Epigenetic Mechanisms Linking Psychosocial Stress to Cardiometabolic Disease Risk in Nigerian Adults: An Exploratory Bio-Psycho-Social Study

Background: Psychosocial stress is increasingly linked to cardiometabolic disease through epigenetic pathways, but molecular epidemiological evidence from sub-Saharan African populations is critically sparse. This exploratory study investigates epigenetic mechanisms potentially linking psychosocial stress to cardiometabolic disease risk biomarkers in Nigerian adults from multiple geopolitical zones. Methodology: A cross-sectional biomarker study enrolled 240 adults from Abuja, Lagos, Kano, and Enugu, stratified by perceived stress quartile. Psychosocial stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale and Cohen Life Events measure. DNA methylation of stress-regulatory genes including NR3C1 and FKBP5 was examined in peripheral blood samples using bisulphite sequencing. Cardiometabolic biomarkers including cortisol, C-reactive protein, glucose, and lipids were measured. Results: High psychosocial stress was significantly associated with differential methylation at stress-regulatory loci and elevated cardiometabolic biomarkers. Cortisol-methylation associations were strongest in low-socioeconomic-status participants. A stress-biological pathway model showed partial mediation of the stress-cardiometabolic risk association through methylation changes. Conclusion: This exploratory study provides preliminary bio-psycho-social evidence for stress-epigenome-cardiometabolic risk pathways in Nigerian adults. These findings have original implications for holistic family medicine models that integrate psychological wellbeing into cardiometabolic disease prevention. Keywords: epigenetics, psychosocial stress, cardiometabolic, DNA methylation, Nigeria