Childhood intelligence attenuates the association between biological ageing and health outcomes in later life
Year: 2019
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The identification of biomarkers that discriminate individual ageing trajectories is a principal target of ageing research. Some of the most promising predictors of biological ageing have been developed using DNA methylation. One recent candidate, which tracks age-related phenotypes in addition to chronological age, is 'DNAm PhenoAge'. Here, we performed a phenome-wide association analysis of this biomarker in a cohort of older adults to assess its relationship with a comprehensive set of both historical, and contemporaneously-measured, phenotypes. Higher than expected DNAm PhenoAge compared with chronological age, known as epigenetic age acceleration, was found to associate with a number of blood, cognitive, physical fitness and lifestyle variables, and with mortality. Notably, DNAm PhenoAge, assessed at age 70, was associated with cognitive ability at age 11, and with educational attainment. Adjusting for age 11 cognitive ability attenuated the majority of the cross-sectional later-life associations between DNAm PhenoAge and health outcomes. These results highlight the importance of early life factors on healthy older ageing.
Source: Translational Psychiatry
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,095
Funders: Wellcome Trust, Alzheimer's Society, Age UK, Research Councils UK, University of Edinburgh, University of Queensland, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, UK Dementia Research Institute, Directorate for Biological Sciences, Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Awards: G1184531726, Centre for Cognitive Ageing & Cognitive Epidemiology, Translational Neuroscience - training the next generation of basic neuroscientists to embrace clinical research., G2352317866, G259633682, G2730595978, G3561803360, G3669141092, G3933842093, G3996179666, Stratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL), G4641403149, G483280169, G5067462658, Stratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL), G666546157, G6868616705, A genome-wide association study of non-pathological cognitive ageing, G718988473, G7771854671, G8733687393, G9000063527
OpenAlex ID: W2989736192