Why the study?
Negative self-perceptions of aging and older subjective age are linked to cardiovascular disease, and this study investigated whether C-reactive protein mediates this relationship.
Do negative self-perceptions of aging and older subjective age increase the likelihood of incident cardiovascular disease through elevated C-reactive protein?
Do negative self-perceptions of aging and older subjective age increase the likelihood of incident cardiovascular disease through elevated C-reactive protein?
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Negative self-perceptions of aging and older subjective age are associated with an increased risk of incident heart disease and stroke, mediated by elevated C-reactive protein levels.
OBJECTIVES: Negative self-perceptions of aging (SPA) and an older subjective age are associated with a greater likelihood of cardiovascular disease. We predicted that C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of stress-related inflammation, would mediate this relation. METHOD: Data from up to 6 602 participants ages 50-101 in the Health and Retirement Study (2008-2018) were analyzed using logistic regressions with mediation. Subjective aging was assessed in 2008 or 2010, CRP was assessed 2 years later, and diagnosis of heart disease or stroke was assessed in the years from CRP measurement to 2018. RESULTS: Significant indirect effects occurred in all models, indicating that negative SPA and older subjective age are associated with a greater likelihood of heart disease and stroke through elevated levels of the inflammatory marker CRP. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that psychological factors such as subjective aging impact cardiovascular health through physiological mechanisms, specifically markers of inflammation.
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Skoblow et al. (2022) studied this question.
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