Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom.
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Health, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom.
Am J Epidemiol. 2018 Nov 1;187(11):2346-2354. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwy155.
Accelerated DNA methylation age is linked to all-cause mortality and environmental factors, but studies of associations with socioeconomic position are limited. Researchers generally use small selected samples, and it is unclear how findings obtained with 2 commonly used methods for calculating methylation age (the Horvath method and the Hannum method) translate to general population samples including younger and older adults. Among 1,099 United Kingdom adults aged 28-98 years in 2011-2012, we assessed the relationship of Horvath and Hannum DNA methylation age acceleration with a range of social position measures: current income and employment, education, income and unemployment across a 12-year period, and childhood social class. Accounting for confounders, participants who had been less advantaged in childhood were epigenetically "older" as adults: In comparison with participants who had professional/managerial parents, Hannum age was 1.07 years higher (95% confidence interval: 0.20, 1.94) for participants with parents in semiskilled/unskilled occupations and 1.85 years higher (95% confidence interval: 0.67, 3.02) for those without a working parent at age 14 years. No other robust associations were seen. Results accord with research implicating early life circumstances as critical for DNA methylation age in adulthood. Since methylation age acceleration as measured by the Horvath and Hannum estimators appears strongly linked to chronological age, researchers examining associations with the social environment must take steps to avoid age-related confounding.
加速的 DNA 甲基化年龄与全因死亡率和环境因素有关，但关于与社会经济地位关联的研究有限。研究人员通常使用小的选择性样本，并且尚不清楚使用两种常用的甲基化年龄计算方法（Horvath 方法和 Hannum 方法）获得的结果如何转化为包括年轻和年长成年人在内的一般人群样本。在 2011-2012 年期间，对英国 1099 名年龄在 28-98 岁的成年人进行了研究，评估了 Horvath 和 Hannum DNA 甲基化年龄加速与一系列社会地位指标的关系：当前收入和就业、教育、12 年期间的收入和失业，以及童年社会阶层。在考虑混杂因素后，童年时期处于不利地位的参与者在成年后表现出“更老”的表观遗传年龄：与父母为专业/管理人员的参与者相比，Hannum 年龄对于父母从事半熟练/非熟练职业的参与者高 1.07 岁（95%置信区间：0.20，1.94），对于 14 岁时没有工作父母的参与者高 1.85 岁（95%置信区间：0.67，3.02）。没有发现其他稳健的关联。这些结果与研究结果一致，该研究表明，早期生活环境对成年期 DNA 甲基化年龄至关重要。由于 Horvath 和 Hannum 估计量测量的甲基化年龄加速与实际年龄密切相关，因此研究人员在检查与社会环境的关联时，必须采取措施避免年龄相关的混杂。
