Wigley, B.R., Stillman, E.C. and Craig-Atkins, E. (2025) What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? Examining relationships between early-life stress, later-life inflammation and mortality risk in skeletal remains. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 186 (2). e70005. ISSN 2692-7691
Abstract
Objectives
This paper explores conflicting perspectives on the adaptive significance of phenotypic plasticity during fetal and early postnatal development and the impact that stressors experienced during this critical early-life period have on later-life morbidity and mortality risk.
Methods
The sample (n = 216) comprised archeologically-recovered human skeletons. A geometric morphometric (GM) method was employed to evaluate first permanent molar (M1) fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and provide a proxy for early-life stress. Shifts in later-life physiology were inferred through two inflammatory lesions: periosteal new bone formation (PNBF) and periodontal disease (PD). To explore mortality risk, age-at-death was estimated through dental development for skeletally immature individuals (n = 104) and through senescent skeletal changes for mature skeletons (n = 112).
Results
Significant differences were found in M1 FA between groups, with the immature cohort associated with elevated FA. Within-group analysis revealed age-at-death in the immature group had a significant positive relationship with M1 FA and PD presence. In the mature group, alongside sex and the co-occurrence of PD and PNBF, FA was a significant predictor of a shorter life. Higher FA was also associated with active and bilaterally expressed PNBF.
Conclusions
It is theorized that early-life stress, if survived, programmed a hyperinflammatory response to environmentally-mediated physiological perturbations which increased the chances of survival during subsequent development but also elevated later-life mortality risk. Findings demonstrate a complicated relationship between developmental stress and physiological shifts that helps to illustrate the adaptive significance of early-life programming and support the Thrifty Phenotype hypothesis.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). American Journal of Biological Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | fluctuating asymmetry; geometric morphometric methods; life-course; bioarchaeology; inflammation; thrifty phenotype; developmental plasticity |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Arts and Humanities Research Council 2268656 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 28 Jan 2025 15:13 |
Last Modified: | 05 Feb 2025 11:57 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/ajpa.70005 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:222181 |