# Association Between Personal, Behavioral, Psychological, Biochemical and Molecular Biomarkers with Illness Count in a Sample of Mexican Individuals

## TL;DR

This study explores how personal, behavioral, and biological factors relate to the number of diseases in Mexican individuals, finding sex-specific associations.

## Contribution

The study identifies sex-specific biomarker associations with illness count in Mexican adults, emphasizing IL-10, 8-OHdG, IL-6, and plateletcrit.

## Key findings

- Female sex, age, risky eating, and poor sleep were linked to higher illness count in both sexes.
- In women, lower IL-10, less free time, and depression correlated with more diseases.
- In men, higher systolic blood pressure, IL-6, and 8-OHdG were associated with illness count.

## Abstract

The sum of diseases has been associated with many personal, behavioral, and psychological variables as well as with many biochemical, inflammatory, oxidative stress, and epigenetic biomarkers. However, the search for the association between some of these biomarkers and illness count is limited, particularly in Mexican individuals. (1) To determine the associations between personal, behavioral, biochemical, and molecular factors with the illness count in Mexican individuals, globally and segmented by sex, and (2) to determine the intercorrelation among the studied biomarkers. Mexican adults were invited to participate, and many personal, psychological, and biochemical variables were measured; in addition, the systolic blood pressure, body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio were obtained. The self-report of 28 health conditions was measured, and the detection of 3 (diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia) conditions was obtained with biochemical analyses and blood pressure measurement; with these reports, we obtained the variable illness count. A total of 157 individuals were included, of whom 83 (52.9%) were women; the median age and range were 24 (18–58) years old, and all participants were Mexican mestizo individuals. Women showed a higher number of self-reported/detected diseases than men. The multivariate analyses revealed that female sex, age, having children, risky eating behavior, poor sleep quality, systolic blood pressure, and lower levels of IL-10 were significantly correlated with the illness count. In the women’s sample, lower levels of IL-10, less free time, monthly earnings, and depression were positively correlated with illness count. In the men’s sample, the age, systolic blood pressure, poor sleep quality, 8-OHdG, IL-6, and plateletcrit, in addition to positive relations with others, were variables positively correlated with illness count. In the correlations of the studied biomarkers, we found that IL-10, TNF-α, and IL-8 showed a high positive correlation among them; in addition, inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers showed low significant correlations among them. Many personal, biochemical, and psychological factors are associated with the number of diseases, while the associated biomarkers differed in each sex, highlighting the role of IL-10, 8-OHdG, IL-6, and plateletcrit.