Mendelian randomization evidence for the causal effects of socio-economic inequality on human longevity among Europeans

Chao-Jie Ye, Li-Jie Kong, Yi-Ying Wang, Chun Dou, Jie Zheng, Min Xu, Yu Xu, Mian Li, Zhi-Yun Zhao, Jie-Li Lu, Yu-Hong Chen, Guang Ning, Wei-Qing Wang (), Yu-Fang Bi () and Tian-Ge Wang ()
Additional contact information
Chao-Jie Ye: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Li-Jie Kong: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Yi-Ying Wang: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Chun Dou: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Jie Zheng: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Min Xu: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Yu Xu: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Mian Li: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Zhi-Yun Zhao: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Jie-Li Lu: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Yu-Hong Chen: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Guang Ning: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Wei-Qing Wang: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Yu-Fang Bi: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Tian-Ge Wang: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine

Nature Human Behaviour, 2023, vol. 7, issue 8, 1357-1370

Abstract: Abstract Human longevity correlates with socio-economic status, and there is evidence that educational attainment increases human lifespan. However, to inform meaningful health policies, we need fine-grained causal evidence on which dimensions of socio-economic status affect longevity and the mediating roles of modifiable factors such as lifestyle and disease. Here we performed two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses applying genetic instruments of education, income and occupation (n = 248,847 to 1,131,881) to estimate their causal effects and consequences on parental lifespan and self-longevity (n = 28,967 to 1,012,240) from the largest available genome-wide association studies in populations of European ancestry. Each 4.20 years of additional educational attainment were causally associated with a 3.23-year-longer parental lifespan independently of income and occupation and were causally associated with 30–59% higher odds of self-longevity, suggesting that education was the primary determinant. By contrast, each one-standard-deviation-higher income and one-point-higher occupation was causally associated with 3.06-year-longer and 1.29-year-longer parental lifespans, respectively, but not independently of the other socio-economic indicators. We found no evidence for causal effects of income or occupation on self-longevity. Mediation analyses conducted in predominantly European-descent individuals through two-step Mendelian randomization suggested that among 59 candidates, cigarettes per day, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, hypertension, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, heart failure and lung cancer individually played substantial mediating roles (proportion mediated, >10%) in the effect of education on specific longevity outcomes. These findings inform interventions for remediating longevity disparities attributable to socio-economic inequality.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01646-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nathum:v:7:y:2023:i:8:d:10.1038_s41562-023-01646-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/

DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01646-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Human Behaviour is currently edited by Stavroula Kousta

More articles in Nature Human Behaviour from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().