The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On DNA Methylation Age: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis
Many of us know that difficult experiences in childhood, such as abuse or neglect, can have lasting effects on health as we grow older. Scientists have been exploring how these early life challenges might impact our bodies at a fundamental level, specifically looking at something called “biological aging.”
One way to measure biological aging is through “epigenetic age acceleration” (EAA). Think of your DNA as a vast instruction manual for your body. Epigenetics refers to changes that don’t alter the DNA sequence itself but rather control how genes are expressed—like sticky notes that tell your body which parts of the manual to read more or less often. DNA methylation is a common epigenetic mechanism, and “epigenetic clocks” are tools that use patterns of DNA methylation to estimate a person’s biological age, which can sometimes be different from their chronological age.
Researchers recently conducted a comprehensive review and analysis of many studies to understand if adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are consistently linked to this accelerated biological aging. They looked at 27 different studies, examining the relationship between the number of ACEs a person experienced and their EAA.
Interestingly, when they combined the results from several studies using common epigenetic clocks, they did not find a significant and consistent association between having more ACEs and an accelerated epigenetic age. The findings from other studies that couldn’t be included in the combined analysis were also quite varied, suggesting that different research methods might be leading to different conclusions.
This work highlights that while early life stress likely impacts our biology, the direct and consistent link to accelerated epigenetic aging, as currently measured, isn’t as clear-cut as once thought. The authors emphasize the importance of using more consistent research approaches in the future to better understand this complex relationship.
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