Biodemography And Social Biology[JOURNAL]
Sun
200 papers
Sick But Unaware: Hypertension in Indonesia.
Sohn K
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26652684 · Publisher ↗
Discrepancies between self-reported and measured hypertension pose a great risk to health because they prevent timely treatment. Analyzing the Indonesian Family Life Survey, we compared self-reported and measured hyperte...
Discrepancies between self-reported and measured hypertension pose a great risk to health because they prevent timely treatment. Analyzing the Indonesian Family Life Survey, we compared self-reported and measured hypertension to assess the extent of the misclassification of hypertension. Building on this, we estimated factors related to self-reported and measured hypertension. Our results show that different factors were involved in each case, suggesting that they are two different phenomena. More importantly, we estimated factors that increased awareness of hypertension and found that visiting a health facility was a very effective way of increasing awareness of hypertension among hypertensive patients.
Validation of Biomarkers of CVD Risk from Dried Blood Spots in Community-Based Research: Methodologies and Study-Specific Serum Equivalencies.
Samuelsson LB, Hall MH, McLean S … +6 more , Porter JH, Berkman L, Marino M, Sembajwe G, McDade TW, Buxton OM
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26652683 · Full text
Dried blood spot (DBS) methodology offers significant advantages over venipuncture in studies of vulnerable populations or large-scale studies, including reduced participant burden and higher response rates. Uncertainty...
Dried blood spot (DBS) methodology offers significant advantages over venipuncture in studies of vulnerable populations or large-scale studies, including reduced participant burden and higher response rates. Uncertainty about the validity of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk biomarkers remains a barrier to wide-scale use. We determined the validity of DBS-derived biomarkers of CVD risk versus gold-standard assessments, and study-specific, serum-equivalency values for clinical relevance of DBS-derived values. Concurrent venipuncture serum and DBS samples (n = 150 adults) were assayed in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified and DBS laboratories, respectively. Time controls of DBS standard samples were assayed single-blind along with test samples. Linear regression analyses evaluated DBS-to-serum equivalency values; agreement and bias were assessed via Bland-Altman plots. Linear regressions of venipuncture values on DBS-to-serum equivalencies provided R(2) values for total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and C-reactive protein (CRP) of 0.484, 0.118, and 0.666, respectively. Bland-Altman plots revealed minimal systematic bias between DBS-to-serum and venipuncture values; precision worsened at higher mean values of CRP. Time controls revealed little degradation or change in analyte values for HDL-C and CRP over 30 weeks. We concluded that DBS-assessed biomarkers represent a valid alternative to venipuncture assessments. Large studies using DBS should include study-specific serum-equivalency determinations to optimize individual-level sensitivity, the viability of detecting intervention effects, and generalizability in community-level primary prevention interventions.
Blood Substrate Collection and Handling Procedures under Pseudo-Field Conditions: Evaluation of Suitability for Inflammatory Biomarker Measurement.
Sugden K, Danese A, Shalev I … +2 more , Williams BS, Caspi A
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26652682 · Full text
Routine incorporation of blood-based biomarker measurements in population studies has been hampered by challenges in obtaining samples suitable for biomarker assessment outside of laboratory settings. Here, we assessed t...
Routine incorporation of blood-based biomarker measurements in population studies has been hampered by challenges in obtaining samples suitable for biomarker assessment outside of laboratory settings. Here, we assessed the suitability of venous blood left unprocessed for 4, 24, or 48 hours post-collection at either room temperature or 4°C for quantification of two biomarkers, Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Blood samples were collected in both K2EDTA tubes and a dedicated plasma-preservation tube, P100. Dried blood spot (DBS) samples from the same subjects were also collected in order to compare delayed-processing plasma performance against a popular alternative collection method. We found that K2EDTA mean plasma concentrations of both IL-6 and CRP were not significantly different from concentrations in plasma processed immediately; this was observed for tubes stored up to 48 hours pre-processing at either temperature. Concentrations of IL-6 measured in P100 tubes showed significant time-dependent increases when stored at room temperature; otherwise, levels of IL-6 and CRP were similar to those found in samples processed immediately. Levels of CRP in DBS were correlated with plasma CRP levels, even when pre-processed blood was stored for up to 48 hours. These data indicate that plasma is suitable for IL-6 and CRP estimation under data collection conditions that involve processing delays.
