"Genetics and stress interact to shape human health and well-being" - UW News. 04/17/2017
University of Wisconsin researchers Marsha Mailick, Jan Greenberg, and colleagues found that chronic stress and genetics can interact to shape health and well-being in later life. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, they looked at the impact of the FMR1 gene with a CGG repeat pattern among high- and low-stress older adults. They categorized parents of children with disabilities as a high-stress group and explored whether they faced more health challenges than parents of children without disabilities. They found the level of challenges dependent on the numbers of FMR1 CGG repeats. “In this era of precision medicine, it’s vital that we understand why some people may have more health symptoms or functional limitations later in life than others,” says Mailick.