Socioeconomic Determinants of Inflammation and Neuroendocrine Activity: A Longitudinal Analysis of Compositional and Contextual Effects

Abstract Socioeconomic determinants are well-established modulators of inflammation and neuroendocrine activity. Less clear is whether neighbourhood-contextual or individual-compositional factors are more closely associated with gradients in these biomarkers. Here, we examine how immune and neuroendocrine activity are cross-sectionally and longitudinally nested in meso-level socioeconomic characteristics. Participants, male and female, aged ≥ 50, were recruited from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Neighbourhood (Index of Multiple Deprivation [IMD]) and individual (Wealth/Education/Occupational Social Class [OSC]) factors were drawn from wave 4 (baseline; 2008). Immune and neuroendocrine biomarkers (indexed by C-reactive protein [CRP; n = 3,968]; fibrinogen ([Fb] n = 3,932); white blood cell counts [WBCC; n = 4,022]; insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1; n = 4,056]) were measured at baseline and 4-years later (wave 6; 2012). Covariates at baseline included demographic, clinical, and lifestyle variables. Lower socioeconomic status was associated with heighted inflammation and lower neuroendocrine activity unadjusted both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. With few exceptions, cross-sectional associations remained significant after full adjustment. Prospectively, low IMD remained associated with higher CRP and WBCC; wealth with WBCC; and education and OSC with Fb and WBCC. IMD-biomarker associations were reduced when wealth was simultaneously taken into account. Lifestyle accounted for the greatest variance in associations between socioeconomic indicators and inflammation (≤ 42.11%), but demographics were more salient to neuroendocrine activity (≤ 88.46%). Neighbourhood-contextual factors were stronger indicators of aberrant biomarker activity than individual-compositional factors in cross-sectional analyses but were largely explained by wealth differences prospectively. Therefore, immune and neuroendocrine changes depended on the composition of the population living in an area, rather than the area itself.