Fertility Decline and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Taiwan.
Chandra S, Yu YL
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26652681 · Publisher ↗
The impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic on human fertility has been subject to significant scholarly debate. The current study characterizes the inter-temporal association between excess deaths during the pandemic and...
The impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic on human fertility has been subject to significant scholarly debate. The current study characterizes the inter-temporal association between excess deaths during the pandemic and the subsequent birth deficit by identifying the length of time between these two phenomena using cross-correlations of monthly death and birth data from Taiwan from 1906 to 1943. The analysis demonstrates a strong and negative correlation between deaths (d) at time t and births (b) at time t + 9 (r(db)(9) = -0.68, p < .0001). In other words, a significant drop in births was observed nine months after pandemic mortality peaked. The findings suggest that the 1918 influenza pandemic impacted subsequent births primarily through the mechanism of reduced conceptions and embryonic loss during the first month of pregnancy rather than through late-first-trimester embryonic loss.
Are Improvements in Child Health Due to Increasing Status of Women in Developing Nations?
Heaton TB
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26652680 · Publisher ↗
This research tests the hypothesis that change over time in women's status leads to improvements in their children's health. Specifically, we examine whether change in resources and empowerment in mother's roles as biolo...
This research tests the hypothesis that change over time in women's status leads to improvements in their children's health. Specifically, we examine whether change in resources and empowerment in mother's roles as biological mothers, caregivers, and providers and social contexts that promote the rights and representation of and investment in women are associated with better nutritional status and survival of young children. Analysis is based on a broad sample of countries (n = 28), with data at two or more points in time to enable examination of change. Key indicators of child health show improvement in the last 13 years in developing nations. Much of this improvement--90 percent of the increase in nutritional status and 47 percent of the reduction in mortality--is associated with improving status of women. Increased maternal education, control over reproduction, freedom from violence, access to health care, legislation and enforcement of women's rights, greater political representation, equality in the education system, and lower maternal mortality are improving children's health. These results imply that further advancement of women's position in society would be beneficial.
How Are Children of Older Mothers Doing? Evidence from the United Kingdom.
Goisis A
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26652679 · Publisher ↗
Childbearing has been increasingly delayed in Western countries. As older mothers are likely to be advantaged over their younger counterparts, the demographic literature has tended to view this demographic trend as poten...
Childbearing has been increasingly delayed in Western countries. As older mothers are likely to be advantaged over their younger counterparts, the demographic literature has tended to view this demographic trend as potentially beneficial for child well-being. Conversely, less attention has been given to medical studies showing that giving birth at advanced ages is associated with health risks for children. This article uses data from the Millennium Cohort Study (UK) and ordinary least squares and logistic regression models to compare cognitive and behavioral outcomes, and obesity at age 5 for first-born children by maternal age at first birth. On one hand, the findings suggest that giving birth to the first child at ages 30-39 compared to ages 23-29 is positively associated with children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes and not associated with obesity. On the other hand, delaying the first birth to ages 40 and above is not associated with children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes and is associated with increased risk of obesity. Although the results are unable to support the argument that this occurs because of the health risks associated with giving birth at advanced maternal ages, they suggest that there is a need to more closely investigate the potential trade-offs involved when births are delayed toward older maternal ages.
Effects of Birth Month on Child Health and Survival in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dorélien AM
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26266973 · Full text
Birth month is broadly predictive of both under-5 mortality rates and stunting throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Observed factors, such as mother's age at birth and educational status, are correlated with birt...
