Lifecourse social position and D-dimer: findings from the 1958 British Birth Cohort

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

May 8, 2014

Summary:

The aim is to examine the association of lifecourse socioeconomic
position (SEP) on circulating levels of D-dimer. Data from the 1958
British birth cohort were used, social class was determined at three
stages of respondents' life: at birth, at 23 and at 42 years. A
cumulative indicator score of SEP (CIS) was calculated ranging from 0
(always in the highest social class) to 9 (always in the lowest social
class). In men and women, associations were observed between CIS and
D-dimer (P<0.05). Thus, the respondents in more
disadvantaged social classes had elevated levels of D-dimer compared to
respondents in less disadvantaged social class. In multivariate
analyses, the association of disadvantaged social position with D-dimer
was largely explained by fibrinogen, C-reactive protein and von
Willebrand Factor in women, and additionally by smoking, alcohol
consumption and physical activity in men. Socioeconomic circumstances
across the lifecourse at various stages also contribute independently to
raised levels of D-dimer in middle age in women only. Risk exposure
related to SEP accumulates across life and contributes to raised levels
of D-dimer. The association of haemostatic markers and social
differences in health may be mediated by inflammatory and other markers.

Published in

PLoS ONE

Volume

Volume: 9

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093277

Subjects

Notes

Open Access journal

Copyright: © 2014 Tabassum et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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