Association of Parental Socioeconomic Status and Newborn Telomere Length

Abstract

Importance: Low socioeconomic status is associated with higher all-cause mortality and risks for aging-related diseases. Biological aging is a potential process underlying health conditions related to social disadvantages, which may be present from birth onward.

Objective: To evaluate the association of parental socioeconomic status with telomere length (TL) at birth, a marker of biological aging.

Design, setting, and participants: This prospective birth cohort study was conducted among 1504 mother-newborn pairs in Belgium recruited between February 1, 2010, and July 1, 2017.

Exposures: Parental socioeconomic measures, including maternal educational level, occupation, paternal educational level, and neighborhood income based on median annual household income.

Main outcomes and measures: Mean relative TL was measured in cord blood and placental tissue. By constructing a principal component, an integrative socioeconomic measure was derived that integrates parental socioeconomic status and neighborhood income. Multivariable adjusted regression analyses were performed to associate the integrative socioeconomic measure and TL at birth.

Results: In 1026 newborns (517 boys; mean [SD] gestational age, 39.2 [1.4] weeks), a higher socioeconomic status was associated with longer cord blood TL and placental TL. Each unit increment in the integrative socioeconomic status measure was associated with 2.1% (95% CI, 0.9%-3.4%; P < .001) longer cord blood TL in boys, while no association was observed for girls (0.5% longer cord blood TL; 95% CI, -0.9% to 1.8%; P = .50). The sex-specific socioeconomic status interaction revealed a stronger association in boys compared with newborn girls (1.6%; 95% CI, 0.02%-3.3%; P = .047 for interaction). In placental tissue, higher socioeconomic status was associated with 1.8% (95% CI, 0.3%-3.3%; P = .02) longer TL in newborn boys but not in girls (0.4% longer TL; 95% CI, -1.2% to 2.0%; P = .63). For placental tissue, no sex and socioeconomic status interaction on TL was observed (1.4%; 95% CI, -0.5% to 3.4%; P = .16 for interaction).

Conclusions and relevance: This study suggests that parental socioeconomic status is associated with newborn TL, especially in boys. The results indicate that familial social economic factors are associated with the potential cellular longevity of the next generation, with a potential higher transgenerational vulnerability for newborn boys.

Figure.. Scatterplot Depicting the Association Between Integrative Socioeconomic Status (SES) Measure and Newborn Telomere Length (TL)

A, Unadjusted Pearson correlation between SES and mean relative cord blood TL (n = 1026). B, Unadjusted Pearson correlation between SES and average relative placenta TL (n = 1026). PC1 indicates principal component 1 as a reflector of the integrative SES measure; T/S, telomere copy number to single-copy gene number. The thick dark blue solid line is the regression line, and the dark blue dashed lines above and below it indicate the 95% CI.