Teklu Amanuel Abraha, Heckenbach Indra, Petr Michael Angelo, Bakula Daniela, Keijzers Guido, Scheibye-Knudsen Morten
Center for Healthy Aging, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Geroscience. 2025 Jan 15. doi: 10.1007/s11357-024-01502-8.
Aging is influenced by a complex interplay of multifarious factors, including an individual's genetics, environment, and lifestyle. Notably, high altitude may impact aging and age-related diseases through exposures such as hypoxia and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. To investigate this, we mined risk exposure data (summary exposure value), disease burden data (disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)), and death rates and life expectancy from the Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx) and National Data Management Center for Health of Ethiopia for each subnational region of Ethiopia, a country with considerable differences in the living altitude. We conducted a cross-sectional clinical trial involving 227 highland and 202 lowland dwellers from the Tigray region in Northern Ethiopia to gain a general insight into the biological aging at high altitudes. Notably, we observed significantly lower risk exposure rates and a reduced disease burden as well as increased life expectancy by lower mortality rates in higher-altitude regions of Ethiopia. When assessing biological aging using facial photographs, we found a faster rate of aging with increasing elevation, likely due to greater UV exposure. Conversely, analysis of nuclear morphologies of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in blood smears with five different senescence predictors revealed a significant decrease in DNA damage-induced senescence in both monocytes and lymphocytes with increasing elevation. Overall, our findings suggest that disease and DNA damage-induced senescence decreases with altitude in agreement with the idea that oxidative stress may drive aging.
衰老受到多种因素复杂的相互作用影响，包括个体的基因、环境和生活方式。值得注意的是，高海拔可能通过缺氧和紫外线辐射等暴露影响衰老及与年龄相关的疾病。为了对此进行研究，我们从全球卫生数据交换平台（GHDx）和埃塞俄比亚国家卫生数据管理中心挖掘了埃塞俄比亚每个次国家级区域的风险暴露数据（汇总暴露值）、疾病负担数据（伤残调整生命年（DALYs））以及死亡率和预期寿命，埃塞俄比亚是一个生活海拔差异显著的国家。我们开展了一项横断面临床试验，涉及埃塞俄比亚北部提格雷地区的227名高原居民和202名低地居民，以全面了解高海拔地区的生物衰老情况。值得注意的是，我们观察到埃塞俄比亚高海拔地区的风险暴露率显著降低、疾病负担减轻，以及死亡率降低使预期寿命增加。在使用面部照片评估生物衰老时，我们发现随着海拔升高衰老速度加快，这可能是由于紫外线暴露增加所致。相反，对血涂片中外周血单核细胞（PBMCs）的核形态进行分析，并采用五种不同的衰老预测指标，结果显示随着海拔升高，单核细胞和淋巴细胞中DNA损伤诱导的衰老均显著减少。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，疾病和DNA损伤诱导的衰老随海拔升高而降低，这与氧化应激可能驱动衰老的观点一致。
