Characterization of Dynamic Adaptation to Stressors using Multi-System Stimulus-Response Data: The Study of Physical Resilience in Aging Pilot.

Resilience to stressors has emerged as a major gerontological concept aiming to promote more positive outcomes for older adults. Achieving this aim relies on determining mechanisms underlying capacity to respond resiliently. This paper seeks proof of principle for the hypothesis that physical aspects of said capacity are rooted in the fitness of one's physiology governing stress response, conceptualized as a dynamical system.

Gerontologic Biostatistics and Data Science: Aging Research in the Era of Big Data.

Introduced in 2010, the subdiscipline of gerontologic biostatistics was conceptualized to address the specific challenges of analyzing data from clinical research studies involving older adults. Since then, the evolving technological landscape has led to a proliferation of advancements in biostatistics and other data sciences that have significantly influenced the practice of gerontologic research, including studies beyond the clinic. Data science is the field at the intersection of statistics and computer science, and although the term "data science" was not widely used in 2010, the field has quickly made palpable effects on gerontologic research.

Association between Left Ventricular Geometry, Systolic Ejection Time, and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate in Ambulatory Patients with Preserved Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction.

Introduction: Cardiac function is important to quantify for risk stratification. Although left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is commonly used, and identifies patients with poor systolic function, other easily acquired measures of cardiac function are needed, particularly to stratify patients with relatively preserved LVEF. LV relative wall thickness (RWT) has been associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with preserved LVEF, but the clinical relevance of this observation is not known.

Occurrence of Low Cardiac Index During Normotensive Periods in Cardiac Surgery: A Prospective Cohort Study Using Continuous Noninvasive Cardiac Output Monitoring.

Background: Continuous cardiac output monitoring is not standard practice during cardiac surgery, even though patients are at substantial risk for systemic hypoperfusion. Thus, the frequency of low cardiac output during cardiac surgery is unknown.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study at a tertiary medical center from July 2021 to November 2023.

Community profiles in northeastern and central Pennsylvania characterized by distinct social, natural, food, and physical activity environments and their relation to type 2 diabetes.

Background: Understanding geographic disparities in type 2 diabetes (T2D) requires approaches that account for communities' multidimensional nature.

Methods: In an electronic health record nested case-control study, we identified 15,884 cases of new-onset T2D from 2008 to 2016, defined using encounter diagnoses, medication orders, and laboratory test results, and frequency-matched controls without T2D (79,400; 65,069 unique persons). We used finite mixture models to construct community profiles from social, natural, physical activity, and food environment measures.

Relationship between skeletal mitochondrial function and digital markers of free-living physical activity in older adults.

This study examined the association between in vivo skeletal mitochondrial function and digital free-living physical activity patterns-a measure that summarizes biological, phenotypic, functional, and environmental effects on mobility. Among 459 participants (mean age 68 years; 55% women) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, mitochondrial function was quantified as skeletal muscle oxidative capacity via post-exercise phosphocreatine recovery rate (τ) in the vastus lateralis muscle of the left thigh, using 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Accelerometry was collected using a 7-day, 24-h wrist-worn protocol and summarized into activity amount, intensity, endurance, and accumulation patterning metrics.

Nonlinear modeling of oral glucose tolerance test response to evaluate associations with aging outcomes.

As people age, their ability to maintain homeostasis in response to stressors diminishes. Physical frailty, a syndrome characterized by loss of resilience to stressors, is thought to emerge due to dysregulation of and breakdowns in communication among key physiological systems. Dynamical systems modeling of these physiological systems aims to model the underlying processes that govern response to stressors.

Acceptability and Feasibility of a Pain and Depressive Symptoms Management Intervention in Middle-Aged and Older African American Women.

Background And Objectives: The intersection of race, gender, and age puts older African American women at high risk of experiencing comorbid pain and depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a 12-week behavioral activation intervention to target self-selected goals related to pain and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older African American women.

