Eric A Whitsel
Biographic Data
| ID | 152344 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Eric A Whitsel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Eric A |
| FAMILY NAME | Whitsel |
| SIGNATURE | WHITSEL E A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4843-3641 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 23 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Social determinants of vulnerability to nitrogen oxide- and sulfur dioxide-related bone damage among postmenopausal women in the United States
Background Studying social determinants of health (SDOH) in air pollutant-related bone loss among aging women may help identify bone health disparities, design preventive strategies, and inform policy. Prolonged exposure to air pollution is associated with decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fracture risk in later life. However, the extent to which socioeconomic status (SES) contributes to pollution-related bone damage remains uncl…
Air Pollutants and Breast Cancer Risk
Objectives. To determine whether outdoor air pollution exposure is associated with breast cancer incidence. Methods. Residential-level concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 , parts per billion [ppb]), fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ; ≤ 2.5 μ/m 3 ) and ozone (ppb) in the United States were estimated for participants of the Nurses’ Health Studies, Women’s Health Initiative Clinical Trials and Observational Study Cohort, and Sister Study using h…
Epigenome-Wide Analysis of DNA Methylation and Optimism in Women and Men
OBJECTIVE: Higher optimism is associated with reduced mortality and a lower risk of age-related chronic diseases. DNA methylation (DNAm) may provide insight into mechanisms underlying these relationships. We hypothesized that DNAm would differ among older individuals who are more versus less optimistic. METHODS: Using cross-sectional data from two population-based cohorts of women with diverse races/ethnicities ( n = 3816) and men (only White, n …
Racial disparities in stroke incidence in the Women's Health Initiative
The distribution and association of stroke risk factors differed between NHAA and NHW women. There is a clear need for stroke prevention strategies that address factors driving racial disparities in stroke risk
Quantifying structural racism in cohort studies to advance prospective evidence
Calls-to-action in health research have described a need to improve research on race, ethnicity, and structural racism. Well-established cohort studies typically lack access to novel structural and social determinants of health (SSDOH) or precise race and ethnicity categorization, contributing to a loss of rigor to conduct informative analyses and a gap in prospective evidence on the role of structural racism in health outcomes. We propose and im…
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status, Green Space, and Walkability and Risk for Falls Among Postmenopausal Women
Individual and Neighborhood-level Socioeconomic Status and Somatic Mutations Associated With Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality
The Association of Neighborhood Changes with Health-Related Quality of Life in the Women’s Health Initiative
Longitudinal studies can help us understand the effects of long-term neighborhood changes, as these can capture individual self-appraisal of current and future circumstances. We analyzed the association between neighborhood changes and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes among older women from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study. We used a subset ( n = 49,254) of the longitudinal WHI dataset of female participants, aged 50-79 at…
Characteristics of movers and predictors of residential mobility in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (Aric) cohort
Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms Across Early- and Mid-Life Among the Add Health Cohort
Cohort Profile
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) was developed in the 1990s in response to a mandate from the United States Congress to fund a study of adolescent health, and was designed by a team of multidisciplinary investigators from the social, behavioural and biomedical sciences. The original purpose of Add Health was to understand the causes of adolescent health and health behaviour, with special emphasis on the multiple c…
DNA methylation GrimAge strongly predicts lifespan and healthspan
Using large scale validation data from thousands of individuals, we demonstrate that DNAm GrimAge stands out among existing epigenetic clocks in terms of its predictive ability for time-to-death (Cox regression P=2.0E-75), time-to-coronary heart disease (Cox P=6.2E-24), time-to-cancer (P= 1.3E-12), its strong relationship with computed tomography data for fatty liver/excess visceral fat, and age-at-menopause (P=1.6E-12). AgeAccelGrim is strongly …
Using Animations of Risk Functions to Visualize Trends in US All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality, 1968–2016
Objectives. To use dynamic visualizations of mortality risk functions over both calendar year and age as a way to estimate and visualize patterns in US life spans. Methods. We built 49 synthetic cohorts, 1 per year 1968 to 2016, using National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) mortality and population data. Within each cohort, we estimated age-specific probabilities of dying from any cause (all-cause analysis) or from a particular cause (cause-…
