Kim Eric S, Fong Kelvin, Lee Lewina, Spiro Avron, Schwartz Joel, Whitsel Eric, Horvath Steve, Wang Cuicui, Hou Lifang, Baccarelli Andrea A, Li Yun, Stewart James, Manson JoAnn E, Grodstein Francine, DeMeo Dawn L, Kubzansky Laura D
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Aging (Albany NY). 2019 Jul 18;11(14):4970-4989. doi: 10.18632/aging.102090.
Evidence indicates associations between higher optimism and reduced risk of age-related conditions and premature mortality. This suggests optimism is a positive health asset, but research identifying potential biological mechanisms underlying these associations remains limited. One potential pathway is slower cellular aging, which may delay age-related deterioration in health. Data were from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) (N=3,298) and the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study (NAS) (N=514), and included dispositional and explanatory style optimism measures. We evaluated whether higher optimism was associated with metrics suggestive of less cellular aging, as indicated by two DNA methylation algorithms, intrinsic (IEAA) and extrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (EEAA); these algorithms represent accelerated biologic aging that exceeds chronological age. We used linear regression models to test our hypothesis while considering several covariates (sociodemographics, depressive symptoms, health behaviors). In both cohorts, we found consistently null associations of all measures of optimism with both measures of DNA methylation aging, regardless of covariates considered. For example, in fully-adjusted models, dispositional optimism was not associated with either IEAA (WHI:β=0.02; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]:-0.15-0.20; NAS:β=-0.06; 95% CI:-0.56-0.44) or EEAA (WHI:β=-0.04; 95% CI: -0.26-0.17; NAS:β=-0.17; 95% CI: -0.80-0.46). Higher optimism was not associated with reduced cellular aging as measured in this study.
有证据表明，较高的乐观水平与降低与年龄相关疾病的风险及过早死亡风险之间存在关联。这表明乐观是一种积极的健康资产，但确定这些关联背后潜在生物学机制的研究仍然有限。一种潜在途径是细胞衰老减缓，这可能会延缓与年龄相关的健康恶化。数据来自女性健康倡议（WHI）（N = 3298）和退伍军人事务部规范衰老研究（NAS）（N = 514），并包括特质乐观和解释风格乐观的测量。我们评估了较高的乐观水平是否与两种DNA甲基化算法（内在表观遗传衰老算法（IEAA）和外在表观遗传年龄加速算法（EEAA））所表明的细胞衰老程度较低的指标相关；这些算法代表超过实际年龄的加速生物衰老。我们使用线性回归模型来检验我们的假设，同时考虑了几个协变量（社会人口统计学、抑郁症状、健康行为）。在两个队列中，无论考虑何种协变量，我们均发现乐观的所有测量指标与DNA甲基化衰老的两种测量指标之间始终无关联。例如，在完全调整模型中，特质乐观与IEAA（WHI：β = 0.02；95%置信区间[CI]：-0.15 - 0.20；NAS：β = -0.06；95% CI：-0.56 - 0.44）或EEAA（WHI：β = -0.04；95% CI：-0.26 - 0.17；NAS：β = -0.17；95% CI：-0.80 - 0.46）均无关联。在本研究中，较高的乐观水平与细胞衰老减缓无关。
