Epigenome-wide association study of long-term psychosocial stress in older adults

Figures & data

Figure 1. Manhattan plot of the EWAS for cumulative psychosocial stress in HRS. The red horizontal line indicates the epigenome-wide significance threshold (FDR q < 0.10).

Table 1. Characteristics of the health and retirement study analytic sample (N = 2,689).

Characteristics	N (%) or mean (SD)
Age, years	70.4 (9.5)
Female	1590 (59.1)
Race/Ethnicity
Hispanic	272 (10.1)
Black	350 (13.0)
White	1997 (74.3)
Other	69 (2.6)
Education
No degree	346 (12.9)
HS degree	1631 (60.7)
College degree or higher	712 (26.5)
Employment Status
Working for pay	1175 (43.7)
Not working for pay	1514 (56.3)
Marital Status
Married/Partnered	1905 (70.8)
Single/Widowed/Divorced	784 (29.2)
Have Children	2390 (88.9)
Total Household Wealth ($)	442,619 (952,905)
Smoking Status
Never smoker	1208 (45.2)
Former smoker	1138 (42.6)
Current smoker	327 (12.2)
Alcohol Use
Never drinker	1588 (59.1)
Moderate drinker	914 (34.0)
Heavy drinker	186 (6.9)
Physical Activity
Active	1591 (59.2)
Inactive	1096 (40.8)
BMI (kg/m^2)	30.4 (6.7)

Figure 2. Quantile-quantile plot of the EWAS for cumulative psychosocial stress in HRS (inflation factor λ = 1.09).

Table 2. Significant CpG sites from the epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) of cumulative psychosocial stress (Model 1: FDR q < 0.10).

CpG Site	Functional Annotation				Model 1			Model 2
	Chr	Gene	Relation to CpG Site	Genomic Feature	Beta	P-value	FDR q	Beta	P-value
cg01695954	2	RRM2	S_Shore	Promoter	−0.40	5.7E–09	0.0045	−0.38	8.4E–08
cg08274633	15	C15orf53	OpenSea	Promoter	−0.42	1.5E–08	0.0058	−0.42	4.4E–08
cg17565444	14	ASB2	OpenSea	Body	−0.32	3.3E–08	0.0086	−0.30	4.8E–07
cg24704287	19	MIR23AHG	N_Shore	Body	−0.66	5.5E–08	0.011	−0.59	2.9E–06
cg01766737	22	CENPM	N_Shore	Body	−0.13	4.2E–07	0.063	−0.11	1.1E–05
cg25737313	19	HOOK2	N_Shore	Body	−0.28	4.7E–07	0.063	−0.27	2.8E–06
cg12581512	14	ASB2	OpenSea	Body	−0.29	6.7E–07	0.075	−0.27	8.2E–06
cg20559385	6		OpenSea		−0.61	8.8E–07	0.083	−0.67	1.6E–07
cg04803208	8	LOC100130298	OpenSea	Body	0.51	9.4E–07	0.083	0.51	2.1E–06

Beta is the regression coefficient representing the percent change in DNA methylation associated with a 1 standard deviation increase in the cumulative psychosocial stress score

Model 1: CpG Site ~ Psychosocial Stress Score + Age + Sex + Educational Attainment + Interview Year + Genetic Ancestry PC 1-10 + White Blood Cell Proportions + Row Position on Chip + Column Position on Chip + Sample Plate

Model 2: Model 1 + Marital Status + Employment + Has Children + Total Household Wealth Associations were only evaluated in Model 2 if they had an FDR q <0.10 in Model 1.

Data availability statement

The data used in this study are available from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), conducted at the University of Michigan. These data are available to registered users who meet security requirements and agree to data use conditions specified by the HRS (https://hrsdata.isr.umich.edu/data−products/).