Allostatic load and subsequent all-cause mortality: which biological markers drive the relationship? Findings from a UK birth cohort

For the Lifepath Consortium

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101 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The concept of allostatic load (AL) refers to the idea of a global physiological ‘wear and tear’ resulting from the adaptation to the environment through the stress response systems over the life span. The link between socioeconomic position (SEP) and mortality has now been established, and there is evidence that AL may capture the link between SEP and mortality. In order to quantitatively assess the role of AL on mortality, we use data from the 1958 British birth cohort including eleven year mortality in 8,113 adults. Specifically, we interrogate the hypothesis of a cumulative biological risk (allostatic load) reflecting 4 physiological systems potentially predicting future risk of death (N = 132). AL was defined using 14 biomarkers assayed in blood from a biosample collected at 44 years of age. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis revealed that higher allostatic load at 44 years old was a significant predictor of mortality 11 years later [HR = 3.56 (2.3 to 5.53)]. We found that this relationship was not solely related to early-life SEP, adverse childhood experiences and young adulthood health status, behaviours and SEP [HR = 2.57 (1.59 to 4.15)]. Regarding the ability of each physiological system and biomarkers to predict future death, our results suggest that the cumulative measure was advantageous compared to evaluating each physiological system sub-score and biomarker separately. Our findings add some evidence of a biological embodiment in response to stress which ultimately affects mortality.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)441-458
Number of pages18
JournalEuropean Journal of Epidemiology
Volume33
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).

Funding

We are grateful to The Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL Institute of Education for the use of these data and to the UK Data Archive and UK Data Service for making them available. However, they bear no responsibility for the analysis or interpretation of these data. The members of the LIFEPATH Consortium are (alphabetic order): Harri Alenius, Mauricio Avendano, Valeria Baltar, Mel Bartley, Henrique Barros, Murielle Bochud, Cristian Carmeli,Luca Carra, Giuseppe Costa, Emilie Courtin, Angela Donkin, Angelo D’Errico, Pierre-Antoine Dugue, Paul Elliott, Giovanni Fiorito, Silvia Fraga, Martina Gandini, Graham Giles, Marcel Goldberg, Dario Greco, Allison Hodge, Piia Karisola, Mika Kivimaki, Jessica Laine, Thierry Lang, Richard Layte, Benoit Lepage, Johan Mackenbach, Michael Marmot, Carlos de Mestral, Cathal McCrory, Roger Milne, Peter Muennig, Wilma Nusselder, Dusan Petrovic, Silvia Polidoro, Martin Preisig, Olli Raitakari, Ana Isabel Ribeiro, Fulvio Ricceri, Erica Reinhard, Oliver Robinson, Jose Rubio Valverde, Roberto Satolli, Gianluca Severi, Silvia Stringhini, Joannie Tieulent, Salvatore Vaccarella, Anne-Claire Vergnaud, Peter Vollenweider, Marie Zins The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

FundersFunder number
UCL Institute of Education
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme633666

    ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

    • Epidemiology

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