A biosocial approach to healthy ageing: The interplay between social isolation and inflammation

老年人的社会孤立与死亡率和一系列健康问题有关——鉴于2019冠状病毒病大流行和相关的封锁，这一问题尤为突出。在社会孤立的过程中，一个可能涉及的机制是慢性炎症，这是老年人中普遍存在的现象，是一系列健康状况的已知风险因素。这个博士项目将使用英国老龄化纵向研究的数据来探索社会孤立和健康老龄化结果之间的关系，以及炎症是否可能是这种关系的中介。该项目首先实施了一项基于世界卫生组织概述的内在能力结构的健康老龄化措施，目前尚无标准措施。内在能力是指个体在认知、运动、感觉、活力、心理5个功能领域的能力，它与个体所处的环境一起决定了老年人的功能能力。在测试炎症可能的中介作用之前，将通过横断面和纵向分析探索社会隔离与内在能力之间的关系。

Social isolation of older adults is associated with mortality and a range of health problems - an issue of particular saliency given the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown. One possible mechanism implicated in the process of social isolation getting "under the skin" and affecting health is chronic inflammation, a widespread phenomenon in older people that is a known risk factor for a wide range of health conditions.This PhD project will use data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to explore the associations between social isolation and healthy ageing outcomes, and whether inflammation is a possible mediator of this relationship. The project started with the operationalisation of a measure of healthy ageing based upon the intrinsic capacity construct outlined by the World Health Organisation, for which no standard measure currently exists. Intrinsic capacity refers to an individual's capacity in 5 domains of function (cognition, locomotion, sensory, vitality, psychological) and, together with an individual's environment, determines functional ability in older age. The association between social isolation and intrinsic capacity will be explored in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, before testing the possible mediation effect of inflammation.