Early life stress and inflammatory mechanisms of fatigue in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study
Open accessAbstract
Fatigue is highly prevalent and causes serious disruption in quality of life. Although cross-sectional studies suggest childhood adversity is associated with adulthood fatigue, longitudinal evidence of this relationship and its specific biological mechanisms have not been established. This longitudinal study examined the association between early life stress and adulthood fatigue and tested whether this association was mediated by low-grade systemic inflammation as indexed by circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). In the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a population-based longitudinal study conducted in 4 US cities, early life stress was retrospectively assessed in 2716 African-American and white adults using the Risky Families Questionnaire at Year 15 examination (2000-2001, ages 33-45 years). Fatigue as indexed by a loss of subjective vitality using the Vitality Subscale of the 12-item Short Form Health Survey was assessed at both Years 15 and 20. While CRP was measured at both Years 15 and 20, IL-6 was measured only at Year 20. Early life stress assessed at Year 15 was associated with adulthood fatigue at Year 20 after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, body-mass index, medication use, medical comorbidity, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, current stress, pain, sleep disturbance as well as Year 15 fatigue (adjusted beta 0.047, P=0.007). However, neither CRP nor IL-6 was a significant mediator of this association. In summary, early life stress assessed in adulthood was associated with fatigue 5 years later, but this association was not mediated by low-grade systemic inflammation.
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A socially tumultuous early environment predicts elevated levels of IL-6 in a population-based study of young adults.
“A socially tumultuous early environment has also been found to predict elevated levels of IL-6 in a population-based study of young adults”
From From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. (2014) · cites this paper as Cho, Bower, Kiefe, Seeman, & Irwin, 2012
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- Authors
- Cho, H. J., Bower, J. E., Kiefe, C. I., Seeman, T. E., & Irwin, M. R.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cho, Hyong Jin
- Venue
- Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-08
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 859-865
- ISSN
- 0889-1591 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3398216
- OpenAlex
- W2068313656
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 8 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 3.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Brain Behavior and Immunity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network (American Medical Association) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (n01hc95095-66-0-1, n01hc48050-59-0-1, n01hc48048-58-0-1, n01hc045134-008, n01hc48047-55-0-1, n01hc45205-9-0-0, n01hc005187-000, UL1TR000124, n01hc48049-61-0-1, n01hc45204-11-0-1)
- U.S. Public Health Service (R01-119159)
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG026364, R01AG034588, P30AG028748)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (N01HC48050, N01-HC045134, N01 HC 95095, N01 HC045205, N01 HC048048, N01-HC05187, N01-HC-048049, N01 HC045204, R01HL079955, N01-HC- 45204, N01 HC095095, N01 HC048050, N01-HC48048, N01-HC-45205, N01 HC005187, N01-HC-48-049, N01 HC048047, N01-HC-480-47)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH091352)
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA119159)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- early life stress, childhood adversity, fatigue, low-grade inflammation, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, mediation, subjective vitality, CARDIA study, African American adults, young adults
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Behavior, Black or African American, C-Reactive Protein, Child, Coronary Artery Disease, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Educational Status, Fatigue, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Inflammation, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Pain, Risk, Sleep Wake Disorders, Smoking, Stress, Psychological, Interleukin-6, Comorbidity, White People, Young Adult, Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
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