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Socioeconomic determinants of inflammation and neuroendocrine activity: A longitudinal analysis of compositional and contextual effects

Hamilton, OS; Steptoe, A; (2023) Socioeconomic determinants of inflammation and neuroendocrine activity: A longitudinal analysis of compositional and contextual effects. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity , 107 pp. 276-285. 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.10.010. Green open access

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Abstract

Socioeconomic determinants are well-established modulators of inflammation and neuroendocrine activity. Less clear is whether neighbourhood-contextual or individual-compositional factors are more closely associated with gradients in these biomarkers. Here, we examine how immune and neuroendocrine activity are cross-sectionally and longitudinally nested in meso-level socioeconomic characteristics. Participants, male and female, aged ≥50, were recruited from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Neighbourhood (Index of Multiple Deprivation [IMD]) and individual (Wealth/Education/Occupational Social Class [Occupation]) factors were drawn from wave 4 (baseline; 2008). Immune and neuroendocrine biomarkers (indexed by C-reactive protein [CRP; n = 3,968]; fibrinogen [n = 3,932]; white blood cell counts [WBCC; n = 4,022]; insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1; n = 4,056]) were measured at baseline and 4-years later (wave 6; 2012). Covariates at baseline included demographic, clinical, and lifestyle variables. Lower socioeconomic status was associated with heighted inflammation and lower neuroendocrine activity unadjusted both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. With few exceptions, cross-sectional associations remained significant after full adjustment. Prospectively, low IMD remained associated with higher CRP and WBCC; wealth with WBCC; and education and occupation with fibrinogen and WBCC. IMD-biomarker associations were reduced when wealth was simultaneously taken into account. Lifestyle accounted for the greatest variance in associations between socioeconomic indicators and inflammation (≤42.11%), but demographics were more salient to neuroendocrine activity (≤88.46%). Neighbourhood-contextual factors were stronger indicators of aberrant biomarker activity than individual-compositional factors in cross-sectional analyses but were largely explained by wealth differences prospectively. Therefore, immune and neuroendocrine changes depended on the composition of the population living in an area, rather than the area itself.

Type: Article
Title: Socioeconomic determinants of inflammation and neuroendocrine activity: A longitudinal analysis of compositional and contextual effects
Location: Netherlands
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.10.010
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2022.10.010
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Compositional, Contextual, Inflammation, Neighbourhood, Neuroendocrine, Socioeconomic Status
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 > Behavioural Science and Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10158836
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