The identification of biomarkers that discriminate individual ageing trajectories is a principal target of ageing research. Some of the most promising predictors of biological ageing have been developed using DNA methylation. One recent candidate, which tracks age-related phenotypes in addition to chronological age, is 'DNAm PhenoAge'. Here, we performed a phenome-wide association analysis of this biomarker in a cohort of older adults to assess its relationship with a comprehensive set of both historical, and contemporaneously-measured, phenotypes. Higher than expected DNAm PhenoAge compared with chronological age, known as epigenetic age acceleration, was found to associate with a number of blood, cognitive, physical fitness and lifestyle variables, and with mortality. Notably, DNAm PhenoAge, assessed at age 70, was associated with cognitive ability at age 11, and with educational attainment. Adjusting for age 11 cognitive ability attenuated the majority of the cross-sectional later-life associations between DNAm PhenoAge and health outcomes. These results highlight the importance of early life factors on healthy older ageing.

中文翻译：

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童年智力减弱了生物衰老与晚年健康结果之间的关联。

识别区分个体衰老轨迹的生物标志物是衰老研究的主要目标。一些最有希望的生物衰老预测因子是使用 DNA 甲基化开发的。除了实际年龄之外，最近的一个候选者是“DNAm PhenoAge”，它追踪与年龄相关的表型。在这里，我们在一组老年人中对这种生物标志物进行了全表型关联分析，以评估它与一组综合的历史和同时测量的表型的关系。与实际年龄相比，高于预期的 DNAm PhenoAge，被称为表观遗传年龄加速，被发现与许多血液、认知、身体健康和生活方式变量以及死亡率有关。值得注意的是，在 70 岁时评估的 DNAm PhenoAge，与 11 岁时的认知能力和受教育程度有关。针对 11 岁的认知能力进行调整，减弱了 DNAm PhenoAge 与健康结果之间的大部分横断面晚年关联。这些结果强调了早年生活因素对健康老年的重要性。