Birth month is broadly predictive of both under-5 mortality rates and stunting throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Observed factors, such as mother's age at birth and educational status, are correlated with birth month but are not the main factors underlying the relationship between birth month and child health. Accounting for maternal selection via a fixed-effects model attenuates the relationship between birth month and health in many SSA countries. In the remaining countries, the effect of birth month may be mediated by environmental factors. This study found that birth month effects on mortality typically do not vary across age intervals; the differential mortality rates by birth month are evident in the neonatal period and continue across age intervals. The male-to-female sex ratio at birth did not vary by birth month, which suggests that in utero exposures are not influencing fetal loss, and that therefore the birth month effects are not likely a result of selective survival during the in utero period. In one-third of the sample, the birth month effects on stunting diminished after the age of 2 years; therefore, some children were able to catch up. Policies to improve child health should target pregnant women and infants and must take seasonality into account.
Breakfast Skipping, Extreme Commutes, and the Sex Composition at Birth.
Mazumder B, Seeskin Z
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26266972 · Publisher ↗
A growing body of literature has shown that environmental exposures in the period around conception can affect the sex ratio at birth through selective attrition that favors the survival of female conceptuses. Glucose av...
A growing body of literature has shown that environmental exposures in the period around conception can affect the sex ratio at birth through selective attrition that favors the survival of female conceptuses. Glucose availability is considered a key indicator of the fetal environment, and its absence as a result of meal skipping may inhibit male survival. We hypothesize that breakfast skipping during pregnancy may lead to a reduction in the fraction of male births. Using time use data from the United States we show that women with commute times of 90 minutes or longer are 20 percentage points more likely to skip breakfast. Using U.S. census data we show that women with commute times of 90 minutes or longer are 1.2 percentage points less likely to have a male child under the age of 2. Under some assumptions, this implies that routinely skipping breakfast around the time of conception leads to a 6 percentage point reduction in the probability of a male child. Skipping breakfast during pregnancy may therefore constitute a poor environment for fetal health more generally.
Babies of the War: The Effect of War Exposure Early in Life on Mortality Throughout Life.
Lindeboom M, van Ewijk R
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26266971 · Publisher ↗
There is increasing evidence that circumstances very early in our lives, and particularly during pregnancy, can affect our health for the remainder of life. Studies that have looked at this relationship have often used e...
There is increasing evidence that circumstances very early in our lives, and particularly during pregnancy, can affect our health for the remainder of life. Studies that have looked at this relationship have often used extreme situations, such as famines that occurred during wartime. Here we investigate whether less extreme situations during World War II also affected later-life mortality for cohorts born in Belgium, France, The Netherlands, and Norway. We argue that these occupied countries experienced a considerable deterioration in daily life situations and show that this resulted in strongly increased mortality rates and lower probabilities of survival until age 55 among civilian populations who had been prenatally exposed to wartime circumstances. However, this mortality effect among the prenatally exposed is entirely concentrated in the first years of life, particularly infanthood. Once we condition on having survived the first years of life, those who had been prenatally exposed do not have higher mortality rates. This suggests that "culling" is important and that effects found in earlier studies may have been biased downward substantially.
Early-Life Conditions, Rapid Demographic Changes, and Older Adult Health in the Developing World.
McEniry M, McDermott J
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26266970 · Full text
The demographic transition of the 1930s-1960s dramatically improved life expectancy in some developing countries. Cohorts born during this time are increasingly characterized by their survivorship of poor early-life cond...
The demographic transition of the 1930s-1960s dramatically improved life expectancy in some developing countries. Cohorts born during this time are increasingly characterized by their survivorship of poor early-life conditions, such as poor nutrition and infectious diseases. As a result, they are potentially more susceptible to the effects of these conditions at older ages. This study examines this conjecture by comparing obesity, diabetes, and hypertension in older adults born in the beginning portion of the 1930s-1960s across different mortality regimes using a subset of harmonized cross-national data from seven low- and middle-income countries (RELATE, n = 16,836). Using birthplace and height as indicators of early-life conditions, the results show (1) higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes and higher likelihood of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension in middle-income countries, but (2) no convincing evidence to indicate stronger effects of early-life conditions on health in these countries. However, shorter adults living in urban areas were more likely to be obese, indicating the overall importance of early-life conditions and the potential negative impact of urban exposures during adulthood. Obesity results may foreshadow the health of future cohorts born in the later portion of the 1930s-1960s as they reach older ages (60+).
Early-Life Environmental Exposures and Height, Hypertension, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Older Adults in India.
