Lifestyle incongruity, stress and immune function in indigenous Siberians: The health impacts of rapid social and economic change (pages 62–69)

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigatenthe impact of economic and cultural change onnimmune function and psychosocial stress in an indigenousnSiberian population. We examined Epstein-Barr virusnantibodies (EBV), an indirect biomarker of cell-mediatednimmune function, in venous whole blood samplesncollected from 143 Yakut (Sakha) herders (45 men andn98 women) in six communities using a cross-sectionalnstudy design. We modeled economic change through thenanalysis of lifestyle incongruity (LI), calculated as thendisparity between socioeconomic status and materialnlifestyle, computed with two orthogonal scales: marketnand subsistence lifestyle. EBV antibody level was significantlynnegatively associated with both a market and ansubsistence lifestyle, indicating higher cell-mediatednimmune function associated with higher material lifestylenscores. In contrast, LI was significantly positivelynassociated with EBV antibodies indicating lowernimmune function, and suggesting higher psychosocialnstress, among individuals with economic status innexcess of material lifestyle. Individuals with lowernincongruity scores (i.e., economic status at parity withnmaterial resources, or with material resources in excessnof economic status) had significantly lower EBV antibodies.nThe findings suggest significant health impactsnof changes in material well-being and shifting statusnand prestige markers on health during the transition tona market economy in Siberia. The findings also suggestnthat relative, as opposed to absolute, level of economicnstatus or material wealth is more strongly related tonstress in the Siberian context. Am J Phys Anthropoln138:62–69, 2009. VVC 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.