Life-course socioeconomic position and the gut microbiome in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL)
Socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood and beyond may influence the gut microbiome, with implications for disease risk. Studies evaluating the relationship between life-course SEP and the gut microbiome are sparse, particularly among Hispanic/Latino individuals, who have a high prevalence of low SEP. We use the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), a population-based cohort study conducted in four field centers in the United States (U.S.), to evaluate the association between life-course SEP and gut microbiome composition. Life-course SEP indicators included parental education (proxy of childhood SEP), current SEP (<i>n</i> = 2174), and childhood (<i>n</i> = 988) and current economic hardship (<i>n</i> = 994). Shotgun sequencing was performed on stool samples. Analysis of Compositions of Microbiomes was used to identify associations of life-course SEP indicators with gut microbiome species and functions. Parental education and current SEP were associated with the overall gut microbiome composition; however, parental education and current education explained more the gut microbiome variance than the current SEP. A lower parental education and current SEP were associated with a lower abundance of species from genus <i>Bacteroides</i>. In stratified analysis by nativity, we found similar findings mainly among foreign-born participants. Early-life SEP may have long-term effects on gut microbiome composition underscoring another biological mechanism linking early childhood factors to adult disease.
Authors
- Brandilyn A. Peters (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1534-2578)
- Gregory A. Talavera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5360-1107)
- Lifang Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4877-0031)
- Amanda C. McClain (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4222-7460)
- María M. Llabre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7450-2498)
- Carmen R. Isasi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2700-9593)
- Robert M. Kaplan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4837-5330)
- Madison N. LeCroy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7121-4207)
- Mônica Araújo Batalha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0961-5151)
- Bharat Thyagarajan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6968-6985)
- Qibin Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2687-1758)
- Linda C. Gallo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3678-5888)
- Martha L. Daviglus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6791-8727)
- Zheng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2052-5552)
- Tao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0581-1251)
- Juan Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5143-8158)
- Jianwen Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4945-6733)
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Cape Town HVTN Immunology Laboratory / Hutchinson Centre Research Institute of South Africa (ZA)
- University of Miami (US)
- San Diego State University (US)
- University of Minnesota System (US)
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- Fred Hutch Cancer Center (US)
- New York University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Gut Microbes
- Published
- 2025-03-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2025.2479772
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Gut microbiota and health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.42
Funders
- Office of Dietary Supplements
- University of Miami
- University of North Carolina
- Northwestern University
- San Diego State University
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
- National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
- Institute of Aging