INS NYC 2024 Program

Paper	Paper Session 02 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 11:45 am - 01:15 pm Room: Broadway Ballroom Paper Session 02: Lifestyle Factors; Pain, Sleep, and Weight Final Abstract #1 The Association Between Lifestyle Factors and Biological Aging in Different Race/Ethnicity Groups: Results from 20 Years of NHANES Data Talha Arif, Columbia VP&S, New York City, United States Aline Thomas, Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, United States Daniel Belsky, Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, United States Yian Gu, Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, United States Category: Aging Keyword 1: aging (normal) Keyword 2: ethnicity Objective: Healthy lifestyle behaviors, including diet and physical activity, are associated with reduced risk for several chronic diseases, overall preserved physical functioning, and lower clinically defined biological aging. However, whether the relationship of lifestyle factors with biological aging differs by race/ethnicity has not been investigated. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the previously established association between healthy lifestyle factors and biological aging varies among different race/ethnicity groups. Participants and Methods: We analyzed data from 42,625 participants (aged 20-85 years) from the cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), after combining 10 biennial NHANES datasets from 1999-2018. Using standard methods, we evaluated adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MeDi) and level of leisure time physical activity (LTPA). We measured biological aging by applying the PhenoAge algorithm to blood clinical chemistries and computed PhenoAge advancement as the difference between predicted biological age and chronological age, standardized to have a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1. A positive standardized PhenoAge advancement indicates an advanced state of biological aging and increased risk of disease and mortality; a negative PhenoAge advancement indicates delayed biological aging. Self-reported race/ethnicity was categorized as Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and Other. We performed linear regressions to evaluate the interaction of race/ethnicity with MeDi and LTPA in relation to biological age. Results: Adhering to a Mediterranean diet and having higher levels of LTPA were associated with a lower biological age across all races; however, the effect size of both MeDi and LTPA differed across race/ethnicity groups (p for interaction <0.001). For MeDi, White and Other participants showed the strongest protective effect (β = -0.07 SD of biological age [-0.08; -0.06] and -0.12 SD [-0.15; -0.09] respectively for each 1-point increase of MeDi), while Black and Hispanic participants showed the lowest effect size (β = -0.04 SD [-0.05; -0.02] and β = -0.05 SD [-0.06; - 0.04] respectively). For LTPA, White participants showed the strongest protective effect (β = -0.33 SD of biological age [-0.36; -0.29] for some LTPA versus sedentary), while Black and Hispanic participants showed the lowest effect size (β = -0.18 SD [-0.23; -0.13] and β = -0.15 SD [-0.19; - 0.01] respectively). This difference in both MeDi and LTPA was significant after adjusting for age, gender, year, and caloric intake. Comorbidity burden only slightly attenuated the effect sizes. Food intake pattern was also found to differ by race. Conclusions: This study found that the association between healthy lifestyle factors and biological aging varies among different race/ethnicity groups. Several potential mechanisms may explain this, including social determinants of health, limitations of the MeDi score in capturing diet diversity, and comorbidity burden. These findings are significant for implementing public health policies that account for differences in lifestyle factors by race. Future work should explore other factors affecting the relationship between race and biological aging and confirm these findings through randomized trials of healthy lifestyle interventions in the general population.

Paper

02/15/2024
11:45 am - 01:15 pm
Room: Broadway Ballroom

Paper Session 02: Lifestyle Factors; Pain, Sleep, and Weight

Final Abstract #1

The Association Between Lifestyle Factors and Biological Aging in Different Race/Ethnicity Groups: Results from 20 Years of NHANES Data

Talha Arif, Columbia VP&S, New York City, United States
Aline Thomas, Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, United States
Daniel Belsky, Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, United States
Yian Gu, Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, United States

Category: Aging

Keyword 1: aging (normal)
Keyword 2: ethnicity

Objective:

Healthy lifestyle behaviors, including diet and physical activity, are associated with reduced risk for several chronic diseases, overall preserved physical functioning, and lower clinically defined biological aging. However, whether the relationship of lifestyle factors with biological aging differs by race/ethnicity has not been investigated. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the previously established association between healthy lifestyle factors and biological aging varies among different race/ethnicity groups.

Participants and Methods:

We analyzed data from 42,625 participants (aged 20-85 years) from the cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), after combining 10 biennial NHANES datasets from 1999-2018. Using standard methods, we evaluated adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MeDi) and level of leisure time physical activity (LTPA). We measured biological aging by applying the PhenoAge algorithm to blood clinical chemistries and computed PhenoAge advancement as the difference between predicted biological age and chronological age, standardized to have a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1. A positive standardized PhenoAge advancement indicates an advanced state of biological aging and increased risk of disease and mortality; a negative PhenoAge advancement indicates delayed biological aging. Self-reported race/ethnicity was categorized as Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and Other. We performed linear regressions to evaluate the interaction of race/ethnicity with MeDi and LTPA in relation to biological age.

Results:

Adhering to a Mediterranean diet and having higher levels of LTPA were associated with a lower biological age across all races; however, the effect size of both MeDi and LTPA differed across race/ethnicity groups (p for interaction <0.001). For MeDi, White and Other participants showed the strongest protective effect (β = -0.07 SD of biological age [-0.08; -0.06] and -0.12 SD [-0.15; -0.09] respectively for each 1-point increase of MeDi), while Black and Hispanic participants showed the lowest effect size (β = -0.04 SD [-0.05; -0.02] and β = -0.05 SD [-0.06; - 0.04] respectively). For LTPA, White participants showed the strongest protective effect (β = -0.33 SD of biological age [-0.36; -0.29] for some LTPA versus sedentary), while Black and Hispanic participants showed the lowest effect size (β = -0.18 SD [-0.23; -0.13] and β = -0.15 SD [-0.19; - 0.01] respectively). This difference in both MeDi and LTPA was significant after adjusting for age, gender, year, and caloric intake. Comorbidity burden only slightly attenuated the effect sizes. Food intake pattern was also found to differ by race.

Conclusions:

This study found that the association between healthy lifestyle factors and biological aging varies among different race/ethnicity groups. Several potential mechanisms may explain this, including social determinants of health, limitations of the MeDi score in capturing diet diversity, and comorbidity burden. These findings are significant for implementing public health policies that account for differences in lifestyle factors by race. Future work should explore other factors affecting the relationship between race and biological aging and confirm these findings through randomized trials of healthy lifestyle interventions in the general population.