Physical Activity, Successful Aging, and Putative Biomarkers of Aging
2020-05
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Physical Activity, Successful Aging, and Putative Biomarkers of Aging
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2020-05
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The world’s population is aging and nearly 20% of the US population is over 65 years of age. Aging is characterized by progressive dysfunction in biological processes, such as DNA methylation (DNAm) and telomere attrition, which have been developed into putative biomarkers of aging. Indicators of successful aging include maintaining physiological reserve, physical function, and body composition. While numerous predictors of successful aging have been identified, additional investigation into modifiable middle age to older adulthood behaviors such as maintaining moderate to vigorous physical activity, and development of aging biomarkers that can track success of aging interventions and gauge successful aging at the cellular level may be helpful. In the first manuscript, the prospective associations of middle age to older adulthood moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with later life frailty and physical function were tested in African American and European American participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Participants that exceeded the MVPA guidelines had lower odds of frailty compared to those with lower levels of MVPA, and higher physical function. In the second manuscript, the prospective associations of three DNAm age measures in middle age to older adulthood, with later life frailty and frailty components, and a methylome-wide association study (MWAS) of frailty and physical function was carried out in African American and European American participants in ARIC. Higher DNAm age was associated with higher odds of some frailty components, but not frailty, and the MWAS identified novel DNAm variants not contained in DNAm age measures. In the third manuscript, the longitudinal associations of body composition measures and hand grip strength with leukocyte telomere length (LTL) were tested in adult participants from the Fels Longitudinal Study. Arm lean mass was positively associated with LTL, while the associations for fat mass, arm fat mass, and percent body fat were negative. This dissertation shows that achieving MVPA beyond current guidelines in middle-age has potential benefit for frailty prevention, showed for the first time that biomarkers of aging are longitudinally associated with both frailty components and body composition. Further investigation is needed to develop and evaluate putative biomarkers of aging for application in tracking successful aging interventions.
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University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2020. Major: Epidemiology. Advisor: James Pankow. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 144 pages.
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Nguyen, Steve. (2020). Physical Activity, Successful Aging, and Putative Biomarkers of Aging. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/259620.
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