Glucocorticoid Exposure Predicts Survival in Female Baboons

Overview

Journal Sci Adv

Specialties Biology
Science

Date 2021 Apr 22

PMID 33883141

Citations 24

Authors

Fernando A Campos

Elizabeth A Archie

Laurence R Gesquiere

Jenny Tung

Jeanne Altmann

Susan C Alberts

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Are differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation across the adult life span linked to differences in survival? This question has been the subject of considerable debate. We analyze the link between survival and fecal glucocorticoid (GC) measures in a wild primate population, leveraging an unusually extensive longitudinal dataset of 14,173 GC measurements from 242 adult female baboons over 1634 female years. We document a powerful link between GCs and survival: Females with relatively high current GCs or high lifelong cumulative GCs face an elevated risk of death. A hypothetical female who maintained GCs in the top 90% for her age across adulthood would be expected to lose 5.4 years of life relative to a female who maintained GCs in the bottom 10% for her age. Hence, differences among individuals in HPA axis activity provide valuable prognostic information about disparities in life span.

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