A new study from researchers at King’s College London and the University of Nottingham has found that chronic inflammation may be the key link between aging, social disadvantage, and heart disease.
This finding could help create better ways to protect people who are more vulnerable to serious health problems.
The study, published in Communications Medicine, focused on a group of over 2,000 women aged 37 to 84 from the TwinsUK cohort. The researchers looked at 74 different proteins in the blood related to inflammation to see if they could explain why frailty and living in deprived areas are connected to higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Frailty is a condition often seen in older people, where the body loses strength and struggles to recover from stress like illness or injury. It increases the risk of many problems, including heart disease.
At the same time, people living in areas with fewer resources or lower income often have worse health outcomes and a higher chance of developing heart disease. Until now, scientists didn’t fully understand the biology behind these connections.
Inflammation plays an important role in the aging process and the development of diseases related to age.
A slow, ongoing kind of inflammation that increases as people get older is known as “inflammaging.” Previous studies have linked this kind of inflammation to both frailty and poverty, but this is the first study to show exactly how the process may work.
Dr. Yu Lin, the lead author from King’s College London, explained that the team used a data-driven approach to search for inflammatory proteins in the blood that were linked to both frailty and social deprivation.
They discovered 10 proteins that were tied to both conditions. Among these, four proteins—TNFSF14, HGF, CDCP1, and CCL11—were also linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
One protein in particular, called CDCP1, stood out because it was strongly associated with future heart disease events like blocked arteries. This suggests that certain inflammatory proteins may act as a biological bridge connecting aging, social stress, and heart problems.
To make sure the findings were reliable, the researchers checked the results in a separate group of women from the Nottingham Osteoarthritis Study. The results were similar, showing that the findings are likely accurate and not just a coincidence in one group.
Dr. Cristina Menni, another author of the study, said this research may explain how the stress of living with financial or social hardship can harm the body over time by creating inflammation.
This opens the door to better treatments and prevention methods. Not only could medications that lower inflammation help, but social programs that reduce inequality might also protect people’s health.
These inflammatory proteins could also become helpful tools for doctors. They might be used as early warning signs to identify people who are at greater risk for heart disease so they can get support sooner.
Professor Ana Valdes from the University of Nottingham added that this work shows how the effects of aging and social disadvantage are deeply connected through biology. She said that combining medical strategies to fight inflammation with social policies to reduce inequality may be the most effective way to protect vulnerable people from heart disease.
The team now wants to look at other factors that might affect inflammation and heart health, including the gut microbiome. Some early studies suggest that people living in deprived areas may have less variety in the bacteria living in their gut, which could also increase inflammation and risk of disease.
In short, this study brings new understanding to how aging, social disadvantage, and inflammation may work together to increase the risk of heart disease. It could help shape new public health strategies that improve the lives of people most at risk.
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The study is published in Communications Medicine.
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