Socioeconomic status, health behavior, and leukocyte telomere length in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.023

. 2013 May:85:1-8.

doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.023. Epub 2013 Feb 21.

Socioeconomic status, health behavior, and leukocyte telomere length in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002

Belinda L Needham¹, Nancy Adler, Steven Gregorich, David Rehkopf, Jue Lin, Elizabeth H Blackburn, Elissa S Epel

Affiliations

Affiliation

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, 1415 Washington Heights, 2663 SPH Tower, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA. needhamb@umich.edu

PMID: 23540359
PMCID: PMC3666871
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.023

Socioeconomic status, health behavior, and leukocyte telomere length in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002

Belinda L Needham et al. Soc Sci Med. 2013 May.

. 2013 May:85:1-8.

doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.023. Epub 2013 Feb 21.

Authors

Belinda L Needham¹, Nancy Adler, Steven Gregorich, David Rehkopf, Jue Lin, Elizabeth H Blackburn, Elissa S Epel

Affiliation

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, 1415 Washington Heights, 2663 SPH Tower, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA. needhamb@umich.edu

PMID: 23540359
PMCID: PMC3666871
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.023

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) - a marker of cell aging that has been linked to stressful life circumstances - in a nationally representative, socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of US adults aged 20-84. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2002, we found that respondents who completed less than a high school education had significantly shorter telomeres than those who graduated from college. Income was not associated with LTL. African-Americans had significantly longer telomeres than whites, but there were no significant racial/ethnic differences in the association between education and telomere length. Finally, we found that the association between education and LTL was partially mediated by smoking and body mass index but not by drinking or sedentary behavior.

PubMed Disclaimer

Cited by

The Importance of the Biological Impact of Exposure to the Concept of the Exposome.
Dennis KK, Auerbach SS, Balshaw DM, Cui Y, Fallin MD, Smith MT, Spira A, Sumner S, Miller GW. Dennis KK, et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2016 Oct;124(10):1504-1510. doi: 10.1289/EHP140. Epub 2016 Jun 3. Environ Health Perspect. 2016. PMID: 27258438 Free PMC article. Review.
Reflection on modern methods: good practices for applied statistical learning in epidemiology.
Nunez Y, Gibson EA, Tanner EM, Gennings C, Coull BA, Goldsmith J, Kioumourtzoglou MA. Nunez Y, et al. Int J Epidemiol. 2021 May 17;50(2):685-693. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyaa259. Int J Epidemiol. 2021. PMID: 34000733 Free PMC article.
Milk Fat Intake and Telomere Length in U.S. Women and Men: The Role of the Milk Fat Fraction.
Tucker LA. Tucker LA. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2019 Oct 28;2019:1574021. doi: 10.1155/2019/1574021. eCollection 2019. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2019. PMID: 31772698 Free PMC article.
Effect of Physical Activity, Smoking, and Sleep on Telomere Length: A Systematic Review of Observational and Intervention Studies.
Barragán R, Ortega-Azorín C, Sorlí JV, Asensio EM, Coltell O, St-Onge MP, Portolés O, Corella D. Barragán R, et al. J Clin Med. 2021 Dec 24;11(1):76. doi: 10.3390/jcm11010076. J Clin Med. 2021. PMID: 35011817 Free PMC article. Review.
The National Institute on Aging Health Disparities Research Framework.
Hill CV, Pérez-Stable EJ, Anderson NA, Bernard MA. Hill CV, et al. Ethn Dis. 2015 Aug 7;25(3):245-54. doi: 10.18865/ed.25.3.245. Ethn Dis. 2015. PMID: 26675362 Free PMC article. Review.

See all "Cited by" articles

References

1. Adams J, Martin-Ruiz C, Pearce M, White M, Parker L, von Zglinicki T. No association between socio-economic status and white blood cell telomere length. Aging Cell. 2007;6:125–128. - PubMed
1. Adler N, Pantell M, O’Donovan A, Blackburn E, Cawthon R, Koster A, et al. Educational attainment and late life telomere length in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. Brain Behav Immun 2012 - PMC - PubMed
1. Adler NE, Rehkopf DH. US disparities in health: Descriptions, causes, and mechanisms. Annual Review of Public Health. 2008;29:235–252. - PubMed
1. Adler NE, Stewart J. Health disparities across the lifespan: Meaning, methods, and mechanisms. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2010;1186:5–23. - PubMed
1. Allsopp R, Vaziri H, Patterson C, et al. Telomere length predicts replicative capacity of human fibroblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992;89:10114–10118. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Actions

MeSH terms

Substances

Actions

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
- scite Smart Citations

[1] Adams J, Martin-Ruiz C, Pearce M, White M, Parker L, von Zglinicki T. No association between socio-economic status and white blood cell telomere length. Aging Cell. 2007;6:125–128. - PubMed

[2] Adams J, Martin-Ruiz C, Pearce M, White M, Parker L, von Zglinicki T. No association between socio-economic status and white blood cell telomere length. Aging Cell. 2007;6:125–128. - PubMed

[3] Adler N, Pantell M, O’Donovan A, Blackburn E, Cawthon R, Koster A, et al. Educational attainment and late life telomere length in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. Brain Behav Immun 2012 - PMC - PubMed

[4] Adler N, Pantell M, O’Donovan A, Blackburn E, Cawthon R, Koster A, et al. Educational attainment and late life telomere length in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. Brain Behav Immun 2012 - PMC - PubMed

[5] Adler NE, Rehkopf DH. US disparities in health: Descriptions, causes, and mechanisms. Annual Review of Public Health. 2008;29:235–252. - PubMed

[6] Adler NE, Rehkopf DH. US disparities in health: Descriptions, causes, and mechanisms. Annual Review of Public Health. 2008;29:235–252. - PubMed

[7] Adler NE, Stewart J. Health disparities across the lifespan: Meaning, methods, and mechanisms. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2010;1186:5–23. - PubMed

[8] Adler NE, Stewart J. Health disparities across the lifespan: Meaning, methods, and mechanisms. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2010;1186:5–23. - PubMed

[9] Allsopp R, Vaziri H, Patterson C, et al. Telomere length predicts replicative capacity of human fibroblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992;89:10114–10118. - PMC - PubMed

[10] Allsopp R, Vaziri H, Patterson C, et al. Telomere length predicts replicative capacity of human fibroblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992;89:10114–10118. - PMC - PubMed

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Socioeconomic status, health behavior, and leukocyte telomere length in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002

Affiliation

Socioeconomic status, health behavior, and leukocyte telomere length in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002

Authors

Affiliation

Abstract

Similar articles

Cited by

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources