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A step beyond the hygiene hypothesis-immune-mediated classes determined in a population-based study.
Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross1,2, Margot Mutsch3, Stephanie Rodgers4
1Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, PO Box 2019, CH-8021, Zurich, Switzerland. vajdacic@dgsp.uzh.ch.
BMC Medicine
|April 10, 2019
Summary
Childhood infections, atopic diseases, and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) form distinct immune-mediated classes. These classes predict later-life health outcomes, including mental and chronic inflammatory diseases.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Epidemiology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Comorbidity of childhood infections, atopic diseases, and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) influences immune system development.
- Existing research often focuses on the hygiene hypothesis, necessitating a broader classification of these patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To classify patterns of childhood infections, atopic diseases, and ACE using latent class analysis (LCA).
- To characterize these latent classes by their associations with immunological, clinical, and sociodemographic factors.
Main Methods:
- Latent class analysis (LCA) applied to data from the CoLaus|PsyCoLaus study (N=4874, ages 35-82) for men and women separately.
- Data included survey information on infectious diseases, atopic conditions, ACE, leukocyte counts, inflammatory markers, chronic diseases, and mental disorders.
Main Results:
- Five distinct latent classes were identified: neutral, resilient, atopic, mixed (infectious and atopic), and ACE-associated.
- Classes showed specific differences in biomarker levels, with increased mental disorder prevalence in atopic, mixed, and ACE classes.
- Chronic inflammatory diseases followed similar patterns, with ACE class relevance noted specifically in women.
Conclusions:
- This study systematically identifies early-life immune-mediated classes with distinct associations to later-life health.
- These classes correlate with biomarker levels, somatic, and psychiatric diseases, offering insights into disease prevalence mechanisms.
- Findings contribute to understanding immune programming and its long-term health consequences.
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