Heterogenous trajectories in physical, mental and cognitive health among older Americans: Roles of genetics and life course contextual factors.

We investigate the roles of genetic predispositions, childhood SES and adult educational attainment in shaping trajectories for three important components of the overall health of older adults -- BMI, depressive symptoms and cognition. We use the Health & Retirement Study (HRS) and group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) to identify subgroups of people who share the same underlying trajectories ages 51-94 years. After identifying common underlying health trajectories, we use fractional multinomial logit models to estimate associations of (1) polygenic scores for BMI, depression, ever-smoked, education, cognition and subjective wellbeing, (2) childhood SES and (3) educational attainment with the probabilities of trajectory group memberships.