{"title":"Sex-specific modulating role of social support in the associations between oxidative stress, inflammation, and telomere length in older adults.","authors":"Zhou Jin, Xuejian Liu, Haonan Guo, Sixuan Chen, Xianghe Zhu, Sipei Pan, Yili Wu","doi":"10.1007/s10865-024-00515-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Telomere length, a biomarker of human aging, is related to adverse health outcomes. Growing evidence indicates that oxidative stress and inflammation contributes to telomere shortening, whereas social support may protect from telomere shortening. Despite sex differences in telomere length and social support, little is known about whether there are sex differences in the relationship between oxidative stress/inflammation and telomere length, and sex-specific moderating roles of social support in older adults. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002, this study assessed whether the associations between oxidative stress/inflammation and telomere length vary with sex and explored social support as a moderator in these associations among 2289 older adults. Oxidative stress was measured based on serum Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), and inflammation was measured based on C-reactive protein (CRP). After adjusting for the covariates, GGT was significantly associated with telomere length in females only (β = - 0.037, 95% CI = - 0.070, - 0.005), while CRP was associated with telomere length in males only (β = - 0.019, 95% CI = - 0.035, - 0.002). Moreover, high social support mitigated the negative association between GGT and telomere length, which was more evident in females. Furthermore, social support moderated the association between CRP and telomere length in males aged 70 and above. Our findings indicated that biological mechanisms related to telomere length may vary with sex, while social support plays a sex-specific moderating role.</p>","PeriodicalId":48329,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"1040-1051"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Behavioral Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-024-00515-0","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/8/23 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Telomere length, a biomarker of human aging, is related to adverse health outcomes. Growing evidence indicates that oxidative stress and inflammation contributes to telomere shortening, whereas social support may protect from telomere shortening. Despite sex differences in telomere length and social support, little is known about whether there are sex differences in the relationship between oxidative stress/inflammation and telomere length, and sex-specific moderating roles of social support in older adults. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002, this study assessed whether the associations between oxidative stress/inflammation and telomere length vary with sex and explored social support as a moderator in these associations among 2289 older adults. Oxidative stress was measured based on serum Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), and inflammation was measured based on C-reactive protein (CRP). After adjusting for the covariates, GGT was significantly associated with telomere length in females only (β = - 0.037, 95% CI = - 0.070, - 0.005), while CRP was associated with telomere length in males only (β = - 0.019, 95% CI = - 0.035, - 0.002). Moreover, high social support mitigated the negative association between GGT and telomere length, which was more evident in females. Furthermore, social support moderated the association between CRP and telomere length in males aged 70 and above. Our findings indicated that biological mechanisms related to telomere length may vary with sex, while social support plays a sex-specific moderating role.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Behavioral Medicine is a broadly conceived interdisciplinary publication devoted to furthering understanding of physical health and illness through the knowledge, methods, and techniques of behavioral science. A significant function of the journal is the application of this knowledge to prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation and to the promotion of health at the individual, community, and population levels.The content of the journal spans all areas of basic and applied behavioral medicine research, conducted in and informed by all related disciplines including but not limited to: psychology, medicine, the public health sciences, sociology, anthropology, health economics, nursing, and biostatistics. Topics welcomed include but are not limited to: prevention of disease and health promotion; the effects of psychological stress on physical and psychological functioning; sociocultural influences on health and illness; adherence to medical regimens; the study of health related behaviors including tobacco use, substance use, sexual behavior, physical activity, and obesity; health services research; and behavioral factors in the prevention and treatment of somatic disorders. Reports of interdisciplinary approaches to research are particularly welcomed.