Research Design And Methods: This randomized waitlist control study included 34 self-identified African American women, 50 years of age or older, with moderate-to-severe chronic pain and depressive symptoms.

Life Space and Activity Space Measurement: Making "Room" for Structural Racism.

As we age, the ability to move is foundational to health. Life space is one measure of a person's ability to move and engage in activity beyond the home. A separate but related concept is activity space, a measurement of a person's spatial behaviors and visited locations that include social networks, neighborhoods, and institutions.

Resilient Adaptation Strategies: Unveiling Older Adults' Coping Dynamics Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Older adults, who are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), exhibit less stress and greater well-being than their younger peers. However, there have been no in-depth explorations of adaptive coping strategies among this population, nor has the role of frailty status been addressed. The current study examined stress and coping in 30 U.

Prevalence and risk factors for dysphagia in older adults after thyroid and parathyroid surgery.

Background: We aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for dysphagia in adults 65 years and older before and after thyroidectomy or parathyroidectomy.

Methods: We performed a longitudinal prospective cohort study of older adults undergoing initial thyroidectomy or parathyroidectomy. We administered the Dysphagia Handicap Index questionnaire preoperatively and 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively.

Hearing Loss and Frailty among Older Adults: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Objectives: Hearing loss may contribute to frailty through cognitive and physical decline, but population-based evidence using validated measures remains scarce. We investigated the association of hearing loss with phenotypic frailty and its individual components and explored the potential protective role of hearing aid use.

Design: Cross-sectional study of community-dwelling older adults at visit 6 (2016-2017) of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, a cohort study of older adults from 4 U.

Identifying predictors of resilience to stressors in single-arm studies of pre-post change.

Many older adults experience a major stressor at some point in their lives. The ability to recover well after a major stressor is known as resilience. An important goal of geriatric research is to identify factors that influence resilience to stressors.

Substitution of self-reported measures for objectively assessed grip strength and slow walk in the Physical Frailty Phenotype: ramifications for validity.

Background: Frailty assessment promises to identify older adults at risk for adverse consequences following stressors and target interventions to improve health outcomes. The Physical Frailty Phenotype (PFP) is a widely-studied, well validated assessment but incorporates performance-based slow walk and grip strength criteria that challenge its use in some clinical settings. Variants replacing performance-based elements with self-reported proxies have been proposed.

A Study of Physical Resilience and Aging (SPRING): Conceptual framework, rationale, and study design.

Understanding the physiological basis of physical resilience to clinical stressors is crucial for the well-being of older adults. This article presents a novel framework to discover the biological underpinnings of physical resilience in older adults as part of the "Characterizing Resiliencies to Physical Stressors in Older Adults: A Dynamical Physiological Systems Approach" study, also known as The Study of Physical Resilience and Aging (SPRING). Physical resilience, defined as the capacity of a person to withstand clinical stressors and quickly recover or improve upon a baseline functional level, is examined in adults aged 55 years and older by studying the dynamics of stress response systems.

Sinus inflammation and chronic rhinosinusitis are associated with a diagnosis of new onset asthma in the following year.

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and asthma commonly co-occur. No studies have leveraged large samples needed to formally address whether preexisting CRS is associated with new onset asthma over time.

Methods: We evaluated whether prevalent CRS [identified in two ways: validated text algorithm applied to sinus computerized tomography (CT) scan or two diagnoses] was associated with new onset adult asthma in the following year.

An overview of the resilience world: Proceedings of the American Geriatrics Society and National Institute on Aging State of Resilience Science Conference.

Resilience, which relates to one's ability to respond to stressors, typically declines with age and the development of comorbid conditions in older organisms. Although progress has been made to improve our understanding of resilience in older adults, disciplines have employed different frameworks and definitions to study various aspects of older adults' response to acute or chronic stressors. "Overview of the Resilience World: State of the Science," a bench-to-bedside conference on October 12-13, 2022, was sponsored by the American Geriatrics Society and National Institute on Aging.