Applying minimally invasive biomarkers of chronic stress across complex ecological contexts

Self Cite

Objective Adrenarche, the biological event marked by rising production of dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulfate (DHEAS), may represent a sensitive period in child development, with important implications for adolescence and beyond. Nutritional status, particularly BMI and/or adiposity, has long been hypothesized as a factor in DHEAS production but findings are inconsistent, and few studies have examined this among non‐industrialized societies. In addition, cortisol has not been included in these models. We here evaluate effects of height‐ (HAZ), weight‐ (WAZ), and BMI‐ (BMIZ) for‐age on DHEAS concentrations among Sidama agropastoralist, Ngandu horticulturalist, and Aka hunter‐gatherer children. Methods Heights and weights were collected from 206 children aged 2–18 years old. HAZ, WAZ, and BMIZ were calculated using CDC standards. DHEAS and cortisol assays were used to determine biomarker concentrations in hair. Generalized linear modeling was used to examine effects of nutritional status on DHEAS concentrations, as well as cortisol, controlling for age, sex, and population. Results Despite the prevalence of low HAZ and WAZ scores, the majority (77%) of children had BMI z‐scores >−2.0 SD. Nutritional status has no significant effect on DHEAS concentrations, controlling for age, sex, and population. Cortisol, however, is a significant predictor of DHEAS concentrations. Conclusions Our findings do not support a relationship between nutritional status and DHEAS. Instead, results suggest an important role for stress and ecology in DHEAS concentrations across childhood. Specifically, effects of environment via cortisol may be influential to patterning of DHEAS. Future work should investigate local ecological stressors and their relationship to adrenarche.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DHEAS and nutritional status among Sidama, Ngandu, and Aka children: Effects of cortisol and implications for adrenarche

Helfrecht

Wang

Dira

et al. 2023

Self Cite

“…Research described in this special issue by Blackwell and Garcia (2022), Barrett et al (2022) and DeCaro and Helfrecht (2022), as well as by Cepon‐Robins (2021) in the earlier special issue, provides us with the tools and conceptual clarity to further investigate these ideas, and to test predictions of the Old Friends Hypothesis in innovative ways.…”

Section: Key Themes Of the Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…DeCaro and Helfrecht (2022) provide an accessible and much‐needed review of the measurement of minimally invasively collected biomarkers of chronic psychosocial stress and their application in different socioecological settings. The authors discuss the challenges inherent in operationalizing chronic stress using biomarkers, concentrating on how physiological systems responsive to stress are regulated and become dysregulated under different environmental and social conditions.…”

Section: The Present Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, expanded access to minimally invasive biomarkers and sophisticated approaches to their implementation in studies, as described in several contributions to the special issue, allows researchers to increase the availability of epidemiological data for underserved groups and to further investigate the social and environmental contributors to health and well‐being, setting the stage for addressing health disparities. Finally, the contribution by DeCaro and Helfrecht (2022) reviews the physiological pathways connecting social adversity to negative health, setting the stage for future investigations linking these pathways to specific social factors, and identifying potential targets for intervention.…”

Section: Key Themes Of the Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This emphasis on using multiple biomarkers is central to contributions by Devlin et al (2022) on BTMs, Barrett et al (2022) on immunosenescence, DeCaro and Helfrecht (2022) on stress, and DeLouize, Eick, et al (2022) on cancers. The future of our field is in novel applications that use multiple biomarkers across different physiological systems and levels to address research questions in sophisticated ways; furthermore, innovative statistical approaches that likely include machine learning approaches will facilitate interpretation of these massively complex data.…”

Section: Looking Toward the Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Minimally invasive biomarkers in human population biology research, part 2: An introduction to the special issue

Snodgrass

2022

Over the past several decades, biomarkers have become indispensable tools in human biology, allowing researchers to investigate biocultural and evolutionary questions and to generate basic data on health and well-being. Human biologists are central players in biomarker methods development, pioneering the creation of "field friendly," minimally invasively collected biomarker approaches, as well as leading the innovative use of biomarkers, most notably to map the complex pathways from social and environmental conditions to altered physiology to health effects. This special issue, Part 2 of a collection focused on minimally invasively collected biomarkers, is comprised of nine papers that jointly contribute to driving the science of biomarker methods development and application. This compilation of papers engages with topics such as biological normalcy, ecoimmunology, and the ethics of working with vulnerable and underserved populations. It also focuses attention on research areas at present not emphasized in human biology such as bone turnover markers as a window onto osteoporosis and osteoarthritis and the use of cancer-related biomarkers in population screening and epidemiology. Taken together, these papers help draw the roadmap for future biomarker work, emphasizing: (1) the need for systematic and transparent approaches to assay validation, with open access publication; (2) simultaneous measurement of multiple biomarkers and expanded use of instrument platforms that increase the range of physiological, genomics, and omics markers available to researchers; and, (3) increased attention to ethics and researcher responsibilities, encouraging a mindset that recognizes our obligation to provide benefits to individuals and communities and to help redress past abuses.

Applying minimally invasive biomarkers of chronic stress across complex ecological contexts

DeCaro

Helfrecht

2022

Chronic stress is both theoretically and methodologically challenging to operationalize through biomarkers. Yet minimally invasive, field-friendly biomarkers of chronic stress are valuable in research linking biology and culture, seeking to understand differential patterns of human development across ecological contexts, and exploring the evolution of human sociality. For human biologists, a central question in measurement and interpretation of biomarkers is how stress-responsive physiological systems are regulated across diverse human ecologies. This article aims to describe a conditional toolkit for human biologists interested in the study of chronic stress, highlighting a mix of longstanding and novel biomarkers, with special focus on hair/fingernail cortisol, latent herpesvirus antibodies, allostatic load indices, and serial/ambulatory data collection approaches. Future trends in chronic stress biomarker research, including epigenetic approaches, are briefly considered. This overview considers: (1) challenges in separating a distinctly psychosocial dimension of chronic stress from adversity more broadly; (2) essential characteristics of human ecology that shape interpretation; (3) retrospective vs. longitudinal sampling; (4) the role of age, developmental effects, and local biologies; (5) different timescales of chronicity; and (6) the role of culture.