Low position on social status ladder linked to faster ageing

Scientists have uncovered evidence of a new class divide: the lower our social standing, the faster we age. The claim follows the discovery of accelerated ageing among working class volunteers, leaving them biologically older than those higher up the social ladder.

Genetic tests revealed that being working class could add the equivalent of seven years to a person's age, whilst marrying "below" herself added years to a woman's biological age, scientists report in the journal Aging Cell today.

Researchers led by Tim Spector at St Thomas' hospital in London ruled out differences in income, smoking, body weight and exercise, and concluded that the stress of being at the bottom of the social pile increases cellular damage which speeds up ageing.

The finding may explain the large disparity in death rates between different social classes, not all of which can be explained by lifestyle.

"Not only is social class affecting health and age-related diseases, it seems to have an impact on ageing itself," Professor Spector said. The researchers used genetic tests to examine chromosomes in cells from 1,552 women. They focused on microscopic caps called telomeres that cover the ends of chromosomes and protect them from damage.

Telomeres are believed to be linked to age because each time a cell divides, they shorten, until eventually the cell dies. When the women were divided into social classes, they found that working class women had shorter telomeres, equivalent on average to being seven years older.

"A seven-year difference is obviously a large one. It equates with the epidemiological data showing that if you look at death rates of different classes of people, those in social class four and five die several years before those in one and two," said Prof Spector.

They also compared telomeres from 17 female twins who started life on the same social rung but later split as one moved up or down, usually as a result of marriage. In 12 cases a move down was equivalent to nine years of ageing. "I don't think we'll ever be in a social utopia where everyone is equal and has the same levels of stress," said Prof Spector.

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