Psychological well-being and restorative biological processes: HDL-C in older English adults
Open accessAbstract
Rationale Psychological well-being is associated with better cardiovascular health, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Objective This study investigates one possible mechanism by examining psychological well-being's prospective association with lipid levels, focusing on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Methods Participants were 4757 healthy men and women ages ≥50 from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing with clinical data from three times, three to five years apart. Psychological well-being was assessed at baseline using the Control, Autonomy, Satisfaction, and Pleasure scale; HDL-C, triglycerides, and total cholesterol were assayed from blood samples. Descriptive statistics and linear mixed models were used to examine associations between psychological well-being and lipid levels over time; the latter controlled for confounders and health behaviours. Results In descriptive analyses, HDL-C levels were initially higher in people with greater psychological well-being. Among those who met recommended levels of HDL-C at baseline, fewer individuals with higher versus lower psychological well-being dropped below HDL-C recommendations over time. Mixed models indicated that HDL-C increased over time (β = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.58 to 0.69) and higher baseline psychological well-being was associated with higher baseline HDL-C (β = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.03 to 0.99). A significant well-being by time interaction indicated individuals with higher versus lower well-being exhibited a more rapid rate of increase in HDL-C over follow-up. Higher psychological well-being was also significantly associated with lower triglycerides, but main effects for both HDL-C and triglycerides were attenuated after accounting for health behaviours. Conclusion Higher psychological well-being is associated with healthier HDL-C levels; these effects may compound over time. This protective effect may be partly explained by health behaviours.
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Higher psychological health has been linked to elevated high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels only.
“whereas higher psychological health has been linked to elevated high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels only. 98,99”
From Psychological Health, Well-Being, and the Mind-Heart-Body Connection: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2021) · cites this paper as [98]
The Results section (page unavailable) links higher psychological well-being to higher HDL-C and a faster increase in HDL-C over time. But it also links higher well-being to lower triglycerides, so the word “only,” if meant to exclude associations with other lipids, overstates the findings. The baseline HDL-C association was no longer significant after adjustment for health behaviours. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Levine, G. N., Cohen, B. E., Commodore-Mensah, Y., Fleury, J., Huffman, J. C., Khalid, U., Labarthe, D. R., Lavretsky, H., Michos, E. D., Spatz, E. S., et al. (2021) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/cir.0000000000000947 · Cited by 865 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Soo, J., Kubzansky, L. D., Chen, Y., Zevon, E. S., & Boehm, J. K.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Chapman University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Soo, Jackie
- Venue
- Social Science & Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-07
- Volume
- 209
- Pages
- 59-66
- ISSN
- 0277-9536 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9901326
- OpenAlex
- W2803647641
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 2.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Social Science & Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Chapman University Digital Commons (Chapman University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R03AG046342)
- National Cancer Institute (3R25CA057711)
- National Institutes of Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Lipoproteins and Cardiovascular Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
- Keywords
- psychological well-being, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, total cholesterol, serum lipids, older adults, cardiovascular health, health behavior, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Biological Phenomena, England, Female, Humans, Cholesterol, HDL, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged
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