Serwinski, B;
Salavecz, G;
Kirschbaum, C;
Steptoe, A;
(2016)
Associations between hair cortisol concentration, income, income dynamics and status incongruity in healthy middle-aged women.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
, 67
pp. 182-188.
10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.02.008.
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Abstract
A body of research demonstrates that financial disadvantage is associated with general health inequalities and higher mortality rates. Most studies make use of cross-sectional analyses, although income can also be viewed as a dynamic concept. The use of endocrine-markers as proxies for health can provide information about the pathways involved in these associations. Hair cortisol analysis has been developed as a method for assessing sustained cortisol output as it provides an estimate of cumulative cortisol secretion over a prolonged time. The present study assessed income and income trajectory over a 4-year period in 164 working women (aged 26-65) in relation to hair cortisol in a longitudinal design. A negative association between hair cortisol and concurrent income was found (p=0.025) and hair cortisol and changes in income over 4 years (p<0.001), after adjustment for age, BMI, smoking status, hair treatment and country. Status incongruity, a mismatch between educational status and income group, was related to higher cortisol levels compared with status congruity (p=0.009). These findings suggest that psychoneuroendocrinological pathways might partially explain the relationship between lower socio-economic status and adverse health outcomes. Future longitudinal research using hair cortisol analysis is warranted to clarify the time course of social mobility in relation to long-term cortisol, to investigate other underlying psychosocial factors implicated in these associations, and to determine the exact health implications of the neuroendocrine perturbations in individuals with limited economic resources.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Associations between hair cortisol concentration, income, income dynamics and status incongruity in healthy middle-aged women |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.02.008 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.02.008 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Education, Hair cortisol, Income, Status incongruity, Stress biomarkers |
| 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/1479126 |
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