Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular health (CVH) has been defined by the American Heart Association (AHA) as the presence of the "Life's Simple 7" ideal lifestyle and clinical factors. CVH is known to predict longevity and freedom from cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death for women in the United States. DNA methylation markers of aging have been aggregated into a composite epigenetic age score, which is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, it is unknown whether poor CVH is associated with acceleration of aging as measured by DNA methylation markers in epigenetic age.
METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of racially/ethnically diverse post-menopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative cohort recruited between 1993 and 1998. Epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) was calculated using DNA methylation data on a subset of participants and the published Horvath and Hannum methods for intrinsic and extrinsic EAA. CVH was calculated using the AHA measures of CVH contributing to a 7-point score. We examined the association between CVH score and EAA using linear regression modeling adjusting for self-reported race/ethnicity and education. Among the 2,170 participants analyzed, 50% were white and mean age was 64 (7 SD) years. Higher or more favorable CVH scores were associated with lower extrinsic EAA (~ 6 months younger age per 1 point higher CVH score, p < 0.0001), and lower intrinsic EAA (3 months younger age per 1 point higher CVH score, p < 0.028).
CONCLUSIONS: These cross-sectional observations suggest a possible mechanism by which ideal CVH is associated with greater longevity.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-25-2021
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-021-01028-2
Funding Information
This work was supported by NIEHS Grant R01-ES020836 (LH, AAB, EAW). The WHI program is funded by the NHLBI, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through Contracts HHSN268201100046C, HHSN268201100001C, HHSN268201100002C, HHSN268201100003C, HHSN268201100004C, and HHSN271201100004C.
Related Content
The WHI data are available through dbGAP: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/gap/cgi-bin/study.cgi?study_id=phs000200.v10.p3.
Repository Citation
Pottinger, Tess D.; Khan, Sadiya S.; Zheng, Yinan; Zhang, Wei; Tindle, Hilary A.; Allison, Matthew; Wells, Gretchen; Shadyab, Aladdin H.; Nassir, Rami; Martin, Lisa Warsinger; Manson, JoAnn E.; Lloyd-Jones, Donald M.; Greenland, Philip; Baccarelli, Andrea A.; Whitsel, Eric A.; and Hou, Lifang, "Association of Cardiovascular Health and Epigenetic Age Acceleration" (2021). Nursing Faculty Publications. 54.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/nursing_facpub/54
Additional file 1: Supplemental Figures and Tables.
Included in
Cardiology Commons, Family Medicine Commons, Medical Genetics Commons, Nursing Commons, Preventive Medicine Commons, Women's Health Commons
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Clinical Epigenetics, v. 13, issue 1, article no. 42.
© The Author(s) 2021
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