Ho JY
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26266969 · Full text
Environmental exposures like rainfall and temperature influence infectious disease exposure and nutrition, two key early-life conditions linked to later-life health. However, few tests of whether early-life environmental...
Environmental exposures like rainfall and temperature influence infectious disease exposure and nutrition, two key early-life conditions linked to later-life health. However, few tests of whether early-life environmental exposures impact adult health have been performed, particularly in developing countries. This study examines the effects of experiencing rainfall and temperature shocks during gestation and up through the first four years after birth on measured height, hypertension, and other cardiovascular risk factors using data on adults aged 50 and above (N = 1,036) from the 2007-2008 World Health Organization Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) and district-level meteorological data from India. Results from multivariate logistic regressions show that negative rainfall shocks during gestation and positive rainfall shocks during the postbirth period increase the risk of having adult hypertension and CVD risk factors. Exposure to negative rainfall shocks and positive temperature shocks in the postbirth period increases the likelihood of falling within the lowest height decile. Prenatal shocks may influence nutrition in utero, while postnatal shocks may increase exposure to infectious diseases and malnutrition. The results suggest that gestation and the first two years after birth are critical periods when rainfall and temperature shocks take on increased importance for adult health.
External quality control for dried blood spot-based C-reactive protein assay: experience from the indonesia family life survey and the longitudinal aging study in India.
Hu P, Herningtyas EH, Kale V … +8 more , Crimmins EM, Risbud AR, McCreath H, Lee J, Strauss J, O'Brien JC, Bloom DE, Seeman TE
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 25879265 · Full text
Measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, in dried blood spots has been increasingly incorporated into community-based social surveys internationally. Although the dried blood spot-based CRP assa...
Measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, in dried blood spots has been increasingly incorporated into community-based social surveys internationally. Although the dried blood spot-based CRP assay protocol has been validated in the United States, it remains unclear whether laboratories in other less-developed countries can generate CRP results of similar quality. We therefore conducted external quality monitoring for dried blood spot-based CRP measurement for the Indonesia Family Life Survey and the Longitudinal Aging Study in India. Our results show that dried blood spot-based CRP results in these two countries have excellent and consistent correlations with serum-based values and dried blood spot-based results from the reference laboratory in the United States. Even though the results from duplicate samples may have fluctuations in absolute values over time, the relative order of C-reactive protein levels remains similar, and the estimates are reasonably precise for population-based studies that investigate the association between socioeconomic factors and health.
Perceptions of polygyny: the effects of offspring and other kin on co-wife satisfaction.
Scelza BA
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 25879264 · Publisher ↗
The costs and benefits of polygyny have been widely debated and vary according to local sociopolitical context, the level of female autonomy, and economic considerations such as the mode of production. This study aims to...
The costs and benefits of polygyny have been widely debated and vary according to local sociopolitical context, the level of female autonomy, and economic considerations such as the mode of production. This study aims to understand perceptions of polygyny as a function of household demography, particularly the number of female kin present in the household who can provide labor that is largely substitutable to that of a co-wife. The presence of these helpers is proposed to shift the cost-benefit structure of polygyny, in which having more female kin available is associated with a more negative view of the practice. Interview and census data from 106 Himba women, who are traditional, seminomadic pastoralists, were used to test this prediction. Among married women who reside patrilocally, the presence of more elder daughters was associated with a more negative view of polygyny. Among unmarried women, who reside in their natal homes, it is the total number of adult female kin that predicts perception of polygyny. In addition, unmarried women are significantly more likely to report fights over resources as a source of co-wife conflicts when they have more dependent children, but no such association was found among married women.
Associations of family and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics with longitudinal adiposity patterns in a biracial cohort of adolescent girls.
Crespi CM, Wang MC, Seto E … +2 more , Mare R, Gee G
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 25879263 · Full text
Although many studies have examined the relationship of adiposity with neighborhood socioeconomic context in adults, few studies have investigated this relationship during adolescence. Using 10-year annual measurements o...
