Quantifying Pace of Aging among Older Adults: An analysis with Health and Retirement Study

Arun Balachandran, Columbia University in the City of New York
Heming Pei, Columbia University
Meeraj Kothari, Columbia University
Benjamin Dominigue, Stanford University
Alex Furuya, Columbia University
Daniel W Belsky, Columbia University

Rise in global population aging and age-related morbidities calls for measures that that can detect differences in aging trajectories in time to reduce and prevent disease burdens. Pace of Aging (PoA) measure captures longitudinal change in human physiology across multiple systems and captures within-individual changes. However, there has been no investigations of the measure around a sample of older adults to identify who are aging fast and who are most likely to gain from interventions. Using nine biomarkers representing three types of data (blood biomarkers, physical assessments, and functional tests) in the Health and Retirement Study (in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016), we studied PoA among 13,379 adults aged 40 or above at their first biomarker measurement. Our results extend analysis of PoA into later life and establish its associations with morbidity, disability, and mortality. Racial disparities in PoA represent opportunities for health intervention and prevention.

Keywords: Population Ageing, Health and Morbidity, Mortality and Longevity, Data and Methods

See extended abstract.