Household Income, Neighborhood Poverty, and Epigenetic Age: Differences Between Men and Women

Epigenetic changes may partially explain the socioeconomic status (SES)-health gradient, with lower SES associated with accelerated biological aging. Men and women differ in several aspects of this SES-health gradient, with women having lower income and having more health conditions compared with men. Some research documents an even stronger SES-health link among women. The present study investigated gender differences in SES-epigenetic age associations.

Using data from the Midlife in the United States Study (men n =353, women n =367), we conducted weighted linear regressions to test the hypotheses that lower household income and greater neighborhood poverty would be associated with accelerated epigenetic age assessed on three epigenetic clocks (ie, PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE), particularly for women.

Household income did not significantly interact with gender in relation to PhenoAge or GrimAge. Higher household income was associated with decelerated DunedinPACE, but only among men (simple slope estimate=-0.01, p <0.001), not women (simple slope estimate=-0.00, p =0.37). Neighborhood poverty was associated with significantly accelerated PhenoAge (simple slope estimate=13.25, p <0.001) and GrimAge (simple slope estimate=6.07, p =0.002) among women, but was associated with significantly decelerated PhenoAge (simple slope estimate=-19.52, p <0.001) and GrimAge (simple slope estimate=-4.81, p =0.021) among men.

Findings suggest nuanced associations between SES and epigenetic age and highlight notable differences between men and women. The gender differences observed in the present findings further reiterate the importance of closing the gender gap in SES.