Educational attainment and late life telomere length in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study

Abstract

Morbidity and mortality are greater among socially disadvantaged racial/ethnic groups and those of lower socioeconomic status (SES). Greater chronic stress exposure in disadvantaged groups may contribute to this by accelerating cellular aging, indexed by shorter age-adjusted telomere length. While studies consistently relate shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) to stress, the few studies, mostly from the UK, examining associations of LTL with SES have been mixed. The current study examined associations between educational attainment and LTL among 2,599 high-functioning black and white adults age 70-79 from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. Multiple regression analyses tested associations of race/ethnicity, educational attainment and income with LTL, adjusting for potential confounders. Those with only a high school education had significantly shorter mean LTL (4806 basepairs) than those with post-high school education (4926 basepairs; B=125, SE= 47.6, p = .009). A significant interaction of race and education (B = 207.8, SE = 98.7, p = .035) revealed more beneficial effects of post-high school education for blacks than for whites. Smokers had shorter LTL than non-smokers, but the association of education and LTL remained significant when smoking was covaried (B = 119.7, SE = 47.6, p = .012). While higher income was associated with longer LTL, the effect was not significant (p > .10). This study provides the first demonstration of an association between educational attainment and LTL in a US population where higher education appears to have a protective effect against telomere shortening, particularly in blacks.

Leukocyte telomere length: Effects of schizophrenia, age, and gender

“…We also did not find evidence, either within HC or schizophrenia gender-matched groups, that LTL is correlated with demographic or health variables that have often, but not always, been associated with LTL in other studies, e.g., perceived stress (Epel et al, 2004), education (Adler et al, 2013), socioeconomic status (Cherkas et al, 2006), tobacco use (Babizhayev et al, 2011), exercise/activity (Puterman et al, 2010), sleep (Prather et al, 2011), diet (Epel, 2009), depression , early life adversity (Price et al, 2013) and BMI (Epel, 2009). This suggests that each of these demographic, lifestyle, and health variables, despite the fact that they differed between groups, did not substantially contribute to our LTL findings.…”

Shortened telomere length in bipolar disorder: a comparison of the early and late stages of disease

“…5 A relation between AA and AL has been proposed, 5,9 whereby saturation of the body's ability to maintain homeostasis would lead to a series of maladaptive systemic alterations (AL) resulting in an increased occurrence of comorbidities, appearing as an AA process and, possibly, resulting in decreased life expectancy due to natural causes in patients with BD. 45 Limitations of this study include the small sample size, which precluded analysis of differences in effects of medication, smoking status, 46 and lifestyle factors 47 between specific subgroups of patients. Ethnic background is a possible confounder 47 ; however, we did not have information about this variable.…”

“…45 Limitations of this study include the small sample size, which precluded analysis of differences in effects of medication, smoking status, 46 and lifestyle factors 47 between specific subgroups of patients. Ethnic background is a possible confounder 47 ; however, we did not have information about this variable. A potential gender difference, with longer telomeres in females, has been an issue of intense debate.…”

Telomeres And Early Life Stress: A Review

“…However many subject-level variables, such as age, sex, genetic polymorphisms, "resiliency," education, history of early life adversities, parental responsiveness, socioeconomic status, health behaviors, diet, and latent or active viral infections (e.g., cytomegalovirus or herpes virus) may affect LTL, independent of the disease process being studied [38][39][40][41][42][43] .Other potentially important confounds in interpreting LTL in psychiatric illnesses are psychiatric and medical co-morbidities. Many psychiatric diagnoses has a high co-morbidity with secondary psychiatric illnesses such as substance abuse, various anxiety disorders, and PTSD.…”