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Chronic stress in early childhood not linked to inflammatory, metabolic markers
Inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers are not associated with chronic stress during early childhood, according to study findings published in Obesity.
“Early childhood is protective and presents a very short-lived window for intervention to ensure cardiometabolic health in the future,” Melinda Sothern, PhD, professor at the School of Public Health, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, said in a press release.
Sothern and colleagues evaluated data from the MET study on 96 children (mean age, 8.06 years; 70 white; 21 with obesity) to determine whether physiologic and metabolic biomarkers are associated with chronic stress in early childhood.
Negative associations were found between concentrated disadvantage index and BMI z score (P = .023), total body fat (P = .228) and visceral adipose tissue (P = .042). After stratification for race, the associations remained significant only in white children (BMI z score, P = .025; total body fat, P = .015; visceral adipose tissue, P = .035). Inflammatory markers and concentrated disadvantage index were not significantly associated; however, a negative relationship almost reached statistical significance between interleukin-8 and concentrated disadvantage index, particularly in black children.
“Our research indicates that early childhood may be a protected period in the life course when the negative effects of disadvantaged neighborhoods are not yet evidenced by adverse health outcomes,” study researcher Maura Kepper, MPH, a PhD candidate at Louisiana State University, New Orleans, said in the release. “Longitudinal studies following children into adulthood are needed to further understand at which point exposure translates to inflammatory and metabolic changes in order to capitalize on a potentially impactful period for primary intervention.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.