How social/environmental determinants and inflammation affect salivary telomere length among middle-older adults in the health and retirement study (original) (raw)
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It has been hypothesized that one way in which lower socioeconomic status (SES) affects health is by increasing the rate of biological aging. A widely used marker of biological aging is telomere length. Telomeres are structures at the ends of chromosomes that erode with increasing cell proliferation and genetic damage. We aimed to identify, through systematic review and meta-analysis, whether lower SES (greater deprivation) is associated with shorter telomeres. Thirty-one articles, including 29 study populations, were identified. We conducted 3 meta-analyses to compare the telomere lengths of persons of high and low SES with regard to contemporaneous SES (12 study populations from 10 individual articles), education (15 study populations from 14 articles), and childhood SES (2 study populations from 2 articles). For education, there was a significant difference in telomere length between persons of high and low SES in a random-effects model (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.060, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.002, 0.118; P = 0.042), although a range of sensitivity analyses weakened this association. There was no evidence for an association between telomere length and contemporaneous SES (SMD = 0.104, 95% CI: −0.027, 0.236; P = 0.119) or childhood SES (SMD = −0.037, 95% CI: −0.143, 0.069; P = 0.491). These results suggest weak evidence for an association between SES (as measured by education) and biological aging (as measured by telomere length), although there was a lack of consistent findings across the SES measures investigated here.
Social Science & Medicine, 2013
The purpose of this study was to examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and leukocyte telomere length (LTL)-a marker of cell aging that has been linked to stressful life circumstances-in a nationally representative, socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of US adults aged 20-84. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2002, we found that respondents who completed less than a high school education had significantly shorter telomeres than those who graduated from college. Income was not associated with LTL. African-Americans had significantly longer telomeres than whites, but there were no significant racial/ethnic differences in the association between education and telomere length. Finally, we found that the association between education and LTL was partially mediated by smoking and body mass index but not by drinking or sedentary behavior.
Ageing research reviews, 2018
Numerous studies examine the relationship between social stressors and telomere length (TL). Beyond considering methods and major findings, this scoping systematic review takes a novel approach as it groups studies according to the types of social stressor considered and by age groups. Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus. We included all English-language human subject research articles that modeled any measure of TL as a dependent variable and exposure to a social stressor as an independent variable. For the sample of 105 articles, we summarized methods and findings by type of social stressor (socioeconomic stressors, stressful life events, work-related stressors, and neighborhood stressors) and by age of the study population (infants/children, middle-aged adults, older adults, and mixed samples of middle-aged and older adults). We found more variation in TL measurement methodology in studies of infants/children and older adults than i...
Is Socioeconomic Status Associated With Biological Aging as Measured by Telomere Length?
Epidemiologic Reviews, 2013
It has been hypothesized that one way in which lower socioeconomic status (SES) affects health is by increasing the rate of biological aging. A widely used marker of biological aging is telomere length. Telomeres are structures at the ends of chromosomes that erode with increasing cell proliferation and genetic damage. We aimed to identify, through systematic review and meta-analysis, whether lower SES (greater deprivation) is associated with shorter telomeres. Thirty-one articles, including 29 study populations, were identified. We conducted 3 meta-analyses to compare the telomere lengths of persons of high and low SES with regard to contemporaneous SES (12 study populations from 10 individual articles), education (15 study populations from 14 articles), and childhood SES (2 study populations from 2 articles). For education, there was a significant difference in telomere length between persons of high and low SES in a random-effects model (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.060, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.002, 0.118; P = 0.042), although a range of sensitivity analyses weakened this association. There was no evidence for an association between telomere length and contemporaneous SES (SMD = 0.104, 95% CI: −0.027, 0.236; P = 0.119) or childhood SES (SMD = −0.037, 95% CI: −0.143, 0.069; P = 0.491). These results suggest weak evidence for an association between SES (as measured by education) and biological aging (as measured by telomere length), although there was a lack of consistent findings across the SES measures investigated here. biological aging; review, systematic; socioeconomic status; telomere length Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; RII, relative index of inequality; SES, socioeconomic status; SMD, standardized mean difference.
