Dowd Jennifer Beam, Haan Mary N, Blythe Lynn, Moore Kari, Aiello Allison E
Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548, USA.
Am J Epidemiol. 2008 Jan 1;167(1):112-20. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwm247. Epub 2007 Sep 14.
There is a strong relation between socioeconomic position and health outcomes, although the mechanisms are poorly understood. The authors used data from 1,503 California participants in the 1998-1999 Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging aged 60-100 years to ask whether socioeconomic position is related to immune function as measured by the body's ability to keep latent herpesvirus antibody levels in a quiescent state. Individuals with lower educational levels had significantly higher levels of immunoglobulin G antibodies to cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus type 1. The odds ratio for being in a higher tertile of cytomegalovirus antibodies was 1.54 (95% confidence interval: 1.18, 2.01) for those in the lowest educational group, and the odds ratio for being in a higher tertile of herpes simplex virus type 1 was 1.63 (95% confidence interval: 1.25, 2.13). The relation between education and cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus type 1 antibody levels remained strong after controlling for baseline health conditions, smoking status, and body mass index. This is the first study known to show a relation between socioeconomic position and immune response to latent infection. It provides suggestive evidence that modulation of the immune system via latent infections may play a role in the observed associations between socioeconomic position and disease.
社会经济地位与健康状况之间存在着紧密联系，尽管其中的机制尚不清楚。作者利用了1998 - 1999年萨克拉门托地区拉丁裔老年人研究中1503名年龄在60至100岁之间的加利福尼亚参与者的数据，来探究社会经济地位是否与免疫功能相关，免疫功能通过人体将潜伏性疱疹病毒抗体水平维持在静止状态的能力来衡量。教育水平较低的个体对巨细胞病毒和1型单纯疱疹病毒的免疫球蛋白G抗体水平显著更高。最低教育组中，处于巨细胞病毒抗体较高三分位数的比值比为1.54（95%置信区间：1.18，2.01），处于1型单纯疱疹病毒较高三分位数的比值比为1.63（95%置信区间：1.25，2.13）。在控制了基线健康状况、吸烟状况和体重指数后，教育与巨细胞病毒及1型单纯疱疹病毒抗体水平之间的关系依然显著。这是已知的第一项表明社会经济地位与对潜伏感染的免疫反应之间存在关联的研究。它提供了提示性证据，表明通过潜伏感染对免疫系统进行调节可能在社会经济地位与疾病之间观察到的关联中发挥作用。
