Dataset Information

Early life socioeconomic adversity is associated in adult life with chronic inflammation, carotid atherosclerosis, poorer lung function and decreased cognitive performance: a cross-sectional, population-based study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Socioeconomic gradients in health persist despite public health campaigns and improvements in healthcare. The Psychosocial and Biological Determinants of Ill-health (pSoBid) study was designed to uncover novel biomarkers of chronic disease that may help explain pathways between socioeconomic adversity and poorer physical and mental health.

Methods

We examined links between indicators of early life adversity, possible intermediary phenotypes, and markers of ill health in adult subjects (n = 666) recruited from affluent and deprived areas. Classical and novel risk factors for chronic disease (lung function and atherosclerosis) and for cognitive performance were assessed, and associations sought with early life variables including conditions in the parental home, family size and leg length.

Results

Associations were observed between father's occupation, childhood home status (owner-occupier; overcrowding) and biomarkers of chronic inflammation and endothelial activation in adults (C reactive protein, interleukin 6, intercellular adhesion molecule; P < 0.0001) but not number of siblings and leg length. Lung function (forced expiratory volume in 1 second) and cognition (Choice Reaction Time, the Stroop test, Auditory Verbal Learning Test) were likewise related to early life conditions (P < 0.001). In multivariate models inclusion of inflammatory variables reduced the impact and independence of early life conditions on lung function and measures of cognitive ability. Including variables of adult socioeconomic status attenuated the early life associations with disease biomarkers.

Conclusions

Adverse levels of biomarkers of ill health in adults appear to be influenced by father's occupation and childhood home conditions. Chronic inflammation and endothelial activation may in part act as intermediary phenotypes in this complex relationship. Reducing the 'health divide' requires that these life course determinants are taken into account.

SUBMITTER: Packard CJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3032683 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Early life socioeconomic adversity is associated in adult life with chronic inflammation, carotid atherosclerosis, poorer lung function and decreased cognitive performance: a cross-sectional, population-based study.

Packard Chris J CJ Bezlyak Vladimir V McLean Jennifer S JS Batty G David GD Ford Ian I Burns Harry H Cavanagh Jonathan J Deans Kevin A KA Henderson Marion M McGinty Agnes A Millar Keith K Sattar Naveed N Shiels Paul G PG Velupillai Yoga N YN Tannahill Carol C

BMC public health 20110117

<h4>Background</h4>Socioeconomic gradients in health persist despite public health campaigns and improvements in healthcare. The Psychosocial and Biological Determinants of Ill-health (pSoBid) study was designed to uncover novel biomarkers of chronic disease that may help explain pathways between socioeconomic adversity and poorer physical and mental health.<h4>Methods</h4>We examined links between indicators of early life adversity, possible intermediary phenotypes, and markers of ill health in ...[more]

PMID: 21241479

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Project description:BackgroundThe combined effects of increased life expectancy and the considerable number of persons reaching old age will magnify the dementia epidemic in the USA. Demonstration that subclinical atherosclerosis precedes and is associated with cognitive impairment suggests a modifiable risk factor for age-associated cognitive impairment and dementia. The purpose of this study is to determine whether subclinical atherosclerosis as measured by carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) is associated with changes in cognitive function over time in older adults.MethodsThis study combined longitudinal data from three clinical trials conducted between 2000 and 2013: the B-Vitamin Atherosclerosis Intervention Trial (BVAIT), the Women's Isoflavone Soy Health (WISH) trial, and the Early versus Late Intervention Trial with Estradiol (ELITE). Participants were recruited from the general population in the Greater Los Angeles area and were free of cardiovascular disease and diabetes; no cognitive or psychiatric exclusion criteria were specified. The same standardized protocol for ultrasound image acquisition and measurement of CIMT was used in all trials. CIMT measurements performed at baseline and 2.5 years were used in these analyses. Cognitive function was assessed at baseline and 2.5 years using a battery of 14 standardized cognitive tests. All clinical trials were conducted at the University of Southern California Atherosclerosis Research Unit, Los Angeles, and had at least 2.5 years of cognitive follow-up.ResultsA total of 308 men and 1187 women, mean age of 61 years, were included in the combined longitudinal dataset for the primary analysis. No associations were found between CIMT and cognitive function at baseline or at 2.5 years. There was a weak inverse association between CIMT measured at baseline and change in global cognition assessed over 2.5 years (β (SE) = - 0.056 (0.028) units per 0.1 mm CIMT, 95% CI - 0.110, - 0.001, p = 0.046). No associations between CIMT at baseline and changes in executive function, verbal memory, or visual memory were found.ConclusionsIn this sample of healthy older adults, our findings suggest an association between subclinical atherosclerosis and change in global cognitive function over 2.5 years. Stronger associations were observed longitudinally over 2.5 years than cross-sectionally. When analysis was stratified by age group (<65 and ≥65 years old), the inverse association remained statistically significant for participants in the older age group. Subclinical atherosclerosis of the carotid artery may be a modifiable correlate of cognitive decline in middle and older age.Trial registrationBVAIT, NCT00114400 . WISH, NCT00118846 . ELITE, NCT00114517 .

Dataset Information

Early life socioeconomic adversity is associated in adult life with chronic inflammation, carotid atherosclerosis, poorer lung function and decreased cognitive performance: a cross-sectional, population-based study.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Early life socioeconomic adversity is associated in adult life with chronic inflammation, carotid atherosclerosis, poorer lung function and decreased cognitive performance: a cross-sectional, population-based study.

Similar Datasets

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