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Introduction: Despite associated with multiple geriatric disorders, whether housing type, an indicator of socioeconomic status (SES) and environmental factors, is associated with accelerated biological aging is unknown. Furthermore, although individuals with low-SES have higher body mass index (BMI) and are more likely to smoke, whether BMI and smoking status moderate the association between SES and biological aging is unclear. We examined these questions in urbanized low-SES older community-dwelling adults., Methods: First, we analyzed complete blood count data using the cox proportional hazards model and derived measures for biological age (BA) and biological age acceleration (BAA, the higher the more accelerated aging) ( N = 376). Subsequently, BAA was regressed on housing type, controlling for covariates, including four other SES indicators. Interaction terms between housing type and BMI/smoking status were separately added to examine their moderating effects. Total sample and sex-stratified analyses were performed., Results: There were significant differences between men and women in housing type and BAA. Compared to residents in ≥3 room public or private housing, older adults resided in 1-2 room public housing had a higher BAA. Furthermore, BMI attenuated the association between housing type and BAA. In sex-stratified analyses, the main and interaction effects were only significant in women. In men, smoking status instead aggravated the association between housing type and BAA., Conclusion: Controlling for other SES indicators, housing type is an independent socio-environmental determinant of BA and BAA in a low-SES urbanized population. There were also sex differences in the moderating effects of health behaviors on biological aging.

Background: Hand grip strength (HGS) has been proposed as a robust predictor for frailty and sarcopenia. Hence, identifying biomarkers for declining HGS accompanying aging could deepen our understanding of the biological underpinnings, informing pre-emptive intervention. Acylcarnitines (ACs) are metabolites generated by fatty acid metabolism in the mitochondria and are dysregulated in multiple disorders affecting the musculature. However, they have not been comprehensively profiled and examined regarding their utility in predicting variability in declining HGS, longitudinally. Thus, we aimed to: 1) validate previous findings on insignificant cross-sectional association between ACs and HGS, and 2) examine whether baseline ACs were associated with both decline and variability in HGS over 18 months, in community-dwelling older adults., Methods: We included participants who had HGS measured with dynamometer longitudinally (N = 121). We quantified ACs by targeted plasma metabolomics profiling. Multivariable linear regressions were then performed., Results: Cross-sectionally, ACs were not significantly associated with HGS. Longitudinally, baseline short-chain dicarboxylic and hydroxylated acylcarnitines (AC-DC/-OH) levels were inversely associated with and significantly explained the variability in 18-month decline in HGS. A specific AC species, the C4-OH, accounted for most of the variance explained., Conclusions: We showed novel biomarkers for declining HGS, furthering molecular understanding and informing nutritional pre-emptive programs., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Abstract Objectives To examine the associations of 3 measures of prefracture health status (physical function, mental function, and comorbidity count) with trajectories of physical and mental function at 1.5, 3, 6, and 12 months after hip fracture surgery. Design Single-center observational study. Setting Singapore General Hospital (an acute hospital). Participants Patients aged ≥60 years who underwent first hip fracture surgery between June 2011 and July 2016 (N = 928). Intervention None. Measurements We used data collected prospectively from the hospital's hip fracture registry. We used the Short Form–36 (SF-36) Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) as indicators of physical and mental function, respectively, collected at admission and at 1.5, 3, 6, and 12 months after hip fracture surgery. Comorbidity count at admission was the sum from a list of 10 common diseases associated with poorer physical function. Results Prefracture physical function and prefracture mental function demonstrated time-varying associations (interaction P <.001 and P =.001, respectively) with postfracture physical function; the associations were small initially but increased in strength up to 6 months and stabilized thereafter. In contrast, the strength of the association between comorbidity count and postfracture physical function were time-invariant (−0.52, P =.027). The strength of the associations between all 3 measures of prefracture health status and postfracture mental function were also constant over time (0.09, P =.004, for physical function; 0.38, P <.001, for mental function; −0.70, P =.034, for comorbidity count). Conclusions/Implications The time-varying associations between prefracture health status and postfracture physical function suggest that even for patients with good prefracture health status, initial recovery may be slow. Our findings can be useful to clinicians and therapists in their prognostic evaluations and in management of patients' expectation for recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]