Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, the Netherlands.
Department of Developmental Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, the Netherlands; Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands.
Biol Psychol. 2021 Feb;159:108021. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108021. Epub 2021 Jan 15.
Childhood psychiatric symptoms may be associated with advanced biological aging. This study examined whether epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) associates with internalizing and externalizing symptoms that were prospectively collected across childhood in a longitudinal cohort study. At age 6 buccal epithelial cells from 148 children (69 girls) were collected to survey genome-wide DNA methylation. EAA was estimated using the Horvath clock. Internalizing symptoms at ages 2.5 and 4 years significantly predicted higher EAA at age 6, which in turn was significantly associated with internalizing symptoms at ages 6-10 years. Similar trends for externalizing symptoms did not reach statistical significance. These findings indicate advanced biological aging in relation to child mental health and may help better identify those at risk for lasting impairments associated with internalizing disorders.
儿童期精神症状可能与生物衰老加速有关。本研究通过纵向队列研究，考察了表观遗传年龄加速（EAA）是否与儿童期内采集的内化和外化症状相关。在 6 岁时，从 148 名儿童（69 名女孩）的口腔上皮细胞中采集样本，以检测全基因组 DNA 甲基化情况。使用 Horvath 时钟来估计 EAA。2.5 岁和 4 岁时的内化症状显著预测 6 岁时的 EAA 更高，而 EAA 又与 6-10 岁时的内化症状显著相关。外化症状的类似趋势未达到统计学意义。这些发现表明与儿童心理健康有关的生物衰老加速，这可能有助于更好地识别那些存在与内化障碍相关的持久损伤风险的人群。
