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 surprise discovery of accelerated ageing among working class volunteers, leaving them biologically older than those higher up the social ladder. Genetic tests showed that being working class could add the equivalent of seven years to a person's age. And moving down in the world by marrying someone from a lower social class also added years to a woman's biological age, scientists report today in the journal Aging Cell. The researchers, lead by Professor Tim Spector at St Thomas' Hospital in London, ruled out differences in income, smoking, bodyweight and exercise, and believe instead that being at the bottom of the social pile breeds insecurity and low self-esteem. This triggers high levels of stress which may increase damage on the cellular level and speed up the natural ageing process, the scientists say. The finding may explain the large difference in death rates between different social classes, not all of which can be explained by poorer lifestyles. "Not only is social class affecting health and age-related diseases, it seems to have an impact on ageing itself", Prof Spector said. The study is the latest to emerge from Prof Spector's Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology Unit which aims to tease apart the effects that genetics and environment have on people.

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