IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v269y2021ics027795362030811x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Early origins of socioeconomic inequalities in chronic inflammation: Evaluating the contributions of low birth weight and short breastfeeding

Author

Listed:
  • McDade, Thomas W.
  • Koning, Stephanie M.

Abstract

The United States is characterized by persistent and widening social inequities in a wide range of adult health outcomes. A life course approach challenges us to consider if, and how, these inequities trace back to early life conditions, and chronic inflammation represents a potentially important mechanism through which early environments may have lasting effects on health in adulthood. Low birth weight (LBW) and shorter durations of breastfeeding both predict increased inflammation in adulthood, which is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and all-cause mortality. Using data from a large representative sample of young adults in the US (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health)), we document the socioeconomic status (SES) gradient in chronic inflammation, as indicated by concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP). Using a nested set of structural equation models and marginal standardization techniques, we investigate the extent to which this gradient is explained by patterns of LBW and breastfeeding in infancy. Findings reveal a particularly important role for breastfeeding duration: Based on model predictive margins, increasing breastfeeding duration to three or more months corresponds to a flattening of the SES gradient by 80%, and 83% when LBW is eliminated. This study expands current understandings of the consequential role of developmental environments for population health and for addressing health inequities in future generations.

Suggested Citation

  • McDade, Thomas W. & Koning, Stephanie M., 2021. "Early origins of socioeconomic inequalities in chronic inflammation: Evaluating the contributions of low birth weight and short breastfeeding," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:269:y:2021:i:c:s027795362030811x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113592
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362030811X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113592?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas W. McDade & Stacy Tessler Lindau & Kristen Wroblewski, 2010. "Predictors of C-Reactive Protein in the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 66(1), pages 129-136.
    2. Jackson, J.S. & Knight, K.M. & Rafferty, J.A., 2010. "Race and unhealthy behaviors: Chronic stress, the HPA Axis, and physical and mental health disparities over the life course," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(5), pages 933-939.
    3. Baker, Michael & Milligan, Kevin, 2008. "Maternal employment, breastfeeding, and health: Evidence from maternity leave mandates," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 871-887, July.
    4. Goosby, Bridget J. & Cheadle, Jacob E. & McDade, Thomas, 2016. "Birth weight, early life course BMI, and body size change: Chains of risk to adult inflammation?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 102-109.
    5. Mark Hayward & Bridget Gorman, 2004. "The long arm of childhood: The influence of early-life social conditions on men’s mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(1), pages 87-107, February.
    6. Bengtsson, Tommy & Broström, Göran, 2009. "Do conditions in early life affect old-age mortality directly and indirectly? Evidence from 19th-century rural Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1583-1590, May.
    7. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2010. "Causes and consequences of early-life health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(1), pages 65-85, March.
    8. Blackwell, Debra L. & Hayward, Mark D. & Crimmins, Eileen M., 2001. "Does childhood health affect chronic morbidity in later life?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1269-1284, April.
    9. repec:pri:cheawb:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Mackenbach, Johan P. & Kunst, Anton E., 1997. "Measuring the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities in health: An overview of available measures illustrated with two examples from Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 757-771, March.
    11. repec:pri:cheawb:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Preston, Samuel H. & Hill, Mark E. & Drevenstedt, Greg L., 1998. "Childhood conditions that predict survival to advanced ages among African-Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1231-1246, November.
    13. Cohen, Deborah A. & Farley, Thomas A. & Mason, Karen, 2003. "Why is poverty unhealthy? Social and physical mediators," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(9), pages 1631-1641, November.
    14. Woolf, S.H. & Johnson, R.E. & Phillips Jr., R.L. & Philipsen, M., 2007. "Giving everyone the health of the educated: An examination of whether social change would save more lives than medical advances," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(4), pages 679-683.
    15. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Marmot, Michael & Ryff, Carol D. & Bumpass, Larry L. & Shipley, Martin & Marks, Nadine F., 1997. "Social inequalities in health: Next questions and converging evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 901-910, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Chris Sampson’s journal round-up for 25th January 2021
      by Chris Sampson in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2021-01-25 12:01:17

