Epigenetic age acceleration mediates the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and pain severity in adults with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis pain

Pamela Jackson; Antoinette L Spector; Larissa J Strath; Lisa H Antoine; Peng Li; Burel R Goodin; Bertha A Hidalgo; Mirjam-Colette Kempf; Cesar E Gonzalez; Alana C Jones; Thomas C Foster; Jessica A Peterson; Tammie Quinn; Zhiguang Huo; Roger Fillingim; Yenisel Cruz-Almeida; Edwin N Aroke

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116088

Epigenetic age acceleration mediates the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and pain severity in adults with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis pain

Soc Sci Med. 2023 Aug:331:116088. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116088. Epub 2023 Jul 10.

Authors

Pamela Jackson¹, Antoinette L Spector², Larissa J Strath³, Lisa H Antoine⁴, Peng Li⁵, Burel R Goodin⁶, Bertha A Hidalgo⁷, Mirjam-Colette Kempf⁸, Cesar E Gonzalez⁹, Alana C Jones¹⁰, Thomas C Foster¹¹, Jessica A Peterson¹², Tammie Quinn¹³, Zhiguang Huo¹⁴, Roger Fillingim¹⁵, Yenisel Cruz-Almeida¹⁶, Edwin N Aroke¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: jacksop2@uab.edu.
² School of Rehabilitation Sciences and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA; Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence (PRICE), University of Florida, 2004 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA. Electronic address: aspector@uwm.edu.
³ Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science, University of Florida, 1329 16th Street Southwest, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA; Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence (PRICE), University of Florida, 2004 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA. Electronic address: lstrath@dental.ufl.edu.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: antoinel@uab.edu.
⁵ School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: pli@uab.edu.
⁶ Washington University Pain Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA. Electronic address: burel@wustl.edu.
⁷ School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: bhidalgo@uab.edu.
⁸ School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: mkempf@uab.edu.
⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: cesarg@uab.edu.
¹⁰ School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: acjones@uab.edu.
¹¹ Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, 1149 Newell Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA. Electronic address: foster1@ufl.edu.
¹² Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence (PRICE), University of Florida, 2004 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA. Electronic address: jpeterson@dental.ufl.edu.
¹³ Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: tquinn@uab.edu.
¹⁴ Department of Biostatistics, University of Florida, 2004 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL, 32603, USA. Electronic address: zhuo@ufl.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science, University of Florida, 1329 16th Street Southwest, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA; Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence (PRICE), University of Florida, 2004 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA. Electronic address: rfillingim@dental.ufl.edu.
¹⁶ Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science, University of Florida, 1329 16th Street Southwest, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA; Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence (PRICE), University of Florida, 2004 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA; Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, 1149 Newell Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA. Electronic address: cryeni@ufl.edu.
¹⁷ School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA. Electronic address: earoke@uab.edu.

PMID: 37473540
PMCID: PMC10407756 (available on 2024-08-01)
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116088

Abstract

An estimated 250 million people worldwide suffer from knee osteoarthritis (KOA), with older adults having greater risk. Like other age-related diseases, residents of high-deprivation neighborhoods experience worse KOA pain outcomes compared to their more affluent neighbors. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and pain severity in KOA and the influence of epigenetic age acceleration (EpAA) on that relationship. The sample of 128 participants was mostly female (60.9%), approximately half non-Hispanic Black (49.2%), and had a mean age of 58 years. Spearman bivariate correlations revealed that pain severity positively correlated with EpAA (ρ = 0.47, p ≤ 0.001) and neighborhood deprivation (ρ = 0.25, p = 0.004). We found a positive significant relationship between neighborhood deprivation and EpAA (ρ = 0.47, p ≤ 0.001). Results indicate a mediating relationship between neighborhood deprivation (predictor), EpAA (mediator), and pain severity (outcome variable). There was a significant indirect effect of neighborhood deprivation on pain severity through EpAA, as the mediator accounted for a moderate portion of the total effect, PM = 0.44. Epigenetic age acceleration may act as a mechanism through which neighborhood deprivation leads to worse KOA pain outcomes and may play a role in the well-documented relationship between the neighborhood of residence and age-related diseases.

Keywords: Age-related conditions; Epigenetic aging; Neighborhood deprivation; Pain disparities.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Aged
Epigenesis, Genetic
Female
Humans
Knee Joint
Male
Middle Aged
Osteoarthritis, Knee* / complications
Osteoarthritis, Knee* / epidemiology
Osteoarthritis, Knee* / genetics
Pain
Pain Measurement
Residence Characteristics

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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