The Depths of Despair Among US Adults Entering Midlife
Objectives. To test whether indicators of despair are rising among US adults as they age toward midlife and whether this rise is concentrated among low-educated Whites and in rural areas. Methods. We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative study of US adolescents in 1994. Our sample was restricted to individuals who participated in 1 or more of 5 waves (1994–2017) and self-identifi…
An epigenetic biomarker of aging for lifespan and healthspan
Identifying reliable biomarkers of aging is a major goal in geroscience. While the first generation of epigenetic biomarkers of aging were developed using chronological age as a surrogate for biological age, we hypothesized that incorporation of composite clinical measures of phenotypic age that capture differences in lifespan and healthspan may identify novel CpGs and facilitate the development of a more powerful epigenetic biomarker of aging. U…
Association of Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity With Mortality
IMPORTANCE The prevalence of cardiometabolic multimorbidity is increasing. OBJECTIVE To estimate reductions in life expectancy associated with cardiometabolic multimorbidity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Age-and sex-adjusted mortality rates and hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using individual participant data from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (689 300 participants; 91 cohorts; years of baseline surveys: 1960-2007; latest morta…
Is tree loss associated with cardiovascular-disease risk in the Women's Health Initiative? A natural experiment
The reliability of in-home measures of height and weight in large cohort studies
BACKGROUND: With the emergence of obesity as a global health issue an increasing number of major demographic surveys are collecting measured anthropometric data. Yet little is known about the characteristics and reliability of these data. OBJECTIVES: We evaluate the accuracy and reliability of anthropometric data collected in the home during Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), compare our estimat…
Social, Behavioral, and Genetic Linkages from Adolescence Into Adulthood
The influence of genetic factors on health and behavior is conditioned by social, cultural, institutional, and physical environments in which individuals live, work, and play. We encourage studies supporting multilevel integrative approaches to understanding these contributions to health, and describe the Add Health study as an exemplar. Add Health is a large sample of US adolescents in grades 7 to 12 in 1994–1995 followed into adulthood with 4 i…
The Women's Health Initiative
Using data ( n = 60,775 women) from the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trial (WHI CT)—a national study of postmenopausal women aged 50–79 years—we analyzed cross‐sectional associations between the availability of different types of food outlets in the 1.5 miles surrounding a woman's residence, census tract neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES), BMI, and blood pressure (BP). We simultaneously modeled NSES and food outlets using linear and l…
The relationship between urban sprawl and coronary heart disease in women
Neighborhood socioeconomic status, Medicaid coverage and medical management of myocardial infarction
nINC and Medicaid coverage may be two of several socioeconomic factors influencing the complexities of medical care practice patterns
The environmental epidemiology of atrial arrhythmogenesis
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia seen in clinical practice, and makes an important contribution to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality. The focus of AF research has recently shifted, from concentrating on treatments and complications, to the evaluation of putative risk factors including ambient air pollution. Although the present study pertains specifically to AF, much of its content is drawn from, a…
Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms Across Early- and Mid-Life Among the Add Health Cohort
The Depths of Despair Among US Adults Entering Midlife
Objectives. To test whether indicators of despair are rising among US adults as they age toward midlife and whether this rise is concentrated among low-educated Whites and in rural areas. Methods. We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative study of US adolescents in 1994. Our sample was restricted to individuals who participated in 1 or more of 5 waves (1994–2017) and self-identifi…
Social, Behavioral, and Genetic Linkages from Adolescence Into Adulthood
The influence of genetic factors on health and behavior is conditioned by social, cultural, institutional, and physical environments in which individuals live, work, and play. We encourage studies supporting multilevel integrative approaches to understanding these contributions to health, and describe the Add Health study as an exemplar. Add Health is a large sample of US adolescents in grades 7 to 12 in 1994–1995 followed into adulthood with 4 i…
The relationship between urban sprawl and coronary heart disease in women
