Early-life and adult socioeconomic status and inflammatory risk markers in adulthood.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Associations between childhood and adult socioeconomic status (SES) and adult levels of inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein [CRP], fibrinogen, white blood cell count [WBC], and von Willebrand factor [vWF]) were examined in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study cohort.

METHODS:
A total of 12,681 white and African-American participants provided information on SES (via education and social class) and place of residence in childhood and adulthood. Residences were linked to census data for neighborhood SES information. Multiple imputation was used to impute missing data. Hierarchical and linear regression were used to estimate the effects of SES and possible mediation by adult cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors.

FINDINGS:
Low childhood social class and education were associated with elevated levels of CRP, fibrinogen, WBC, and vWF (increments of 17%, 2%, 4% and 3% for lowest versus highest education in childhood, respectively) among whites. Findings were less consistent among African-Americans. Adult SES was more strongly associated with inflammation than childhood SES. Individual-level SES measures were more consistently associated with inflammation than neighborhood-level measures. Fibrinogen and WBC showed the most consistent associations with SES; the largest changes in inflammation by SES were observed for CRP. Covariate adjustment strongly attenuated these associations. Mediation of the SES-inflammation associations by BMI, smoking and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) are suggested by these data.

CONCLUSION:
Low individual- and neighborhood-level SES in childhood and adulthood are associated with modest increments in adult inflammatory burden. These associations may operate through the influence of low SES on traditional CVD risk factors, especially BMI, smoking and HDL-C.

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Author information

Author/s: Pollitt, Ricardo A (RA); Kaufman, Jay S (JS); Rose, Kathryn M (KM); Diez-Roux, Ana V (AV); Zeng, Donglin (D); Heiss, Gerardo (G);

Affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 137 E. Franklin Street, Bank of America Center, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA. pollitt(-atsign-)email.unc.edu

Grants: N01 HC 55015 (Agency:NHLBI NIH HHS) ; N01 HC 55016 (Agency:NHLBI NIH HHS) ; N01 HC 55018 (Agency:NHLBI NIH HHS) ; N01 HC 55019 (Agency:NHLBI NIH HHS) ; N01 HC 55020 (Agency:NHLBI NIH HHS) ; N01 HC 55021 (Agency:NHLBI NIH HHS) ; N01 HC 55022 (Agency:NHLBI NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: European journal of epidemiology (Eur J Epidemiol), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-; vol 22 (issue 1) : pp 55-66

Dates: Created 2007/02/02; Completed 2007/05/16; Revised 2007/12/03;

PMID: 17225957, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

African Americans - statistics & numerical data
Biological Markers - blood
C-Reactive Protein - analysis
Cardiovascular Diseases - diagnosis
Child
Educational Status
European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data
Female
Fibrinogen - analysis
Humans

Humans
Inflammation - blood; diagnosis; ethnology
Leukocyte Count
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Residence Characteristics - statistics & numerical data
Risk
Social Class
von Willebrand Factor - analysis

Associated Chemicals: Biological Markers (0) ; von Willebrand Factor (0) ; Fibrinogen (9001-32-5) ; C-Reactive Protein (9007-41-4)

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