Although many studies have examined the relationship of adiposity with neighborhood socioeconomic context in adults, few studies have investigated this relationship during adolescence. Using 10-year annual measurements of body mass index, expressed as z-scores (BMIz), obtained from 775 black and white participants of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study, a prospective cohort study of girls from pre- to postadolescence, we used multilevel modeling to investigate whether family socioeconomic status (SES) and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics (measured by census-tract median family income) explain variation in BMIz trajectory parameters. Analyses controlled for pubertal maturation. We found that lower SES was associated with higher overall levels of BMIz for both white and black girls. Additionally, lower-SES black girls had a more sustained increase in BMIz during early adolescence and reached a higher peak compared to higher-SES black girls and to white girls. Neighborhood income was associated with BMIz trajectory for black girls only. Unexpectedly, among black girls, living in higher-income neighborhoods was associated with higher overall levels of BMIz, controlling for SES. Our findings suggest that neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics may affect adolescent BMIz trajectories differently in different racial/ethnic groups.
Cohort and duration patterns among Asian immigrants: comparing trends in obesity and self-rated health.
Ro A, Geronimus A, Bound J … +2 more , Griffith D, Gee G
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 25879262 · Full text
Many studies, but not all, suggest that immigrant health worsens with duration of residence in the United States. Cohort effects may explain the inconsistent findings; not only are cohort effects confounded with duration...
Many studies, but not all, suggest that immigrant health worsens with duration of residence in the United States. Cohort effects may explain the inconsistent findings; not only are cohort effects confounded with duration, but the timing of entry into the United States may also create qualitatively different migration experiences. The present study tests for duration and cohort patterns among Asian immigrants to the United States across six year-of-entry cohorts (pre-1980, 1981-85, 1986-90, 1991-95, 1996-2000, 2001-05). Data come from the Asian American sample (n = 44,002) of the 1994-2009 waves of the National Health Interview Survey. The data show cohort differences for self-rated health, such that more recent cohorts showed improved baseline health compared to older cohorts. After accounting for cohorts, there was no significant change in self-rated health by duration of residence. Older cohorts actually showed improving self-rated health with longer duration. Obesity showed the opposite pattern; there were no differences across cohorts, but duration in the United States correlated with higher obesity. These results imply that immigrant health is not simply an issue of duration and adaptation; instead, they underscore the utility of considering cohorts as broader contexts of migration. Collectively, the results encourage future research that more carefully examines the etiological mechanisms that drive immigrant health.
Age trajectories of mortality from all diseases in five countries of central Europe during the last decades.
Dolejs J
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 25879261 · Publisher ↗
Age trajectories of total mortality represent an irreplaceable source of information about the relationship between mortality and age. Total mortality includes death from external causes. Age affects mortality from all d...
Age trajectories of total mortality represent an irreplaceable source of information about the relationship between mortality and age. Total mortality includes death from external causes. Age affects mortality from all diseases differently than it affects mortality from external causes. This study examines mortality with external causes excluded. The resulting category of all-diseases is examined as a helpful tool to better understand the relationship between mortality and age. Age trajectories of all-diseases mortality are studied in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Resulting age trajectories of all-diseases mortality show a strong minimum that is hidden in all-causes mortality. Two deterministic models fit the resulting age trajectories of mortality on either side of the strong mortality minimum. The inverse proportion between mortality and age is used from birth to the age when all-diseases mortality reaches the minimum value. The Gompertz relationship fits age trajectories of all-diseases mortality in 93 out of 183 cases. When extended with a small quadratic element, the Gompertz model is used to fit the remaining 90 cases.
The role of education in explaining racial/ethnic allostatic load differentials in the United States.
Howard JT, Sparks PJ
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 25879260 · Publisher ↗
This study expands on earlier findings of racial/ethnic and education-allostatic load associations by assessing whether racial/ethnic differences in allostatic load persist across all levels of educational attainment. Th...
