Associations between indicators of socioeconomic position and DNA methylation: a scoping review

Clinical Epigenetics

Table 1 Associations between socioeconomic position and DNA methylation from global DNA methylation studies (n = 7)

References	N	SEP indicator		DNAm		Effect^a
References	N	Exposure age(s)^b	SEP domain(s)^c	Assessment age(s)^b	DNAm measure	↑↓		Associated SEP domain	Significance threshold
Coker et al. [42]	241	Prenatal	Ed., In., Neigh	Birth	% DNAm of LINE-1 and Alu elements	↑	LINE-1	Neigh	p = 0.004
Herbstman et al. [43]	279	Prenatal	Ed., Misc., Sub	Birth	% Global DNAm	No findings at p ≤ 0.10
Herbstman et al. [43]	165	Prenatal	Ed., Misc., Sub	Child	% Global DNAm	No findings at p ≤ 0.10
Perng et al. [44]	568	Child	Comp., Ed	Child	% DNAm of LINE-1 elements	↓	LINE-1	Ed	p trend = 0.06
Terry et al. [45]	92	Child	Comp	Adult	Disintegrations per minute per microgram DNA	No findings at p < 0.05
Subramanyam et al. [46]	988	Life course	Ed., In., Misc	Adult	% DNAm of LINE-1 and Alu elements	↑	LINE-1	Misc. (Adult)	p < 0.01
Subramanyam et al. [46]	988	Life course	Ed., In., Misc	Adult	% DNAm of LINE-1 and Alu elements	↓	Alu	Misc. (Adult)	p < 0.01
Tehranifar et al. [47]	90	Life course	Ed., In., Occ., Misc	Adult	% DNAm of LINE-1, Alu, and Sat-2 elements	↑	Sat2	Ed. (Child)	p < 0.05
						↑	Alu	Misc. (Child)	p < 0.05
						↑	LINE-1	In. (Adult)	p < 0.05
						Nonlinear with Alu		In. (Adult)	p < 0.05
McGuinness et al. [48]	239	Adult	Ed., In., Neigh., Misc	Adult	% Global DNAm	↓		Ed	p < 0.05
						↓		Occ	p < 0.05
						↓		Neigh	p < 0.05

Studies presented in this table are shown in order of DNAm assessment age, then by SEP exposure age followed by alphabetically. For individual-level study details, including covariates, see Additional file 2: Table S1
Assess. assessments, DNAm DNA methylation, Ed. education, In. income, Occ. occupation, Misc. miscellaneous (i.e., “other” domain), Neigh. neighborhood, Sub. subsidy, SEP socioeconomic position
^aEffects reported within the simplest (or unadjusted) model. General direction of effect for association between DNAm and SEP measure reported by arrows, indicating increased or decreased DNAm levels for low SEP. Associated SEP domain reported with exposure age provided in parenthesis if both child and adult SEP exposures were analyzed. p Values reported for significance threshold
^bSEP exposure and DNAm assessment ages are reported by life course group: prenatal (< 0 years), birth (~ 0 years), child (0–18 years), adult (18+ years). “Life course” indicates ages of exposure spanned prenatal, birth, or childhood to adulthood
^cThe type of SEP domains covered by SEP indicators included in each study to assess socioeconomic factors. For full list of SEP indicators and domains included by individual studies, see Additional file 2: Table S1

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