Socioeconomic Status and the Gut Microbiome: A TwinsUK Cohort Study
Socioeconomic inequalities in health and mortality are well established, but the biological mechanisms underlying these associations are less understood. In parallel, the gut microbiome is emerging as a potentially important determinant of human health, but little is known about its broader environm...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Microorganisms |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/7/1/17 |
| _version_ | 1819207656647163904 |
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| author | Ruth C. E. Bowyer Matthew A. Jackson Caroline I. Le Roy Mary Ni Lochlainn Tim D. Spector Jennifer B. Dowd Claire J. Steves |
| author_facet | Ruth C. E. Bowyer Matthew A. Jackson Caroline I. Le Roy Mary Ni Lochlainn Tim D. Spector Jennifer B. Dowd Claire J. Steves |
| author_sort | Ruth C. E. Bowyer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Socioeconomic inequalities in health and mortality are well established, but the biological mechanisms underlying these associations are less understood. In parallel, the gut microbiome is emerging as a potentially important determinant of human health, but little is known about its broader environmental and social determinants. We test the association between gut microbiota composition and individual- and area-level socioeconomic factors in a well-characterized twin cohort. In this study, 1672 healthy volunteers from twin registry TwinsUK had data available for at least one socioeconomic measure, existing fecal 16S rRNA microbiota data, and all considered co-variables. Associations with socioeconomic status (SES) were robust to adjustment for known health correlates of the microbiome; conversely, these health-microbiome associations partially attenuated with adjustment for SES. Twins discordant for IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation) were shown to significantly differ by measures of compositional dissimilarity, with suggestion the greater the difference in twin pair IMD, the greater the dissimilarity of their microbiota. Future research should explore how SES might influence the composition of the gut microbiota and its potential role as a mediator of differences associated with SES. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T05:26:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4b0d553e92194cdeb54941ddefb2abce |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T05:26:58Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microorganisms |
| spelling | doaj.art-4b0d553e92194cdeb54941ddefb2abce2022-12-21T17:58:34ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072019-01-01711710.3390/microorganisms7010017microorganisms7010017Socioeconomic Status and the Gut Microbiome: A TwinsUK Cohort StudyRuth C. E. Bowyer0Matthew A. Jackson1Caroline I. Le Roy2Mary Ni Lochlainn3Tim D. Spector4Jennifer B. Dowd5Claire J. Steves6The Department of Twin Research, Kings College London, 3-4th Floor South Wing Block D, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7EH, UKThe Department of Twin Research, Kings College London, 3-4th Floor South Wing Block D, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7EH, UKThe Department of Twin Research, Kings College London, 3-4th Floor South Wing Block D, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7EH, UKThe Department of Twin Research, Kings College London, 3-4th Floor South Wing Block D, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7EH, UKThe Department of Twin Research, Kings College London, 3-4th Floor South Wing Block D, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7EH, UKDepartment of Global Health & Social Medicine, King’s Building, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UKThe Department of Twin Research, Kings College London, 3-4th Floor South Wing Block D, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7EH, UKSocioeconomic inequalities in health and mortality are well established, but the biological mechanisms underlying these associations are less understood. In parallel, the gut microbiome is emerging as a potentially important determinant of human health, but little is known about its broader environmental and social determinants. We test the association between gut microbiota composition and individual- and area-level socioeconomic factors in a well-characterized twin cohort. In this study, 1672 healthy volunteers from twin registry TwinsUK had data available for at least one socioeconomic measure, existing fecal 16S rRNA microbiota data, and all considered co-variables. Associations with socioeconomic status (SES) were robust to adjustment for known health correlates of the microbiome; conversely, these health-microbiome associations partially attenuated with adjustment for SES. Twins discordant for IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation) were shown to significantly differ by measures of compositional dissimilarity, with suggestion the greater the difference in twin pair IMD, the greater the dissimilarity of their microbiota. Future research should explore how SES might influence the composition of the gut microbiota and its potential role as a mediator of differences associated with SES.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/7/1/17microbiomemicrobiotasociobiomesocioeconomic statusSES |
| spellingShingle | Ruth C. E. Bowyer Matthew A. Jackson Caroline I. Le Roy Mary Ni Lochlainn Tim D. Spector Jennifer B. Dowd Claire J. Steves Socioeconomic Status and the Gut Microbiome: A TwinsUK Cohort Study Microorganisms microbiome microbiota sociobiome socioeconomic status SES |
| title | Socioeconomic Status and the Gut Microbiome: A TwinsUK Cohort Study |
| title_full | Socioeconomic Status and the Gut Microbiome: A TwinsUK Cohort Study |
| title_fullStr | Socioeconomic Status and the Gut Microbiome: A TwinsUK Cohort Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Socioeconomic Status and the Gut Microbiome: A TwinsUK Cohort Study |
| title_short | Socioeconomic Status and the Gut Microbiome: A TwinsUK Cohort Study |
| title_sort | socioeconomic status and the gut microbiome a twinsuk cohort study |
| topic | microbiome microbiota sociobiome socioeconomic status SES |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/7/1/17 |
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