Abstract
Background: The immune system gradually matures early in life in the face of internal and external stimuli. Whether the immune responses are lasting and stable during the course of life is still unclear. Methods: As part of the EPITeen cohort, 1183 adolescents were prospectively evaluated at the ages of 13, 17, 21, 24 and 27. Sociodemographic, behavioral and clinical data were collected by self- and face-to-face-administered questionnaires, along with a physical examination comprising anthropometric measurements and blood sample collections. Mixed-effects models were used to identify individual trajectories of white blood cells (WBC) and finite Gaussian mixture models were used to identify the clusters of individual trajectories. Results: Participants were allocated into six clusters based on the individual trajectories of WBC distribution. Higher Inflammatory Activation Cluster (11.4%) had the highest total WBC count and neutrophils percentage, as well as the lowest percentage of lymphocytes. These participants had significantly higher odds of being overweight [OR = 2.44, 95%CI:1.51–3.92]. Lowest Levels of WBC Cluster (24.1%) had the lowest total WBC count, being characterized by a higher participation on sports [OR = 1.54, 95%CI:1.12–2.13]. Highest Proportion of Eosinophils Cluster (20.1%) had the highest eosinophils percentage and the highest likelihood of having been diagnosed with a chronic disease [OR = 2.11, 95%CI:1.43–3.13], namely “asthma or allergies” [OR = 14.0 (1.73, 112.2]. Lowest Proportion of Eosinophils Cluster (29.1%) had the lowest percentage of eosinophils and basophils, as well as the highest lymphocyte proportion. Participants in the Undefined Cluster (13.8%) showed the highest percentage of monocytes and basophils and were also characterized by significant lower odds of having parents with 7–9 years of schooling [OR = 0.56, (0.32, 0.99]. Conclusions: In this study we identified distinct immunological trajectories of WBC from adolescence to adulthood that were associated with social, clinical and behavioral determinants. These results suggest that these immunological trajectories are defined early in life, being dependent on the exposures.
Highlights
The immune system gradually matures during childhood to adolescence [1,2]
Recent evidence suggests that white blood cells (WBC) act in a coordinated fashion and their balance along with their subpopulations influences the function of immune system as a whole [9,18]
Since WBC are reliable markers of the immune response and their relative distribution affects the immune system globally, some epidemiological studies have assessed the relative frequency of WBC subpopulations in healthy individuals, studies that assess these immune cells responsiveness over a long time period are scarce [8,18–20]
Summary
Being a complex sensory and adaptative system it comprises a coordinated interplay of various cell populations, providing a balanced response for internal and external stimuli [3–5] These stimuli trigger the development of immune responses early in life in the maturing immune system [1,2,6]. Social and environmental determinants of health, which include socioeconomic, demographic, environmental determinants, along with the health system, may play an important role in modulating the immune system [4,8,11–14] These determinants may influence and shape an individual s immune-cell population frequencies, defined as the individual s ‘immunotype’, and predict a diverse set of functional responses [9,15–17]. Conclusions: In this study we identified distinct immunological trajectories of WBC from adolescence to adulthood that were associated with social, clinical and behavioral determinants These results suggest that these immunological trajectories are defined early in life, being dependent on the exposures
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