ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2021
Early origins of socioeconomic inequalities in chronic inflammation: Evaluating the contributions of low birth weight and short breastfeeding.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Duration of Breastfeeding in Infancy and Levels of Central Adiposity and Systemic Inflammation in Early Middle Adulthood.AJPM focus · 2025Article
- Collecting real-time infant feeding and support experience: co-participatory pilot study of mobile health methodology.International breastfeeding journal · 2025Article
- Impact of age-related changes in buccal epithelial cells on pediatric epigenetic biomarker research.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Disparities in birth outcomes within the U.S. White population: Prevalence of low birth weight among immigrant mothers from the Middle East and North Africa.SSM - population health · 2024Article
- Best for Whom? Heterogeneous Treatment Effects of Breastfeeding on Child Development.Social forces; a scientific medium of social study and interpretation · 2024Article
- Association between infectious exposures in infancy and epigenetic age acceleration in young adulthood in metropolitan Cebu, Philippines.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2023Article
- Birth size and the serum level of biological age markers in men.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Modeling the Likelihood of Low Birth Weight: Findings from a Chicago-Area Health System.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of a community-based support programme to reduce social inequality in exclusive breastfeeding: study protocol for a cluster-randomised trial.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration in the United States: data insights from the 2016-2019 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Breastfeeding, pregnancy, medicines, neurodevelopment, and population databases: the information desert.International breastfeeding journal · 2022Review
- Racial Inequities in Birth Weight by Maternal Age Among College-Educated Mothers: The Role of Early Disadvantage.American journal of preventive medicine · 2022Article
- Testing the buffering hypothesis: Breastfeeding problems, cessation, and social support in the UK.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Article
- Associations of Circulating Insulin-Growth Factor-1 With Cognitive Functions and Quality of Life Domains in Ambulatory Young Adults With Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Study.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- Body mass and the epidemic of chronic inflammation in early mid-adulthood.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The United States is characterized by persistent and widening social inequities in a wide range of adult health outcomes. A life course approach challenges us to consider if, and how, these inequities trace back to early life conditions, and chronic inflammation represents a potentially important mechanism through which early environments may have lasting effects on health in adulthood. Low birth weight (LBW) and shorter durations of breastfeeding both predict increased inflammation in adulthood, which is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and all-cause mortality. Using data from a large representative sample of young adults in the US (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health)), we document the socioeconomic status (SES) gradient in chronic inflammation, as indicated by concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP). Using a nested set of structural equation models and marginal standardization techniques, we investigate the extent to which this gradient is explained by patterns of LBW and breastfeeding in infancy. Findings reveal a particularly important role for breastfeeding duration: Based on model predictive margins, increasing breastfeeding duration to three or more months corresponds to a flattening of the SES gradient by 80%, and 83% when LBW is eliminated. This study expands current understandings of the consequential role of developmental environments for population health and for addressing health inequities in future generations.
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