Impact of psychosocial stress in early life on pace of aging in young adulthood.

Abstract

Early-life psychosocial stress is increasingly recognized as a contributor to accelerated biological aging and health disparities, yet its impact during young adulthood remains underexplored. Existing studies often focus on one or two dimensions of stress exposure and rely on retrospective assessments. Utilizing data from a longitudinal cohort initiated in 1989, we aim to examine the impact of early life psychosocial stress on accelerated aging in young adulthood, as well as its potential contribution to health disparities between Black and White Americans. Participants included 470 individuals (223 Black and 247 White Americans) with DNA samples collected at age > 20 years. Psychosocial stress exposures in the first 20 years of life were assessed prospectively using validated instruments across individual, family, and neighborhood domains. DunedinPACE, a novel biomarker of the pace of aging, was calculated from DNA methylation data generated from peripheral blood using the Illumina 450K array. The joint effect of early life psychosocial factors on DunedinPACE and the relative importance of each stressor were estimated using the Weighted Quantile Sum (WQS) approach. Mediation analysis was conducted to evaluate the contribution of early life stress to racial disparities in aging.