Washington [US], June 18 (ANI): A new study has explained explains age-related health inequalities, including the unequal toll of the pandemic on people, and identifies potential intervention points.

A journal that goes by the name 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published the research. Lead study author Eric Klopack who is a Post-doctoral scholar in the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, said, "As the world's population of older adults increases, understanding disparities in age-related health is essential. Age-related changes in the immune system play a critical role in declining health, this study helps clarify mechanisms involved in accelerated immune ageing."

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As people age, the immune system naturally begins a dramatic downgrade, a condition called immunosenescence. With advanced age, a person's immune profile weakens and includes too many worn-out white blood cells circulating and too few fresh, "naive" white blood cells ready to take on new invaders. Immune ageing is associated not only with cancer but with cardiovascular disease, increased risk of pneumonia, reduced efficacy of vaccines and organ system ageing.

But the question remains, what accounts for drastic health differences in same-age adults? USC scientists chose to check whether they could coax out an association between lifetime openness to push - - a known supporter of chronic frailty - - and declining energy in the resistant system. They questioned and cross-referred to tremendous informational indexes from the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study, a public longitudinal investigation of the financial, wellbeing, conjugal, family status, and public and private support systems of older Americans.

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To calculate exposure to different types of social pressure, the specialists analyzed responses from a public example of 5,744 adults beyond 50 years old. They addressed a survey intended to evaluate respondents' encounters with social pressure, including distressing life-altering situations, persistent pressure, ordinary segregation and lifetime discrimination.

Blood tests from the members were then examined through stream cytometry, a lab procedure that counts and classifies platelets as they pass individually in a narrow stream before a laser. As expected, individuals with higher pressure scores had older-seeming immune profiles, with lower percentages of fresh disease fighters and higher percentages of worn-out white blood cells.

The association between stressful life events and fewer ready-to-respond, or naive, T cells remained strong even after controlling for education, smoking, drinking, BMI and race or ethnicity. Some sources of stress might be difficult to control, yet the specialists say there might be a workaround.

T-cells - - a critical component of immunity - - mature in a gland called the thymus, which sits simply before or more the heart. As individuals age, the tissue in their thymus shrivels and is supplanted by greasy tissue, bringing about diminished creation of resistant cells. Past examination proposes that this interaction is advanced rapidly by way of life factors like terrible eating routine and low activity, which are both related to social stress.

Klopack said, "In this study, after statistically controlling for poor diet and low exercise, the connection between stress and accelerated immune ageing wasn't as strong. What this means is people who experience more stress tend to have poorer diet and exercise habits, partly explaining why they have more accelerated immune ageing."

The researchers further said, "Improving diet and exercise behaviours in older adults may help offset the immune ageing associated with stress. Additionally, cytomegalovirus (CMV) may be a target for intervention. CMV is a common, usually asymptomatic virus in humans and is known to have a strong effect on accelerating immune ageing. Like shingles or cold sores, CMV is dormant most of the time but can flare up, especially when a person is experiencing high stress. In this study, statistically controlling for CMV positivity also reduced the connection between stresses and accelerated immune ageing. Therefore, widespread CMV vaccination could be a relatively simple and potentially powerful intervention that could reduce the immune ageing effects of stress." (ANI)

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