial/ethnic minority populations and the huge investment in DNAm across different study designs, race/ethnic groups, ancestries, and at different ages. The proposed project compares the stress, anthropometric, biological, and epigenetic age profiles of Black and African ancestry older adults across age cohorts (young-old and long-lived) in both the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Study of Longevity and Stress in African American Families (SOLSAA). Sitting at the cusp of the genomic data revolution, this proposal will ensure I get the training I need as a biosocial gerontologist to work independently with social stress, biosocial, and epigenetic data across distinct data sets of older Black adults and fulfill the objectives outlined in this proposal. Through the K01 Career Development Award, I will combine my extensive experience studying race/ethnic disparities in stress and aging and will gain additional training in molecular biology, bioinformatics, epidemiology, epigenetic mechanisms, bioethics and professional development. San Diego State University School of Public Health is an ideal location to receive the skills needed during the training phase given the multidisciplinary nature and close connection with UCSD through joint doctoral programs, the Stein Institute of Aging, and San Diego Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center as well as availability of coursework, and mentorship from leaders in genetic epidemiology, social genomics, and bioinformatics. Completion of the training and research aims will result in scientific presentations and publications, preliminary data to successfully compete for R01 funding that integrates longitudinal DNAm data (currently being collected) in diverse, longitudinal cohort studies of aging with life course stress and longitudinal health outcomes. This project will improve measures of aging in Black communities, providing a more accurate picture of the aging experience. This study will also support a paradigm shift in aging research, combining medical frameworks with Black centered social frameworks that challenge racialized narratives of health, improve our understanding of aging, and support insight for the planning of aging resources among Black populations.