TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantification of biological aging in young adults
AU - Belsky, Daniel W.
AU - Caspi, Avshalom
AU - Houts, Renate
AU - Cohen, Harvey J.
AU - Corcoran, David L.
AU - Danese, Andrea
AU - Harrington, Honalee
AU - Israel, Salomon
AU - Levine, Morgan E.
AU - Schaefer, Jonathan D.
AU - Sugden, Karen
AU - Williams, Ben
AU - Yashin, Anatoli I.
AU - Poulton, Richie
AU - Moffitt, Terrie E.
PY - 2015/7/28
Y1 - 2015/7/28
N2 - Antiaging therapies show promise in model organism research. Translation to humans is needed to address the challenges of an aging global population. Interventions to slow human aging will need to be applied to still-young individuals. However, most human aging research examines older adults, many with chronic disease. As a result, little is known about aging in young humans. We studied aging in 954 young humans, the Dunedin Study birth cohort, tracking multiple biomarkers across three time points spanning their third and fourth decades of life. We developed and validated two methods by which aging can be measured in young adults, one cross-sectional and one longitudinal. Our longitudinal measure allows quantification of the pace of coordinated physiological deterioration across multiple organ systems (e.g., pulmonary, periodontal, cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, and immune function). We applied these methods to assess biological aging in young humans who had not yet developed age-related diseases. Young individuals of the same chronological age varied in their "biological aging" (declining integrity of multiple organ systems). Already, before midlife, individuals who were aging more rapidly were less physically able, showed cognitive decline and brain aging, self-reported worse health, and looked older. Measured biological aging in young adults can be used to identify causes of aging and evaluate rejuvenation therapies.
AB - Antiaging therapies show promise in model organism research. Translation to humans is needed to address the challenges of an aging global population. Interventions to slow human aging will need to be applied to still-young individuals. However, most human aging research examines older adults, many with chronic disease. As a result, little is known about aging in young humans. We studied aging in 954 young humans, the Dunedin Study birth cohort, tracking multiple biomarkers across three time points spanning their third and fourth decades of life. We developed and validated two methods by which aging can be measured in young adults, one cross-sectional and one longitudinal. Our longitudinal measure allows quantification of the pace of coordinated physiological deterioration across multiple organ systems (e.g., pulmonary, periodontal, cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, and immune function). We applied these methods to assess biological aging in young humans who had not yet developed age-related diseases. Young individuals of the same chronological age varied in their "biological aging" (declining integrity of multiple organ systems). Already, before midlife, individuals who were aging more rapidly were less physically able, showed cognitive decline and brain aging, self-reported worse health, and looked older. Measured biological aging in young adults can be used to identify causes of aging and evaluate rejuvenation therapies.
KW - Aging
KW - Biological aging
KW - Cognitive aging
KW - Geroscience
KW - Healthspan
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938086301&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84938086301&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1506264112
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1506264112
M3 - Article
C2 - 26150497
AN - SCOPUS:84938086301
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 112
SP - E4104-E4110
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 30
ER -