This study expands on earlier findings of racial/ethnic and education-allostatic load associations by assessing whether racial/ethnic differences in allostatic load persist across all levels of educational attainment. This study used data from four recent waves of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES). Results from this study suggest that allostatic load differs significantly by race/ethnicity and educational attainment overall, but that the race/ethnicity association is not consistent across education level. Analysis of interactions and education-stratified models suggest that allostatic load levels do not differ by race/ethnicity for individuals with low education; rather, the largest allostatic load differentials for Mexican Americans (p < .01) and non-Hispanic blacks (p < .001) are observed for individuals with a college degree or more. These findings add to the growing evidence that differences in socioeconomic opportunities by race/ethnicity are likely a consequence of differential returns to education, which contribute to higher stress burdens among minorities compared to non-Hispanic whites.
Gender differences in hypertension and hypertension awareness among young adults.
Everett B, Zajacova A
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 25879259 · Full text
Previous research has shown that men have higher levels of hypertension and lower levels of hypertension awareness than women, but it remains unclear if these differences emerge among young adults. Using the National Lon...
Previous research has shown that men have higher levels of hypertension and lower levels of hypertension awareness than women, but it remains unclear if these differences emerge among young adults. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), this study examines gender differences in hypertension and hypertension awareness among U.S. young adults, with special focus on factors that may contribute to observed disparities (N = 14,497). Our results show that the gender disparities in hypertension status were already evident among men and women in their twenties: women were far less likely to be hypertensive compared to men (12% vs. 27%). The results also reveal very low levels of hypertension awareness among young women (32% of hypertensive women were aware of their status) and even lower levels among men (25%). Finally, this study identifies key factors that contribute to these observed gender disparities. In particular, health care use, while not related to the actual hypertension status, fully explains the gender differences in hypertension awareness. The findings thus suggest that regular medical visits are critical for improving hypertension awareness among young adults and reducing gender disparities in cardiovascular health.
Data quality control in social surveys using genetic information.
Li Y, Guo G
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2014 · PMID 25343368 · Full text
This article introduces a novel way of taking advantage of genetic data in social surveys for the purposes of data quality control. Genetic information could detect and repair data issues such as missing data, reporting...
This article introduces a novel way of taking advantage of genetic data in social surveys for the purposes of data quality control. Genetic information could detect and repair data issues such as missing data, reporting errors, differences in measures of the same variable, and flawed data. Using data from two surveys, the College Roommate Study (ROOM) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we show that proportion identical by descent score (a measure of genetic relationships) can identify "misreported" and unreported sibling type and detect misrepresented participants, bio-ancestry score (a measure of ancestral population memberships) can repair and recover missing race and discrepancies among different measures of self-reported race, and sex chromosomal information may help cross-check self-reported sex. This article represents an initial effort to utilize genetic data for the purposes of data quality control. As genetic data become increasingly available, researchers may explore more approaches to improving data quality.
A polygenic risk score associated with measures of depressive symptoms among older adults.
Levine ME, Crimmins EM, Prescott CA … +3 more , Phillips D, Arpawong TE, Lee J
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2014 · PMID 25343367 · Full text
It has been suggested that depression is a polygenic trait, arising from the influences of multiple loci with small individual effects. The aim of this study is to generate a polygenic risk score (PRS) to examine the ass...
It has been suggested that depression is a polygenic trait, arising from the influences of multiple loci with small individual effects. The aim of this study is to generate a polygenic risk score (PRS) to examine the association between genetic variation and depressive symptoms. Our analytic sample included N = 10,091 participants aged 50 and older from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Depressive symptoms were measured by Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CESD) scores assessed on up to nine occasions across 18 years. We conducted a genome-wide association analysis for a discovery set (n = 7,000) and used the top 11 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, all with p < 10(-5) to generate a weighted PRS for our replication sample (n = 3,091). Results showed that the PRS was significantly associated with mean CESD score in the replication sample (β = .08, p = .002). The R(2) change for the inclusion of the PRS was .003. Using a multinomial logistic regression model, we also examined the association between genetic risk and chronicity of high (4+) CESD scores. We found that a one-standard-deviation increase in PRS was associated with a 36 percent increase in the odds of having chronically high CESD scores relative to never having had high CESD scores. Our findings are consistent with depression being a polygenic trait and suggest that the cumulative influence of multiple variants increases an individual's susceptibility for chronically experiencing high levels of depressive symptoms.
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