Family SES Is Associated with the Gut Microbiome in Infants and Children

Abstract

Background: While early life exposures such as mode of birth, breastfeeding, and antibiotic use are established regulators of microbiome composition in early childhood, recent research suggests that the social environment may also exert influence. Two recent studies in adults demonstrated associations between socioeconomic factors and microbiome composition. This study expands on this prior work by examining the association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and host genetics with microbiome composition in infants and children. Methods: Family SES was used to predict a latent variable representing six genera abundances generated from whole-genome shotgun sequencing. A polygenic score derived from a microbiome genome-wide association study was included to control for potential genetic associations. Associations between family SES and microbiome diversity were assessed. Results: Anaerostipes, Bacteroides, Eubacterium, Faecalibacterium, and Lachnospiraceae spp. significantly loaded onto a latent factor, which was significantly predicted by SES (p < 0.05) but not the polygenic score (p > 0.05). Our results indicate that SES did not predict alpha diversity but did predict beta diversity (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that modifiable environmental factors influence gut microbiome composition at an early age. These results are important as our understanding of gut microbiome influences on health continue to expand.

Evolution, the Immune System, and the Health Consequences of Socioeconomic Inequality

“…Low SES is associated with illness and reduced life expectancy ( 1 – 3 ) and also with abnormal microbiomes ( 6 – 8 ). This paper summarizes evidence that these two observations are linked and that lifestyle factors that accompany low SES can reduce and distort microbial exposures and cause them to diverge from the exposures with which humans coevolved.…”

“…Recent studies have concentrated on children. A study of the gut microbiomes of children with a mean age of 4.5 years found that the bacterial composition was significantly influenced by the SES of parents as determined by educational level ( 6 ). Similarly, a study of fecal samples from a subset ( n = 1,672) of a large cohort of British twins for whom SES data were available ( 7 ), and another study of 139 Arab children of various SESs in Israel ( 8 ), found significant relationships between SES and fecal 16S rRNA microbiome composition.…”

Twenty Important Research Questions in Microbial Exposure and Social Equity

“…Participants with lower SES reportedly had lower alpha diversity in gut microbiota, which can influence health factors such as metabolism, gene regulation, and host immune responses ( 128 – 130 ). In other studies, lower neighborhood SES has been associated with reduced diversity of colonic ( 131 ) and salivary microbiota ( 132 ), and family SES is associated with the gut microbiome in infants and children ( 133 , 134 ).…”

Earth Dreams: Reimagining ARPA for Health of People, Places and Planet

“…Much like the observation that NCDs are often linked to socioeconomic position—such that NCDs are disproportionally shouldered by the disadvantaged—research has shown that the composition and diversity of gut (and oral) microbes are similarly associated with socioeconomic position in various populations [ 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ]. It is also known that functional changes to the microbiome are mediated by many “lifestyle” factors, including stress [ 80 , 81 , 82 ], sleep [ 83 ], exercise [ 84 ], tobacco use [ 85 ], and, of course, short and long-term dietary choices [ 86 , 87 , 88 ].…”