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Older Women Stay Healthy if Socially Engaged,
Pursuing Goals
Curious female rats survive breast and pituitary
tumors longer, says second study
March 6, 2006 – Two studies released over the
weekend provide strong evidence that women, in particular senior
citizens, need to stay active to stay healthy. One said older women who
are socially engaged and continue to pursue their life's goals may be
less likely to develop age-related disorders such as Alzheimer's disease
and arthritis, due to lower levels of disease-causing chemicals in their
blood. The second study, says curious female rats, more willing to step
out and explore their environment, survive breast and pituitary tumors
longer than their more cautious sisters.
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(See story on study of female rats below this
story.)
The study of older women is the first to
demonstrate links between two inflammatory factors, called interleukin 6
(IL-6) and soluble IL-6 receptors (sIL-6R), which are associated with
age-related diseases, and psychological well-being.
Study investigator Elliot Friedman, Ph.D., a Robert
Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, presented the findings Saturday at the American Psychosomatic
Society Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. The National
Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, and The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported the study.
"We've known for some time that psychological
stress or depression in older adults can raise IL-6 levels in the blood.
This study clearly shows that positive well-being also makes a
difference in older women at risk for developing arthritis or
Alzheimer's because of their age," Friedman said.
"Quite simply, women who are actively and
positively engaged in their lives- in terms of what they do day to day
and the people with whom they interact - have lower levels of these
potentially harmful chemicals in their blood."
Study participants included 135 senior women ages
61 to 91; average participant age was 74.
Each woman completed a questionnaire to assess her
psychological well-being - encompassing factors such as autonomy,
personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and
self-acceptance - as well as overall happiness, health history, and
health-related behavior. The women then underwent physical examinations,
including blood work.
Psychological well-being was the strongest
indicator of inflammatory factors after age and physical health. IL-6
levels were lower in women who scored higher on the positive
relationships scale, while sIL-6R levels were lower on women scoring
higher on purpose in life. Neither inflammatory factor was associated
stress or depression.
"Although it's too early to say exactly how doctors
should act on these findings, our study speaks to the need for doctors
to be sensitive to how their patients are doing psychologically," said
Friedman. "The presence of positive psychological influences, such as
strong social relationships and meaningful engagement in life, and not
just the absence of stress or depression, is important for biological
health."
The researchers are currently examining follow-up
data on these women to track who succumbs to what diseases. They are
also conducting a similar study that includes the same psychological and
biomarker variables, but on a much larger and more diverse sample of
both men and women.
These findings join an emerging body of literature
that points to the possible protective role of positive social relations
and engagement in life in helping people stay healthy as they age.
Curious Female Rats Survive Tumors Longer
March 6, 2006 - Curious female rats, more willing to step out and
explore their environment, survive breast and pituitary tumors longer
than their more cautious sisters, says a Penn State researcher.
Dr. Sonia Cavigelli, assistant professor of biobehavioral health, says
that her study of 80 female rats from birth to death shows that the
curious ones with tumors lived, on average, an additional six months, or
25 percent longer lives, than the cautious ones.
She notes, "It's difficult to extrapolate from rats to people. However,
there have been studies that show that shy elderly people report more
health symptoms than their more outgoing age-mates. Our new results with
rats are consistent with those findings and support the notion that
personality traits may have a significant impact on health and
resilience to disease."
Cavigelli, who joined the Penn State faculty in August, detailed the
results at the American Psychosomatic Society annual meeting in
Vancouver, Canada, in a paper, Exploratory Tendency During Infancy and
Survival in Female Rats with Spontaneous Tumors. She conducted the study
while she was a post doctoral researcher at the University of Chicago.
Her co-authors are J. R. Yee, graduate student in human development, and
Dr. Martha McClintock, professor of psychology, both at the University
of Chicago.
The rats used in the study spontaneously develop breast or pituitary
tumors near the end of their lives. In the study, 93 percent of the rats
developed these tumors. Cavigelli says, "Tumor progression is a lengthy
process and, therefore, may be particularly prone to subtle effects of
personality on disease resilience."
The rats were tested in infancy and as adults to see how curious or
cautious they were by placing them in a "playground" filled with
unfamiliar objects likely to intrigue rodents, including tunnels,
bricks, stones and a small box. Some of the rats, from infancy, readily
explored the environment and were designated "curious." Those that
hesitated to emerge from the bowl used to introduce them into the
environment were designated "cautious."
The cautious and curious rats developed equal numbers of breast and
pituitary tumors over their lifespan but those identified as more
curious during infancy/early childhood lived longer than the cautious
ones. The difference in life span was comparable to several human years.
The same rats' stress hormones were also measured after being placed
briefly in a new tunnel. The cautious females had lower stress hormone
responses than the curious ones. This finding in female rats is the
opposite of the result Cavigelli saw in an earlier study with male rats.
The males' stress hormones were lower in the curious rodents.
Cavigelli says, "These results suggest that both elevated and dampened
stress hormone production may be associated with disease resilience or
accelerated aging." The study was supported by grants from the National
Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Aging, and the
National Institute of Child and Human Development.
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