Is socioeconomic status associated with biological aging as measured by telomere length?
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
PubMed 23258416 · doi:10.1093/epirev/mxs001
What was done
A systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated 31 articles (29 study populations) to determine whether lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with shorter telomere length. The authors conducted three random-effects meta-analyses examining contemporaneous SES (12 study populations from 10 articles), education (15 study populations from 14 articles), and childhood SES (2 study populations from 2 articles).
What was found
Lower educational attainment was significantly associated with shorter telomeres in a random-effects model (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.060, 95% CI: 0.002, 0.118; P = 0.042), though sensitivity analyses weakened this association. Telomere length was not significantly associated with contemporaneous SES (SMD = 0.104, 95% CI: -0.027, 0.236; P = 0.119) or childhood SES (SMD = -0.037, 95% CI: -0.143, 0.069; P = 0.491).
Why it matters
This review finds weak and inconsistent evidence that socioeconomic disadvantage accelerates biological aging as captured by telomere shortening, cautioning against broad assumptions about SES-driven telomere attrition.
Limits
The evidence base relies entirely on observational studies. Childhood SES had very sparse data (only two populations). The education finding had a small effect size that attenuated in sensitivity analyses, and total participant counts were not reported in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports Higher educational attainment is positively correlated with longer leukocyte telomere length.