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ng, Ted Kheng Siang & Gan, Daniel R.Y. & Mahendran, Rathi & Kua, Ee Heok & Ho, Roger C-M, 2021. "Social connectedness as a mediator for horticultural therapy's biological effect on community-dwelling older adults: Secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhilei Shi & Hao Dong, 2022. "The Lasting Health Impact of Early-Life Chronic Poverty: Evidence from Starvation Experiences in Rural China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1359-1384, June.
    2. Robert G. Wood & Brian Goesling & Sarah Avellar, "undated". "The Effects of Marriage on Health: A Synthesis of Recent Research Evidence," Mathematica Policy Research Reports d69bf47785bc4154a4e184aa5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    3. Shen, Ke & Zeng, Yi, 2014. "Direct and indirect effects of childhood conditions on survival and health among male and female elderly in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 207-214.
    4. Hui Zheng & Jonathan Dirlam & Paola Echave, 2021. "Divergent Trends in the Effects of Early Life Factors on Adult Health," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(5), pages 1119-1148, October.
    5. Quaranta, Luciana, 2014. "Early life effects across the life course: The impact of individually defined exogenous measures of disease exposure on mortality by sex in 19th- and 20th-century Southern Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 266-273.
    6. James Smith, 2009. "Reconstructing childhood health histories," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(2), pages 387-403, May.
    7. Ryan K. Masters, 2018. "Economic Conditions in Early Life and Circulatory Disease Mortality," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 519-553, September.
    8. James Smith, 2009. "Reconstructing childhood health histories," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), pages 387-403.
    9. Smith, Ken R. & Hanson, Heidi A. & Norton, Maria C. & Hollingshaus, Michael S. & Mineau, Geraldine P., 2014. "Survival of offspring who experience early parental death: Early life conditions and later-life mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 180-190.
    10. Kravdal, Øystein, 2008. "A broader perspective on education and mortality: Are we influenced by other people's education?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 620-636, February.
    11. Zachary Zimmer & Heidi Hanson & Ken Smith, 2016. "Childhood socioeconomic status, adult socioeconomic status, and old-age health trajectories," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(10), pages 285-320.
    12. Bowen, Mary Elizabeth, 2009. "Childhood socioeconomic status and racial differences in disability: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2006)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 433-441, August.
    13. Fan, Wen, 2016. "Turning point or selection? The effect of rustication on subsequent health for the Chinese Cultural Revolution cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 68-77.
    14. Hannes Kröger & Rasmus Hoffmann & Lasse Tarkiainen & Pekka Martikainen, 2018. "Comparing Observed and Unobserved Components of Childhood: Evidence From Finnish Register Data on Midlife Mortality From Siblings and Their Parents," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 295-318, February.
    15. Dong, Hao & Lee, James Z., 2014. "Kinship matters: Long-term mortality consequences of childhood migration, historical evidence from northeast China, 1792–1909," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 274-283.
    16. Campbell, Cameron D. & Lee, James Z., 2009. "Long-term mortality consequences of childhood family context in Liaoning, China, 1749-1909," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1641-1648, May.
    17. Jo Mhairi Hale, 2017. "Cognitive Disparities: The Impact of the Great Depression and Cumulative Inequality on Later-Life Cognitive Function," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2125-2158, December.
    18. Ryan Masters & Robert Hummer & Daniel Powers & Audrey Beck & Shih-Fan Lin & Brian Finch, 2014. "Long-Term Trends in Adult Mortality for U.S. Blacks and Whites: An Examination of Period- and Cohort-Based Changes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2047-2073, December.
    19. Janneke Pieters & Samantha Rawlings, 2020. "Parental unemployment and child health in China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 207-237, March.
    20. Claudia Börnhorst & Dörte Heger & Anne Mensen, 2019. "Associations of childhood health and financial situation with quality of life after retirement – regional variation across Europe," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:269:y:2021:i:c:s027795362030811x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.