Probing the network structure of health deficits in human aging

Spencer G. Farrell, Arnold B. Mitnitski, Olga Theou, Kenneth Rockwood, and Andrew D. Rutenberg
Phys. Rev. E 98, 032302 – Published 10 September 2018

Abstract

We confront a network model of human aging and mortality in which nodes represent health attributes that interact within a scale-free network topology, with observational data that use both clinical and laboratory (preclinical) health deficits as network nodes. We find that individual health attributes exhibit a wide range of mutual information with mortality and that, with a reconstruction of their relative connectivity, higher-ranked nodes are more informative. Surprisingly, we find a broad and overlapping range of mutual information of laboratory measures as compared with clinical measures. We confirm similar behavior between most-connected and least-connected model nodes, controlled by the nearest-neighbor connectivity. Furthermore, in both model and observational data, we find that the least-connected (laboratory) nodes are damaged earlier than the most-connected (clinical) deficits. A mean-field theory of our network model captures and explains this phenomenon, which results from the connectivity of nodes and of their connected neighbors. We find that other network topologies, including random, small-world, and assortative scale-free networks, exhibit qualitatively different behavior. Our disassortative scale-free network model behaves consistently with our expanded phenomenology observed in human aging and so is a useful tool to explore mechanisms of and to develop predictive measures for human aging and mortality.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
11 More
  • Received 25 February 2018
  • Revised 27 May 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.98.032302

©2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Statistical Physics & ThermodynamicsPhysics of Living SystemsNetworksInterdisciplinary PhysicsNonlinear Dynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Spencer G. Farrell1,*, Arnold B. Mitnitski2,†, Olga Theou2,‡, Kenneth Rockwood2,3,§, and Andrew D. Rutenberg1,∥

  • 1Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2
  • 2Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 2Y9
  • 3Division of Geriatric Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 2E1

  • *spencer.farrell@dal.ca
  • arnold.mitnitski@dal.ca
  • olga.theou@dal.ca
  • §kenneth.rockwood@dal.ca
  • andrew.rutenberg@dal.ca

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 3 — September 2018

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review E

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×