Project 467248

Rationale: Ageism, i.e., ;stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination directly towards people because of their age, may contribute to various adverse health outcomes and increase the burden on health and social services. Little is known about the impact of ageism on diverse biological aging processes such as homeostatic dysregulation, telomere length, and epigenetic age.Objective: Assess the impact of ageism on aging rate via different aspects of aging biology: homeostatic dysregulation, telomere shortening, and epigenetic aging. Methods: The 2006-2016 American Health and Retirement Study will be used, with a follow-up every four years. Participants were asked two ageism questions: the causes of receiving discrimination, including ageism as one of the causes, and the frequency of receiving discrimination. Aging rate will be measured using three different measurements to reveal the aging rate from distinct biological perspectives: homeostatic dysregulation (using Mahalanobis distance on 45 biomarkers, n= 9934, 2016 wave), telomere length (n=5808, 2008 wave) and epigenetic aging (n=4611, 2016 wave). The influence of perceived ageism (current or previous waves) on the aging rate will then be modelled with linear mixed models using biological aging as the dependent variable (outcome), ageism as the exposure, and with or without considering various interaction term (sex, sexism) and possible confounding variables (age, race, socioeconomic status, etc.).Expected results: The study will advance knowledge on the effects of ageism on biological aging rate and deterioration of individual health, which could facilitate systematic interventions to foster the health and well-being of older adults.