Tamman Amanda J F, Nagamatsu Sheila, Krystal John H, Gelernter Joel, Montalvo-Ortiz Janitza L, Pietrzak Robert H
Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine (AJFT), Houston, TX.
Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine (SN, JHK, JG, JLM-O, RHP), New Haven, CT.
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2023 Feb;31(2):97-109. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2022.09.002. Epub 2022 Sep 10.
Veterans are at high risk for health morbidities linked to premature mortality. Recently developed "epigenetic clock" algorithms, which compute intra-individual differences between biological and chronological aging, can help inform prediction of accelerated biological aging and mortality risk. To date, however, scarce research has examined potentially modifiable correlates of GrimAge, a novel epigenetic clock comprised of DNA methylation surrogates of plasma proteins and smoking pack-years associated with various morbidities and time-to-death. The objective of the study was to examine psychosocial correlates of this novel epigenetic clock.
Cross-sectional study.
U.S. veteran population.
Participants were male, European American (EA), and derived from a nationally representative sample of U.S. veterans (N = 1,135, mean age = 63.3, standard deviation [SD] = 13.0).
We examined the prevalence of accelerated GrimAge and its association with a broad range of health, lifestyle, and psychosocial variables.
A total 18.3% of veterans had accelerated GrimAge (≥5 years greater GrimAge than chronological age; mean = 8.4 years acceleration, SD = 2.2). Fewer days of weekly physical exercise (relative variance explained [RVE] = 27%), history of lifetime substance use disorder (RVE = 21%), greater number of lifetime traumas (RVE = 19%), lower gratitude (RVE = 13%), reduced sleep quality (RVE = 7%), lower openness to experience (RVE = 7%), and unmarried/partnered status (RVE = 6%) were independently associated with increased odds of accelerated GrimAge. Increasing numbers of these risk factors were associated with greater odds of accelerated GrimAge, with greatest likelihood of acceleration for veterans with ≥3 risk factors (weighted 21.5%).
These results suggest that nearly 1-of-5 EA male U.S. veterans have accelerated GrimAge, and highlight a broad range of health, lifestyle, and psychosocial variables associated with accelerated GrimAge. Given that many of these factors are modifiable, these findings provide promising leads for risk stratification models of accelerated biological aging and precision medicine-based targets for interventions to mitigate risk for premature mortality in this population.
退伍军人面临与过早死亡相关的高健康发病风险。最近开发的“表观遗传时钟”算法可计算生物衰老与实际年龄之间的个体内差异，有助于预测加速的生物衰老和死亡风险。然而，迄今为止，鲜有研究探讨GrimAge（一种由血浆蛋白的DNA甲基化替代物和与各种发病率及死亡时间相关的吸烟包年数组成的新型表观遗传时钟）的潜在可改变相关因素。本研究的目的是探讨这种新型表观遗传时钟的社会心理相关因素。
横断面研究。
美国退伍军人人群。
参与者为男性、欧美裔（EA），来自美国退伍军人的全国代表性样本（N = 1135，平均年龄 = 63.3岁，标准差[SD] = 13.0）。
我们研究了加速的GrimAge的患病率及其与广泛的健康、生活方式和社会心理变量的关联。
共有18.3%的退伍军人有加速的GrimAge（GrimAge比实际年龄大≥5岁；平均加速 = 8.4岁，SD = 2.2）。每周体育锻炼天数较少（解释的相对方差[RVE] = 27%）、有终身物质使用障碍史（RVE = 21%）、终身创伤次数较多（RVE = 19%）、感恩程度较低（RVE = 13%）、睡眠质量下降（RVE = 7%）、经验开放性较低（RVE = 7%）以及未婚/有伴侣状态（RVE = 6%）与加速的GrimAge几率增加独立相关。这些风险因素数量的增加与加速的GrimAge几率增加相关，对于有≥3个风险因素的退伍军人，加速的可能性最大（加权21.5%）。
这些结果表明，近五分之一的欧美裔美国男性退伍军人有加速的GrimAge，并突出了与加速的GrimAge相关的广泛健康、生活方式和社会心理变量。鉴于这些因素中的许多是可改变的，这些发现为加速生物衰老的风险分层模型以及基于精准医学的干预目标提供了有希望的线索，以降低该人群过早死亡的风险。
