Mediating pathways between parental socio-economic position and allostatic load in mid-life: Findings from the 1958 British birth cohort

Socioeconomic indicators in epidemiologic research: A practical example from the LIFEPATH study

“…For example, research on immune markers in the Whitehall II study has shown that glucocorticoids and inflammation may in part explain how the body mediates the effects of social and economic disadvantage thus leading to disease, and this is partly independent from common/known risk factors [44,45]. More generally, recent studies have shown that SEP can influence the global physiological dysregulation across the life-course, measured using allostatic load, a measure of biological multisystem wastage [46–48]. …”

Out-of-Home Care and Subsequent Preterm Delivery: An Intergenerational Cohort Study

“…13,40 Elevated allostatic load (ie, wear and tear in neural, neuroendocrine, and immune systems in adaptation to chronic stress 18 ) has been reported among adults exposed to early life adversities. 17,41,42 The HPA axis, where the systems crosslink to each other, also plays a central role in human pregnancy. The increased corticotrophin-releasing hormone of HPA axis is a potential link between maternal stress and preterm delivery.…”

“…13 Such impact can be explained by material, educational, and behavioral pathways independently 14 -16 or by taxing on the stress response system (ie, allostatic load). 17,18 Burgeoning research reveals that early childhood adversities could exert structural and functional changes of the brain related to emotional regulation and stress response. 15,19,20 Such changes may contribute to emotional dysregulation in adolescence, which is a mentally and physically stressful time on its own.…”

Birth weight, verbal cognition in early adolescence, and lexical and reading skills in late adolescence: a formal mediation analysis using a potential outcomes approach

“…The confounders were as follows: (a) sex of cohort member; (b) maternal smoking during pregnancy (the NCDS used a nominal measure with 10 categories of answers; BCS used an ordinal measure with six categories of answers, varying from non‐smoker to more than 14 cigarettes per day during pregnancy; MCS used categorical measure classified mothers as (i) never having smoked during pregnancy, (ii) quit smoking during pregnancy, (iii) persistent light smokers during pregnancy (fewer than 10 cigarettes per day) and (iv) persistent heavy smokers during pregnancy (10 + cigarettes per day) as measure constructed by (Pickett, Wilkinson, & Wakschlag, ); (c) gestational age in weeks, which for NCDS and BCS was based on a questionnaire administered by a midwife and answered by parents (usually the mother) comprising obstetric history and antenatal care, and for MCS was calculated as the difference between the expected date of delivery and date of birth, in weeks, as suggested by Poulsen and Boyle (Boyle et al., ; Poulsen et al., ); (d) parental social class based on occupation, which in NCDS (only for father) and BCS (both mother and father) cohorts was an ordinal variable with six categories based on parental occupation varying from ‘professional’ to ‘unskilled’ worker, as defined by Bann, Johnson, Li, Kuh, and Hardy () and Barboza Solís et al. (); in MCS (both mother and father) this was a ordinal variable with nine categories based on parental education varying from ‘Managers and Senior Officials’ to ‘Elementary Occupations,’ as defined by the Office for National Statistics (); in NCDS, mother's social class was not used because most were homemakers in this cohort; (e) frequency of shared reading (i.e. how often parents read to the participants during childhood: in NCDS this was categorized as every week , occasionally , or hardly ever ; in BCS, the number of days read to in the past week was considered; in MCS, this was categorized as every day , several times a week , or not at all ); (f) parental education: in NCDS, this was measured with a dichotomous variable ( no or yes ) regarding the statement ‘stayed on at school after minimal age;’ in BCS, it was measured with two different continuous variables indicating the number of years of education reached by mother and father; in MCS, a nominal variable was used with seven categories from ‘Higher degree’ to ‘None of these qualifications/Other academic qualifications;’ and (g) maternal depression: measured with a dichotomous variable ( yes or no ) in response to the query ‘mother often feels depressive’ (BCS) and ‘mother was diagnosed with major depression’ (MCS).…”