Systematic Reviews, 2014
Background: The effects of stress on ill health have become evident in recent years. Under acute stress situations, a cascade of physiological events helps the body mount an appropriate adaptive response. However, under chronic stress situations, this physiological response may lead to wear and tear on the body that accelerates the decline in physiological functioning and increases the risk of chronic conditions. Recent evidence for social stress experienced during childhood suggests serious consequences many years later, even later life. Telomere length, a marker of cell aging, may provide a link between chronic social stress and age-associated physical and mental decline and risk of chronic conditions. This study examines whether chronic social stress is associated with telomere length throughout the life course. Methods/Design: We will perform a systematic review of the literature on the relationship between chronic social stress, for example, due to violence, extreme poverty, or caregiving of people with disabling conditions (exposure), and telomere length (outcome) by searching electronic databases in MEDLINE (PubMed interface), EMBASE (OVID interface), Cochrane Central (OVID interface) and gray literature from their start date onwards. We will limit the search to studies performed on human populations. Two reviewers will conduct standardized screening, eligibility assessment, data abstraction, and scientific quality assessment. All study designs investigating the association between chronic social stress and telomere length in healthy or diseased adults and children will be eligible for inclusion in the review. We will extract individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, research setting, method of measuring telomere length, reported outcome, and determinants of interest. Studies will also be stratified by 1) age into 3 groups: childhood (0 to 18 years), adulthood (19 to 64 years) and late life (65+); 2) cell type; 3) study design; and 4) telomere length assessment method. Where feasible, study results will be combined through meta-analyses to obtain a pooled measure of associations. Results will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement. Discussion: This systematic review will provide knowledge on the existing evidence for chronic social stress and its association with telomere lengths throughout the life course.
Molecular psychiatry, 2015
Telomere length, a reliable predictor of disease pathogenesis, can be affected by genetics, chronic stress and health behaviors. Cross-sectionally, highly stressed postmenopausal women have shorter telomeres, but only if they are inactive. However, no studies have prospectively examined telomere length change over a short period, and if rate of attrition is affected by naturalistic factors such as stress and engagement in healthy behaviors, including diet, exercise, and sleep. Here we followed healthy women over 1 year to test if major stressors that occurred over the year predicted telomere shortening, and whether engaging in healthy behaviors during this period mitigates this effect. In 239 postmenopausal, non-smoking, disease-free women, accumulation of major life stressors across a 1-year period predicted telomere attrition over the same period-for every major life stressor that occurred during the year, there was a significantly greater decline in telomere length over the year ...
PNAS - Psychosocial stress are associated with shorter telomeres
Recent work has linked psychological stress with premature cellular aging as indexed by reduced leukocyte telomere length. The combination of shorter telomeres with high telomerase activity may be indicative of active cell stress. We hypothesized that older individuals characterized by shorter telomeres with high telomerase activity in unstimulated leukocytes, would show signs of high allostatic load and low levels of protective psychosocial resources. We studied 333 healthy men and women aged 54-76 who underwent laboratory testing in which we measured cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and inflammatory responses to standardized mental stress tasks. The tasks elicited prompt increases in blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol and mediators of inflammation and reductions in heart rate variability, returning towards baseline levels following stress. However, men having shorter telomeres with high telomerase activity showed blunted post-stress recovery in systolic blood pressure, heart rate variability, and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), together with reduced responsivity in diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol, in comparison with men with longer telomeres, or those with shorter telomeres and low telomerase activity. Shorter telomeres with high telomerase activity was also associated with reduced social support, lower optimism, higher hostility, and with greater early life adversity. These effects were independent of age, socioeconomic status and body mass index. We did not observe differences among older women. Our findings suggest that active cell stress is associated with impaired physiological stress responses and impoverished psychosocial resources, reflecting an integration of cellular, systemic and psychological stress processes potentially relevant to health in older men.
Older adults with higher income or marriage have longer telomeres
Age and Ageing, 2012
Background: telomere length has been used to represent biological ageing and is found to be associated with various physiological, psychological and social factors. Objective: to explore the effects of income and marriage on leucocyte telomere length in a representative sample of older adults. Design and subjects: cross-sectional analysis among 298 adults, aged 65-74, randomly selected from the community by census. Methods: telomere length was measured by quantitative PCR. Participants provided information on sociodemographics, physical illness and completed questionnaires rating mental state and perceived neighbourhood experience. Results: telomere length was negatively associated with lower income [coefficient −0.141 (95% CI: −0.244 to −0.020), P = 0.021] and positively associated with the marital status [coefficient 0.111 (95% CI: −0.008 to 0.234), P = 0.067] when controlling for gender, age, educational level, physical diseases (including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular disease and Parkinson's disease), depressive symptoms, minor mental symptoms, cognitive impairment and perceived neighbourhood experience (including social support, perceived security and public facilities). Conclusions: these results indicate that older adults with higher income or being married have longer telomeres when other sociodemographics, physical diseases, mental status and neighbourhood experience are adjusted.
No association between mean telomere length and life stress observed in a 30 year birth cohort
PloS one, 2014
Telomeres are specialised structures that cap the ends of chromosomes. They shorten with each cell division and have been proposed as a marker of cellular aging. Previous studies suggest that early life stressors increase the rate of telomere shortening with potential impact on disease states and mortality later in life. This study examined the associations between telomere length and exposure to a number of stressors that arise during development from the antenatal/perinatal period through to young adulthood. Participants were from the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS), a New Zealand longitudinal birth cohort which has followed participants from birth until age 30. Telomere length was obtained on DNA from peripheral blood samples collected from consenting participants (n = 677) at age 28-30, using a quantitative PCR assay. These data were assessed for associations with 26 measures of life course adversity or stress which occurred prior to 25 years of age. No associat...