Psychosocial adversity and socioeconomic position during childhood and epigenetic age: analysis of two prospective cohort studies

Abstract

Psychosocial adversity in childhood (e.g. abuse) and low socioeconomic position (SEP) can have significant lasting effects on social and health outcomes. DNA methylation-based biomarkers are highly correlated with chronological age; departures of methylation-predicted age from chronological age can be used to define a measure of age acceleration, which may represent a potential biological mechanism linking environmental exposures to later health outcomes. Using data from two cohorts of women Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, (ALSPAC), N = 989 and MRC National Survey of Health and Development, NSHD, N = 773), we assessed associations of SEP, psychosocial adversity in childhood (parental physical or mental illness or death, parental separation, parental absence, sub-optimal maternal bonding, sexual, emotional and physical abuse and neglect) and a cumulative score of these psychosocial adversity measures, with DNA methylation age acceleration in adulthood (measured in peripheral blood at mean chronological ages 29 and 47 in ALSPAC and buccal cells at age 53 in NSHD). Sexual abuse was strongly associated with age acceleration in ALSPAC (sexual abuse data were not available in NSHD), e.g. at the 47-year time point sexual abuse associated with a 3.41 years higher DNA methylation age (95% CI 1.53 to 5.29) after adjusting for childhood and adulthood SEP. No associations were observed between low SEP, any other psychosocial adversity measure or the cumulative psychosocial adversity score and age acceleration. DNA methylation age acceleration is associated with sexual abuse, suggesting a potential mechanism linking sexual abuse with adverse outcomes. Replication studies with larger sample sizes are warranted.

Epigenetic aging in children from a small‐scale farming society in The Congo Basin: Associations with child growth and family conflict

“…In total, our results pertaining to family social stress align with some prior studies in the U.S. and Europe showing that childhood psychosocial stress and trauma were associated with greater EAA (Jovanovic et al, ; Wolf et al, ). Complementing some recent EAA work (Brody, Miller, et al, ; Brody, Yu, et al, ; Lawn et al, ) and previous epigenetics research using epigenome‐wide (Bush et al, ; Essex et al, ; McDade et al, ) and candidate‐gene approaches (Gouin et al, ; Turecki & Meaney, ), our findings indicate that parental conflict may be a component of stressful family environments that merits further study as a correlate of accelerated epigenetic aging in children.…”

“…Complementing some recent EAA work Lawn et al, 2018) and previous epigenetics research using epigenome-wide (Bush et al, 2018;Essex et al, 2013;McDade et al, 2017) and candidate-gene approaches (Gouin et al, 2017;Turecki & Meaney, 2016), our findings indicate that parental conflict may be a component of stressful family environments that merits further study as a correlate of accelerated epigenetic aging in children.…”

“…In addition to relationships between EAA and growth under energetic constraint, it is also potentially important to understand how concurrent exposure to psychosocial and energetic stressors relates to children's EAA. Multiple studies have shown that individuals experiencing psychosocial adversity prior to adulthood exhibit greater EAA, and children's family environments may play a role in shaping these effects (Brody, Miller, Yu, Beach, & Chen, ; Javed, Chen, Lin, & Liang, ; Jovanovic et al, ; Lawn et al, ; Sumner, Colich, Uddin, Armstrong, & McLaughlin, ; Wolf et al, ). For example, research among African‐American children found that supportive family contexts were protective for children against the effects of racial discrimination on EAA (Brody, Yu, Chen, Beach, & Miller, ).…”

“…In addition to relationships between EAA and growth under energetic constraint, it is also potentially important to understand how concurrent exposure to psychosocial and energetic stressors relates to children's EAA. Multiple studies have shown that individuals experiencing psychosocial adversity prior to adulthood exhibit greater EAA, and children's family environments may play a role in shaping these effects Javed, Chen, Lin, & Liang, 2016;Jovanovic et al, 2017;Lawn et al, 2018;Sumner, Colich, Uddin, Armstrong, & McLaughlin, 2019;Wolf et al, 2018).…”

Adverse childhood experiences, DNA methylation age acceleration, and cortisol in UK children: a prospective population-based cohort study

“…"Epigenetic clocks," which are sets of DNA methylation (DNAm) markers (CpG sites) that accurately predict chronological aging, have been recently described [4][5][6], and higher DNAm-predicted age relative to chronological age [DNAm age acceleration (AA)] is associated with cardiovascular disease [7], cancer [8], lower verbal fluency [9], and all-cause mortality [10]. DNAm AA has also been associated with childhood exposure to adversity, including parental depression [11], violence [12,13], sexual abuse [14], low socioeconomic status [15][16][17], and cumulative exposure to sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect [18].…”