Education and Lifestyle Factors Are Associated with DNA Methylation Clocks in Older African Americans

Wei Zhao, Farah Ammous, Scott Ratliff, Jiaxuan Liu, Miao Yu, Thomas H. Mosley, Sharon L. R. Kardia and Jennifer A. Smith
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Wei Zhao: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Farah Ammous: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Scott Ratliff: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Jiaxuan Liu: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Miao Yu: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Thomas H. Mosley: Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39126, USA
Sharon L. R. Kardia: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Jennifer A. Smith: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: DNA methylation (DNAm) clocks are important biomarkers of cellular aging and are associated with a variety of age-related chronic diseases and all-cause mortality. Examining the relationship between education and lifestyle risk factors for age-related diseases and multiple DNAm clocks can increase the understanding of how risk factors contribute to aging at the cellular level. This study explored the association between education or lifestyle risk factors for age-related diseases and the acceleration of four DNAm clocks, including intrinsic (IEAA) and extrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (EEAA), PhenoAge acceleration (PhenoAA), and GrimAge acceleration (GrimAA) in the African American participants of the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy. We performed both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. In cross-sectional analyses, gender, education, BMI, smoking, and alcohol consumption were all independently associated with GrimAA, whereas only some of them were associated with other clocks. The effect of smoking and education on GrimAA varied by gender. Longitudinal analyses suggest that age and BMI continued to increase GrimAA, and that age and current smoking continued to increase PhenoAA after controlling DNAm clocks at baseline. In conclusion, education and common lifestyle risk factors were associated with multiple DNAm clocks. However, the association with each risk factor varied by clock, which suggests that different clocks may capture adverse effects from different environmental stimuli.

Keywords: DNA methylation; epigenetic age; education; lifestyle risk factors; African American; GENOA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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