Cherkas L F, Aviv A, Valdes A M, Hunkin J L, Gardner J P, Surdulescu G L, Kimura M, Spector T D
Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology Unit, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK, and The Center of Human Development and Aging, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103-2714, USA.
Aging Cell. 2006 Oct;5(5):361-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1474-9726.2006.00222.x.
Low socio-economic status (SES) is associated with a shortened life expectancy, but its effect on aging is unknown. The rate of white-blood-cell (WBC) telomere attrition may be a biological indicator of human aging. We tested the hypothesis that SES is associated with telomere attrition independent of known risk factors influencing the aging process. We studied 1552 female twins. A venous blood sample was taken from each twin and isolated WBCs used for extraction of DNA. Terminal restriction fragment length (TRFL) was measured. Questionnaire data were collected on occupation, education, income, smoking, exercise, height and weight. Standard multiple linear regression and multivariate analyses of variance tested for associations between SES and TRFL, adjusting for covariates. A discordant twin analysis was conducted on a subset to verify findings. WBC telomere length was highly variable but significantly shorter in lower SES groups. The mean difference in TRFL between nonmanual and manual SES groups was 163.2 base pairs (bp) of which 22.9 bp (approximately 14%) was accounted for by body mass index, smoking and exercise. Comparison of TRFL in the 17 most discordant SES twin pairs confirmed this difference. Low SES, in addition to the harmful effects of smoking, obesity and lack of exercise, appears to have an impact on telomere length.
社会经济地位低下（SES）与预期寿命缩短有关，但其对衰老的影响尚不清楚。白细胞（WBC）端粒损耗率可能是人类衰老的生物学指标。我们检验了这样一个假设，即社会经济地位与端粒损耗有关，且独立于影响衰老过程的已知风险因素。我们研究了1552对女性双胞胎。从每对双胞胎中采集静脉血样本，并使用分离出的白细胞提取DNA。测量末端限制片段长度（TRFL）。收集了关于职业、教育、收入、吸烟、运动、身高和体重的问卷数据。采用标准多元线性回归和多变量方差分析来检验社会经济地位与TRFL之间的关联，并对协变量进行调整。对一个子集进行了不一致双胞胎分析以验证研究结果。白细胞端粒长度变化很大，但在社会经济地位较低的群体中明显较短。非体力劳动和体力劳动社会经济地位群体之间TRFL的平均差异为163.2个碱基对（bp），其中22.9 bp（约14%）可由体重指数、吸烟和运动来解释。对17对社会经济地位最不一致的双胞胎对的TRFL比较证实了这一差异。除了吸烟、肥胖和缺乏运动的有害影响外，社会经济地位低下似乎也会对端粒长度产生影响。
