Negative fateful life events in midlife and advanced predicted brain aging.
Negative fateful life events (FLEs) such as interpersonal conflict, death in the family, financial hardship, and serious medical emergencies can act as allostatic stressors that accelerate biological aging. However, the relationship between FLEs and neuroanatomical aging is not well understood. We examined 359 men (mean age 62 years) participating in the Vietnam Era twin study of aging (VETSA) to determine whether negative midlife FLEs are associated with advanced brain aging after controlling for physical, psychological, and lifestyle factors. At two different time points, participants were assessed for negative FLEs, health and well-being, general cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, depression, and ethnicity. Participants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging examination, and T1-weighted images were processed with FreeSurfer. Subsequent neuroanatomical measurements were entered into the Brain-Age Regression Analysis and Computation Utility software (BARACUS) to predict brain age. Having more midlife FLEs, particularly relating to interpersonal relationships, was associated with advanced predicted brain aging (i.e., higher predicted brain age relative to chronological age). This association remained after controlling for the significant covariates of alcohol consumption, cardiovascular risk, adult socioeconomic status, and ethnicity.
['Hatton|Sean N|SN|', 'Franz|Carol E|CE|', 'Elman|Jeremy A|JA|', 'Panizzon|Matthew S|MS|', 'Hagler|Donald J|DJ|', 'Fennema-Notestine|Christine|C|', 'Eyler|Lisa T|LT|', 'McEvoy|Linda K|LK|', 'Lyons|Michael J|MJ|', 'Dale|Anders M|AM|', 'Kremen|William S|WS|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000375:Aging D000428:Alcohol Drinking D001921:Brain D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases D000066492:Cognitive Aging D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction D005544:Forecasting D006801:Humans D007398:Interpersonal Relations D008016:Life Change Events D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D012306:Risk D012923:Social Class D013315:Stress, Psychological
Fateful life events Brain aging Magnetic resonance imaging