title: Early life socioeconomic factors and genomic DNA methylation in mid-life.
abstract: Epigenetic modifications may be one mechanism linking early life factors, including parental socioeconomic status (SES), to adult onset disease risk. However, SES influences on DNA methylation patterns remain largely unknown. In a US birth cohort of women, we examined whether indicators of early life and adult SES were associated with white blood cell methylation of repetitive elements (Sat2, Alu and LINE-1) in adulthood. Low family income at birth was associated with higher Sat2 methylation (β = 19.7, 95% CI: 0.4, 39.0 for lowest vs. highest income quartile) and single parent family was associated with higher Alu methylation (β = 23.5, 95% CI: 2.6, 44.4), after adjusting for other early life factors. Lower adult education was associated with lower Sat2 methylation (β = -16.7, 95% CI: -29.0, -4.5). There were no associations between early life SES and LINE-1 methylation. Overall, our preliminary results suggest possible influences of SES across the life-course on genomic DNA methylation in adult women. However, these preliminary associations need to be replicated in larger prospective studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA. pt140@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Parisa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tehranifar
authors.forename: Hui-Chen
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xiaozhou
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Julie D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Flom
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ferris
authors.forename: Yoon Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Regina M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Santella
authors.forename: Mary Beth
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Terry
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020087:Alu Elements / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics*; D004522:Educational Status; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D020084:Long Interspersed Nucleotide Elements / Q000235:genetics; D015999:Multivariate Analysis