Characteristics of movers and predictors of residential mobility in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (Aric) cohort
Is tree loss associated with cardiovascular-disease risk in the Women's Health Initiative? A natural experiment
The reliability of in-home measures of height and weight in large cohort studies
BACKGROUND: With the emergence of obesity as a global health issue an increasing number of major demographic surveys are collecting measured anthropometric data. Yet little is known about the characteristics and reliability of these data. OBJECTIVES: We evaluate the accuracy and reliability of anthropometric data collected in the home during Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), compare our estimat…
Using Animations of Risk Functions to Visualize Trends in US All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality, 1968–2016
Objectives. To use dynamic visualizations of mortality risk functions over both calendar year and age as a way to estimate and visualize patterns in US life spans. Methods. We built 49 synthetic cohorts, 1 per year 1968 to 2016, using National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) mortality and population data. Within each cohort, we estimated age-specific probabilities of dying from any cause (all-cause analysis) or from a particular cause (cause-…
Neighborhood socioeconomic status, Medicaid coverage and medical management of myocardial infarction
nINC and Medicaid coverage may be two of several socioeconomic factors influencing the complexities of medical care practice patterns
The environmental epidemiology of atrial arrhythmogenesis
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia seen in clinical practice, and makes an important contribution to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality. The focus of AF research has recently shifted, from concentrating on treatments and complications, to the evaluation of putative risk factors including ambient air pollution. Although the present study pertains specifically to AF, much of its content is drawn from, a…
The Women's Health Initiative
Using data ( n = 60,775 women) from the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trial (WHI CT)—a national study of postmenopausal women aged 50–79 years—we analyzed cross‐sectional associations between the availability of different types of food outlets in the 1.5 miles surrounding a woman's residence, census tract neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES), BMI, and blood pressure (BP). We simultaneously modeled NSES and food outlets using linear and l…
The relationship between urban sprawl and coronary heart disease in women
Social, Behavioral, and Genetic Linkages from Adolescence Into Adulthood
The influence of genetic factors on health and behavior is conditioned by social, cultural, institutional, and physical environments in which individuals live, work, and play. We encourage studies supporting multilevel integrative approaches to understanding these contributions to health, and describe the Add Health study as an exemplar. Add Health is a large sample of US adolescents in grades 7 to 12 in 1994–1995 followed into adulthood with 4 i…
Association of Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity With Mortality
IMPORTANCE The prevalence of cardiometabolic multimorbidity is increasing. OBJECTIVE To estimate reductions in life expectancy associated with cardiometabolic multimorbidity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Age-and sex-adjusted mortality rates and hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using individual participant data from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (689 300 participants; 91 cohorts; years of baseline surveys: 1960-2007; latest morta…
Is tree loss associated with cardiovascular-disease risk in the Women's Health Initiative? A natural experiment
The reliability of in-home measures of height and weight in large cohort studies
BACKGROUND: With the emergence of obesity as a global health issue an increasing number of major demographic surveys are collecting measured anthropometric data. Yet little is known about the characteristics and reliability of these data. OBJECTIVES: We evaluate the accuracy and reliability of anthropometric data collected in the home during Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), compare our estimat…
An epigenetic biomarker of aging for lifespan and healthspan
Identifying reliable biomarkers of aging is a major goal in geroscience. While the first generation of epigenetic biomarkers of aging were developed using chronological age as a surrogate for biological age, we hypothesized that incorporation of composite clinical measures of phenotypic age that capture differences in lifespan and healthspan may identify novel CpGs and facilitate the development of a more powerful epigenetic biomarker of aging. U…
Cohort Profile
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) was developed in the 1990s in response to a mandate from the United States Congress to fund a study of adolescent health, and was designed by a team of multidisciplinary investigators from the social, behavioural and biomedical sciences. The original purpose of Add Health was to understand the causes of adolescent health and health behaviour, with special emphasis on the multiple c…
DNA methylation GrimAge strongly predicts lifespan and healthspan
