UMMC researchers lead landmark inflammation study

Published on Monday, August 5, 2024

By: Danny Barrett Jr., dlbarrett@umc.edu

High inflammation in midlife may be every bit the risk factor for poor mobility in late life as obesity and high blood pressure, according to newly published work by researchers at University of Mississippi Medical Center.

A study published in June in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society showed a significant link between high inflammation measured in midlife and slower walking speeds measured 20 years later. The connection was evident even in the healthiest adults reviewed.

“These findings suggest that monitoring inflammation has the potential to be important for late-life health, similar to monitoring routine health metrics such as blood pressure and glucose,” said Dr. Gwen Windham, director of the Neuro-Epidemiology Core at The MIND Center at UMMC and lead author of the study, which followed 4,758 adults across multiple socioeconomic backgrounds. “We now have more support than ever that inflammation is a key driver in motor function and mobility.”

Researchers said the study was likely the first to also examine the cumulative effects of inflammation from middle age on late-life mobility while considering the influences of chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure and obesity, race and social determinants of health, such as education level.

Using the MIND Center’s Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, they examined participants aged 45 to 64 in four field centers in the U.S., including UMMC, from 1987 to 2013. Inflammation was measured using high sensitivity C-reactive protein, or CRP, at select points in time during the duration of the study. The metric is already used in clinical practice.

Researchers found the overall effect of inflammation on slower gait was similar regardless of race, social determinants of health or chronic conditions. Researchers believe that chronic inflammation likely leads to cellular changes that may affect muscle efficiency and weakness. Gait speed, the outcome in this study, was already considered by geriatricians including Windham, to be the “sixth vital sign” of older adults. The researchers hope the findings provide a basis for future clinical practice guidelines.

Researchers said being more physically active and practicing more heart-healthy eating habits, such as the Mediterranean diet, are associated with lower levels of inflammation and better functional levels of mobility.

“It may also be important to track inflammation levels just like we track blood pressure and glucose levels,” said Dr. Michael E. Griswold, the Dea Dea Adams-Baker MIND Center Professor of Biostatistics and Data Science at UMMC, senior author of the study. “In the study, even a single inflammation measure in midlife was useful to tell us about mobility 20 years later, but tracking repeated inflammation measures over those 20 years gave the most information about the eventual late-life outcome.”

The researchers’ work, titled "Associations of mid-to-late-life inflammation with late-life mobility and the influences of chronic comorbidities, race, and social determinants of health,” was supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health and donations to The MIND Center.