Leveraging the Urban–Rural Divide for Epigenetic Research

Cronjé, Héléne T.; Elliott, Hannah R; Nienaber-Rousseau, Cornelie; Pieters, Marlien

doi:10.2217/epi-2020-0049

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…In another review that included data from community dwellers without dementia in 38 countries globally, Africans and Caucasians were shown to be the most common carriers of APOE ε4, revealing a need to further conduct studies with these populations 31 . We did not find studies that addressed genetic risk factors for AD from a rural health disparities perspective, although researchers often note the importance of investigating rural–urban differences 32,33 …”

Section: Non‐modifiable Risk Factors Contributing To Adrd Burden In R...mentioning

confidence: 86%

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Global rural health disparities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: State of the science

Wiese,

Gibson,

Guest

et al. 2023

Alzheimer's & Dementia

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INTRODUCTIONIndividuals living in rural communities are at heightened risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), which parallels other persistent place‐based health disparities. Identifying multiple potentially modifiable risk factors specific to rural areas that contribute to ADRD is an essential first step in understanding the complex interplay between various barriers and facilitators.METHODSAn interdisciplinary, international group of ADRD researchers convened to address the overarching question of: “What can be done to begin minimizing the rural health disparities that contribute uniquely to ADRD?” In this state of the science appraisal, we explore what is known about the biological, behavioral, sociocultural, and environmental influences on ADRD disparities in rural settings.RESULTSA range of individual, interpersonal, and community factors were identified, including strengths of rural residents in facilitating healthy aging lifestyle interventions.DISCUSSIONA location dynamics model and ADRD‐focused future directions are offered for guiding rural practitioners, researchers, and policymakers in mitigating rural disparities.HIGHLIGHTS Rural residents face heightened Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) risks and burdens due to health disparities. Defining the unique rural barriers and facilitators to cognitive health yields insight. The strengths and resilience of rural residents can mitigate ADRD‐related challenges. A novel “location dynamics” model guides assessment of rural‐specific ADRD issues.

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Section: Non‐modifiable Risk Factors Contributing To Adrd Burden In R...mentioning

confidence: 86%

“…31 We did not find studies that addressed genetic risk factors for AD from a rural health disparities perspective, although researchers often note the importance of investigating rural-urban differences. 32,33…”

Section: State Of the Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Global rural health disparities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: State of the science

Wiese,

Gibson,

Guest

et al. 2023

Alzheimer's & Dementia

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“…At the molecular level, the impact of environmental factors in regulation of the length of telomeres can be attributed to their effect causing changes in the epigenetic profile. Multiple findings associated the level of DNA methylation with a negative effect of pollutants (see review [ 36 ]). At the same time, a safe environment has positive consequences on enhanced length of telomeres owing to hypomethylation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Differences in Relative Telomere Length in Mentally Healthy Subjects: The Effect of TERT Gene Polymorphism and Urban Residency

Казанцева

Davydova²,

Enikeeva³

et al. 2022

Russ J Genet

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The changes in the telomere length caused by the terminal underreplication in the existing literature are related to depressive disorders. However, the use of the telomere length as a biomarker of depressive states is ambiguous, which is due to the effect of various environmental factors on both the psychoemotional state and cellular aging of an organism. In order to identify the possible use of the relative telomere length (RTL) measured in peripheral blood leukocytes as a biomarker of enhanced liability to depression prior to the clinical symptoms, as well as to determine the link between telomere length, sociodemographic factors, allelic variants of the genes involved in the regulation of telomere elongation, and depression level, the association analysis of reverse transcriptase ( TERT rs7726159), telomerase RNA component ( TERC rs1317082), and the CST complex encoding protein ( OBFC1 rs2487999) gene polymorphisms was performed with RTL and depression level in mentally healthy individuals ( N = 1065) aged 18–25 years. Together with genetic variants, the examined regression models included various sociodemographic parameters as predictors. As a result of statistical analysis, we failed to observe the association between RTL and individual differences in depression level in the studied sample. Nevertheless, multiple regression analysis allowed us to construct a statistically significant model of individual variance in RTL ( P = 4.3е–4; r 2 = 0.018), which included rs7726159 in the TERT gene ( P = 0.020; β = 0.078) and such environmental predictors as age ( P = 0.001; β = –0.027) and place of residence in childhood (urban/rural area) ( P = 0.048; β = 0.063). The data obtained confirm the involvement of TERT gene variants and age in telomere length in mentally healthy individuals aged 18–25 years and indicate a negative effect of urban residency on telomere length shortening, which reflects the cellular aging of an organism.

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“…Urban dwelling such as in cities and big towns is thought to be a predisposing factor for non-communicable lifestyle diseases. The reasons include increased food availability, decreased non-recreational physical activity, and increased psychosocial stress [ 66 ]. The non-communicable diseases include psychiatric disorders such as SZ [ 67 ], MDD [ 68 ], and suicidal behavior [ 68 ].…”

Section: Environmental Factors Acting Epigenetically In Psychiatric D...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome–Environment Interactions and Psychiatric Disorders

Peedicayil

2023

Biomedicines

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Environmental factors are known to interact with the genome by altering epigenetic mechanisms regulating gene expression and contributing to the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. This article is a narrative review of how the major environmental factors contribute to the pathogenesis of common psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and anxiety disorder this way. The cited articles were published between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2022 and were obtained from PubMed and Google Scholar. The search terms used were as follows: gene or genetic; genome; environment; mental or psychiatric disorder; epigenetic; and interaction. The following environmental factors were found to act epigenetically on the genome to influence the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders: social determinants of mental health, maternal prenatal psychological stress, poverty, migration, urban dwelling, pregnancy and birth complications, alcohol and substance abuse, microbiota, and prenatal and postnatal infections. The article also discusses the ways by which factors such as drugs, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and physical exercise act epigenetically to alleviate the symptoms of psychiatric disorders in affected patients. These data will be useful information for clinical psychiatrists and those researching the pathogenesis and treatment of psychiatric disorders.

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Leveraging the Urban–Rural Divide for Epigenetic Research

Cited by 7 publications

References 92 publications

Global rural health disparities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: State of the science

Global rural health disparities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: State of the science

Individual Differences in Relative Telomere Length in Mentally Healthy Subjects: The Effect of TERT Gene Polymorphism and Urban Residency

Genome–Environment Interactions and Psychiatric Disorders

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