Using large scale validation data from thousands of individuals, we demonstrate that DNAm GrimAge stands out among existing epigenetic clocks in terms of its predictive ability for time-to-death (Cox regression P=2.0E-75), time-to-coronary heart disease (Cox P=6.2E-24), time-to-cancer (P= 1.3E-12), its strong relationship with computed tomography data for fatty liver/excess visceral fat, and age-at-menopause (P=1.6E-12). AgeAccelGrim is strongly …
Using Animations of Risk Functions to Visualize Trends in US All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality, 1968–2016
Objectives. To use dynamic visualizations of mortality risk functions over both calendar year and age as a way to estimate and visualize patterns in US life spans. Methods. We built 49 synthetic cohorts, 1 per year 1968 to 2016, using National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) mortality and population data. Within each cohort, we estimated age-specific probabilities of dying from any cause (all-cause analysis) or from a particular cause (cause-…
The Depths of Despair Among US Adults Entering Midlife
Objectives. To test whether indicators of despair are rising among US adults as they age toward midlife and whether this rise is concentrated among low-educated Whites and in rural areas. Methods. We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative study of US adolescents in 1994. Our sample was restricted to individuals who participated in 1 or more of 5 waves (1994–2017) and self-identifi…
Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms Across Early- and Mid-Life Among the Add Health Cohort
The Association of Neighborhood Changes with Health-Related Quality of Life in the Women’s Health Initiative
Longitudinal studies can help us understand the effects of long-term neighborhood changes, as these can capture individual self-appraisal of current and future circumstances. We analyzed the association between neighborhood changes and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes among older women from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study. We used a subset ( n = 49,254) of the longitudinal WHI dataset of female participants, aged 50-79 at…
Characteristics of movers and predictors of residential mobility in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (Aric) cohort
Epigenome-Wide Analysis of DNA Methylation and Optimism in Women and Men
OBJECTIVE: Higher optimism is associated with reduced mortality and a lower risk of age-related chronic diseases. DNA methylation (DNAm) may provide insight into mechanisms underlying these relationships. We hypothesized that DNAm would differ among older individuals who are more versus less optimistic. METHODS: Using cross-sectional data from two population-based cohorts of women with diverse races/ethnicities ( n = 3816) and men (only White, n …
Racial disparities in stroke incidence in the Women's Health Initiative
The distribution and association of stroke risk factors differed between NHAA and NHW women. There is a clear need for stroke prevention strategies that address factors driving racial disparities in stroke risk
Quantifying structural racism in cohort studies to advance prospective evidence
Calls-to-action in health research have described a need to improve research on race, ethnicity, and structural racism. Well-established cohort studies typically lack access to novel structural and social determinants of health (SSDOH) or precise race and ethnicity categorization, contributing to a loss of rigor to conduct informative analyses and a gap in prospective evidence on the role of structural racism in health outcomes. We propose and im…
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status, Green Space, and Walkability and Risk for Falls Among Postmenopausal Women
Individual and Neighborhood-level Socioeconomic Status and Somatic Mutations Associated With Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality
Air Pollutants and Breast Cancer Risk
Objectives. To determine whether outdoor air pollution exposure is associated with breast cancer incidence. Methods. Residential-level concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 , parts per billion [ppb]), fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ; ≤ 2.5 μ/m 3 ) and ozone (ppb) in the United States were estimated for participants of the Nurses’ Health Studies, Women’s Health Initiative Clinical Trials and Observational Study Cohort, and Sister Study using h…
Social determinants of vulnerability to nitrogen oxide- and sulfur dioxide-related bone damage among postmenopausal women in the United States
Background Studying social determinants of health (SDOH) in air pollutant-related bone loss among aging women may help identify bone health disparities, design preventive strategies, and inform policy. Prolonged exposure to air pollution is associated with decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fracture risk in later life. However, the extent to which socioeconomic status (SES) contributes to pollution-related bone damage remains uncl…
Medicine (21 works) · Demography (12 works) · Environmental health (12 works) · Population (10 works) · Gerontology (9 works) · Demography (8 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (8 works) · Internal Medicine (8 works) · Cohort (6 works) · Disease (6 works)