Cumulative psychosocial factors and epigenetic age acceleration in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

Hispanics/Latinos in the United States experience disproportionately high psychosocial factors compared to non-Hispanic/Latino Whites. Psychosocial factors may accelerate biological aging, measured by epigenetic age acceleration (EAA), a DNA methylation biomarker predictive of morbidity and mortality.
We investigated the cumulative impact of psychosocial factors on EAA over time in 922 adults from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). Psychosocial exposure profiles were derived using self-organizing maps (SOM), an unsupervised clustering method. We calculated EAA from whole blood DNA methylation at two timepoints using GrimAge and DunedinPACE.
SOM identified four clusters: Cluster 1 (n = 196; 21.3%) had high levels of all psychosocial factors; Cluster 2 (n = 250; 27.1%) exhibited chronic, traumatic, and childhood stress; Cluster 3 (n = 250; 27.1%) showed mental health symptoms, low social support, and high perceived stress; and Cluster 4 (n = 238; 24.5%) had relatively low psychosocial stress. Adjusted weighted linear mixed models exhibited increased GrimAge in Cluster 1 (1.27 years, 95% CI: 0.57,1.97) and Cluster 2 (0.62 years, 95% CI: 0.01,1.23) compared to Cluster 4. DunedinPACE increased 3% (95% CI: 0.01,0.05) and 2% (95% CI: 0.001,0.04) in Clusters 1 and 3, respectively.
These findings highlight the cumulative impact of psychosocial factors on EAA and how stressors can get “under the skin” and contribute to health disparities.
Psychosocial stressors, such as childhood trauma, discrimination, stressful life experiences, and chronic stress, can affect how quickly the body ages. In this study, we looked at whether being experiencing different types of stress at the same time is linked to faster biological aging. We used data from Hispanic/Latino adults in a large US study, the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. We grouped people based on how much and what kinds of stress they had experienced. Then, we used blood sample to measure biological aging using markers in the DNA. We found that people with more long-term and traumatic stress showed signs of faster aging compared to those with fewer stressors. These findings suggest that stress can “get under the skin” and speed up the body’s aging process. Understanding how psychosocial stress impacts health over time can help us identify groups of people most at risk for poor health outcomes. It can also help us develop programs to improve health and reduce disparities in Hispanic/Latino communities.

与非西班牙裔/拉丁裔白人相比，美国西班牙裔/拉丁裔群体所面临的社会心理因素负担显著更高。社会心理因素可通过表观遗传年龄加速（epigenetic age acceleration, EAA）这一可预测发病率与死亡率的DNA甲基化生物标志物，加速机体的生物学衰老进程。
本研究依托拉丁裔社区健康研究/拉丁裔研究（Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, HCHS/SOL）的922名成年人数据，探究了社会心理因素随时间推移对EAA的累积影响。研究采用无监督聚类方法——自组织映射（self-organizing maps, SOM）构建社会心理暴露特征模型，并基于两个时间点的全血DNA甲基化数据，利用GrimAge与DunedinPACE两种指标计算EAA。
SOM分析共识别出4个聚类簇：簇1（n=196，占比21.3%）表现为所有社会心理因素水平均较高；簇2（n=250，占比27.1%）存在慢性创伤与童年期应激暴露；簇3（n=250，占比27.1%）呈现心理健康症状、社会支持水平低下且感知应激较高；簇4（n=238，占比24.5%）的社会心理应激水平相对较低。
经校正的加权线性混合模型（weighted linear mixed models）分析显示，相较于簇4，簇1的GrimAge升高1.27年（95%置信区间：0.57, 1.97），簇2的GrimAge升高0.62年（95%置信区间：0.01, 1.23）；簇1与簇3的DunedinPACE分别升高3%（95%置信区间：0.01, 0.05）与2%（95%置信区间：0.001, 0.04）。
本研究结果凸显了社会心理因素对EAA的累积影响，证实应激源可“侵入机体”并加剧健康不平等。
社会心理应激源，如童年创伤、歧视、应激性生活事件与慢性应激，可影响机体的衰老速率。本研究旨在探究同时暴露于多种类别的应激是否与更快的生物学衰老相关。研究人员使用美国大型拉丁裔健康研究——拉丁裔社区健康研究/拉丁裔研究中的西班牙裔/拉丁裔成年人数据，根据受试者所经历的应激类型与程度进行分组，并通过血液样本中的DNA标志物检测生物学衰老水平。结果发现，相较于应激暴露较少的人群，长期及创伤性应激暴露较多的人群表现出更快的衰老迹象。本研究结果表明，应激可“侵入机体”并加速机体衰老进程。明确社会心理应激随时间推移对健康的影响机制，有助于识别健康结局不良风险最高的人群，也可为制定改善健康状况、缩小西班牙裔/拉丁裔社区健康差距的干预方案提供依据。