Adolescent residential mobility, local nasal inflammation, and adult susceptibility to the common cold.

Research suggests that greater residential mobility during childhood and adolescence can increase risk for poorer health outcomes across the lifespan. Although theoretical work suggests that effects may vary by developmental stage and that upregulated inflammatory activity may be a key pathway, these propositions have not yet been examined. Therefore, the current study examined links between residential mobility at different developmental stages (early childhood, middle childhood through early adolescence, middle to late adolescence) and common cold susceptibility in adulthood and further tested whether local nasal inflammation statistically mediated this relationship. 212 adults (42% female, aged 18-55) retrospectively recalled residential mobility frequency when they were 1-5, 6-14, and 15-18 years old. They were nasally administered rhinovirus 39 and monitored for cold during five days in quarantine. Daily nasal wash fluid was assayed for proinflammatory markers (TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β) to index local nasal inflammation. Results showed that higher residential mobility during middle to late adolescence, but not earlier age periods, was associated with greater odds of developing a cold, even after adjusting for early and current socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, age, sex, and pre-challenge serostatus (b(SE) = .41(.18), 95% CI = 1.07, 2.16, p = .019). Path analysis revealed that higher levels of local nasal inflammation accounted for this relationship (b(SE) = .29(.15), 95% CI = .11, .93). These findings align with developmental theory suggesting adolescence as a sensitive period when frequent residential mobility may impact lifespan health through inflammatory pathways.