ABSTRACT

Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Short telomere length is associated with morbidity and mortality among adults and may mark the biological impact of social experiences. Using archived dried blood spots from the Michigan Neonatal Biobank, this study examined markers of maternal social disadvantage (educational attainment, receipt of public assistance, marital status, and race/ethnicity) from linked birth certificates as predictors of telomere length at birth in a sample of 192 singleton neonates born to non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Latina mothers aged 20–35 years. Consistent with two recent studies in newborns, but counter to the idea that maternal social disadvantage is associated with shorter offspring telomere length, we found that infants born to black mothers had longer telomeres than those born to white mothers (b = 0.12, SE = 0.06, p = .05). However, black/white differences in newborn telomere length varied by receipt of public assistance. Among newborns whose mothers received WIC and/or Medicaid, there were no significant black/white differences in telomere length (b = 0.09, SE = 0.08, p = .25). In contrast, among those whose mothers did not receive public assistance—just 6 out of 69 infants born to black mothers versus 41 out of 69 infants born to white mothers—we found that babies born to black mothers had longer telomere length than babies born to white mothers (b = 0.37, SE = 0.16, p = .03). The interaction between black race/ethnicity and receipt of public assistance did not reach the conventional threshold for statistical significance (b = −0.22, SE = 0.15, p = .13), suggesting that this finding may be due to chance. No other markers of maternal social disadvantage were related to infant telomere length. Although replication of these results in a larger sample with more infants born to black mothers with relatively high socioeconomic status is needed, this study offers preliminary support for the hypothesis that race/ethnic differences in newborn telomere length depend on social context.

 抽象的

端粒是真核染色体末端的保护帽。端粒长度短与成年人的发病率和死亡率相关，并且可能标志着社会经历的生物学影响。这项研究利用密歇根新生儿生物库存档的干血点，检查了关联出生证明中母亲社会劣势的标志（教育程度、接受公共援助、婚姻状况和种族/民族），作为样本中出生时端粒长度的预测因子192 名年龄为 20-35 岁的非西班牙裔黑人、非西班牙裔白人和拉丁裔母亲所生的单胎新生儿。与最近两项针对新生儿的研究一致，但与母亲的社会劣势与较短的后代端粒长度相关的观点相反，我们发现黑人母亲所生的婴儿比白人母亲所生的婴儿具有更长的端粒（ b = 0.12， SE = 0.06） ， p = .05)。然而，新生儿端粒长度的黑人/白人差异因接受公共援助而异。在母亲接受 WIC 和/或医疗补助的新生儿中，端粒长度没有显着的黑人/白人差异（ b = 0.09， SE = 0.08， p = .25）。相比之下，在那些母亲没有接受公共援助的人中——黑人母亲所生的 69 名婴儿中只有 6 名，而白人母亲所生的 69 名婴儿中只有 41 名——我们发现黑人母亲所生的婴儿比白人母亲所生的婴儿有更长的端粒长度。白人母亲（ b = 0.37， SE = 0.16， p = .03）。黑人种族/族裔与接受公共援助之间的相互作用并未达到统计显着性的传统阈值（ b = -0.22， SE = 0。15， p = .13），表明这一发现可能是偶然的。母亲社会劣势的其他标志与婴儿端粒长度无关。尽管需要在更大的样本中复制这些结果，即社会经济地位相对较高的黑人母亲所生的婴儿更多，但这项研究为新生儿端粒长度的种族/民族差异取决于社会背景的假设提供了初步支持。