Robertson, T;
Batty, GD;
Der, G;
Green, MJ;
McGlynn, LM;
McIntyre, A;
Shiels, PG;
(2012)
Is telomere length socially patterned? Evidence from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study.
PLoS One
, 7
(7)
, Article e41805. 10.1371/journal.pone.0041805.
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Abstract
Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with an increased risk of morbidity and premature mortality, but it is not known if the same is true for telomere length, a marker often used to assess biological ageing. The West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study was used to investigate this and consists of three cohorts aged approximately 35 (N = 775), 55 (N = 866) and 75 years (N = 544) at the time of telomere length measurement. Four sets of measurements of SES were investigated: those collected contemporaneously with telomere length assessment, educational markers, SES in childhood and SES over the preceding twenty years. We found mixed evidence for an association between SES and telomere length. In 35-year-olds, many of the education and childhood SES measures were associated with telomere length, i.e. those in poorer circumstances had shorter telomeres, as was intergenerational social mobility, but not accumulated disadvantage. A crude estimate showed that, at the same chronological age, social renters, for example, were nine years (biologically) older than home owners. No consistent associations were apparent in those aged 55 or 75. There is evidence of an association between SES and telomere length, but only in younger adults and most strongly using education and childhood SES measures. These results may reflect that childhood is a sensitive period for telomere attrition. The cohort differences are possibly the result of survival bias suppressing the SES-telomere association; cohort effects with regard different experiences of SES; or telomere possibly being a less effective marker of biological ageing at older ages.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Is telomere length socially patterned? Evidence from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study. |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0041805 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041805 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2012 Robertson et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study is funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) (MC_US_A540_0080) and the data were originally collected by the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. T. Robertson, M. Green, G. Der and M. Benzeval are funded by the MRC (MC_US_A540_0056). G.D. Batty is a Wellcome Trust Fellow. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. |
| Keywords: | Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Cohort Studies, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Scotland, Social Class, Telomere, Telomere Shortening, Time Factors, Young Adult |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1376887 |
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