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

Cerutti, Janine; Lussier, Alexandre A.; Zhu, Yiwen; Liu, Jiaxuan; Dunn, Erin C.

doi:10.1186/s13148-021-01189-0

Clinical Epigenetics

Table 3 Associations between socioeconomic position and DNA methylation from epigenome-wide association studies (n = 12)

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

References	N	SEP indicator		DNAm		Effect^a
References	N	Exposure age(s)^b	SEP domain(s)^c	Assessment age(s)^b	Targeted CpGs	↑↓	Associated CpGs	Associated SEP indicator	Significance threshold
Santos et al. [76]	426	~ Birth	Comp., Ed., Misc., Sub	Birth	856,832	↑	1	Ed	q < 0.05
						↑↓	3	Misc	q < 0.05
						↑↓	6	Comp	q < 0.05
						↑↓	10	Misc	q < 0.05
Laubach et al. [73]	609	Prenatal	Comp., Ed., In., Misc., Neigh., Sub	Birth, Child 2×	Birth: 394,460	↑↓	3	Comp	p_bonf < 0.05
					3 yr: 394,460	↑	1	Comp	p_bonf < 0.05
					7 yr: 394,460		0		p_bonf < 0.05
Alfano et al. [67]	860	Prenatal	Ed., Occ	Birth, Child 2×	Birth: 285,021	↑↓	4	Ed	q < 0.05
					7 yr: 285,994		0		q < 0.05
					15 yr: 285,721	↑↓	20	Ed	q < 0.05
Bush et al. [70]	178	Child	Ed., In	Child	409,878	↑↓	1	Ed	q ≤ 0.05, delta ≥ 0.10
Bush et al. [70]	178	Child	Ed., In	Child	409,878	↑↓	8	In	q ≤ 0.05, delta ≥ 0.10
Dunn et al. [71]	650	Child 5×	Neigh., Misc	Child	473,929	↑↓	10	Neigh	p_bonf < 1 × 10⁻⁷
Dunn et al. [71]	650	Child 5×	Neigh., Misc	Child	473,929	↑↓	9	Misc	p_bonf < 1 × 10⁻⁷
Beach et al. [68]	398	Child 3×	Comp	Adult	47,311	↑↓	2032	Comp	q < 0.05
Borghol et al. [69]	40	Life course	Comp	Adult	223,359	↑↓	1252	Comp. (Child)	q ≤ 0.20
Borghol et al. [69]	40	Life course	Comp	Adult	223,359	↑↓	545	Comp. (Adult)	q ≤ 0.20
Lam et al. [72]	92	Life course	Occ	Adult	22,922		0		q < 0.05
McDade et al. [75]	489	Life course	Ed., In., Misc	Adult	110,631	↑↓	2546	Comp	q < 0.05
						↑↓	1437	Ed	q < 0.05
						↑↓	817	Misc	q < 0.05
						↑↓	107	In	q < 0.05
Suderman et al. [77]	28	Life course	Comp., Ed., Misc	Adult	361,419	↑	2	Comp. (Child)	q < 0.20
Suderman et al. [77]	28	Life course	Comp., Ed., Misc	Adult	361,419	↑↓	3	Comp. (Adult)	q < 0.20
Karlsson Linnér et al. [74]^d	10,767	Adult	Ed	Adult	442,227	↑↓	37	Ed	p_bonf < 1 × 10⁻⁷
van Dongen et al. [78]^d	4152	Adult	Ed	Adult	410,746	↑	58	Ed	p_bonf < 1.2 × 10⁻⁷

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, see Additional file 2: Table S3
Comp. composite, CpGs CpG sites, DNAm DNA methylation, Ed. Education, In income, Misc. miscellaneous (i.e., “other” domain), Neigh. neighborhood, Sub. subsidy, SEP socioeconomic position, Yr years
^aEffects reported from the most stringent significance test 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. Here, q-values and p_bonf-values indicate significance threshold after p values were corrected for multiple testing using the false discovery rate (FDR) and Bonferroni methods, respectively; delta value indicates delta beta (DNAm difference between the minimum and maximum levels of SEP measure) 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). Number of assessments indicated (e.g., 2×, 3×) if SEP or DNAm was measured at more than one timepoint per life course group. “Life course” indicates ages of exposure spanned prenatal, birth, or childhood to adulthood
^cThe type of SEP domain 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 S3
^dMeta-analysis

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