Stress and telomere shortening among central Indian conservation refugees.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 112(9): E928-36, 2015 Mar 03.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25730846
ABSTRACT
Research links psychosocial stress to premature telomere shortening and accelerated human aging; however, this association has only been demonstrated in so-called "WEIRD" societies (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic), where stress is typically lower and life expectancies longer. By contrast, we examine stress and telomere shortening in a non-Western setting among a highly stressed population with overall lower life expectancies poor indigenous people--the Sahariya--who were displaced (between 1998 and 2002) from their ancestral homes in a central Indian wildlife sanctuary. In this setting, we examined adult populations in two representative villages, one relocated to accommodate the introduction of Asiatic lions into the sanctuary (n = 24 individuals), and the other newly isolated in the sanctuary buffer zone after their previous neighbors were moved (n = 22). Our research strategy combined physical stress measures via the salivary analytes cortisol and α-amylase with self-assessments of psychosomatic stress, ethnographic observations, and telomere length assessment [telomere-fluorescence in situ hybridization (TEL-FISH) coupled with 3D imaging of buccal cell nuclei], providing high-resolution data amenable to multilevel statistical analysis. Consistent with expectations, we found significant associations between each of our stress measures--the two salivary analytes and the psychosomatic symptom survey--and telomere length, after adjusting for relevant behavioral, health, and demographic traits. As the first study (to our knowledge) to link stress to telomere length in a non-WEIRD population, our research strengthens the case for stress-induced telomere shortening as a pancultural biomarker of compromised health and aging.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Estrés Psicológico
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Indígenas Norteamericanos
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Telómero
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Homeostasis del Telómero
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Longevidad
Tipo de estudio:
Qualitative_research
Límite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Año:
2015
Tipo del documento:
Article