Exposome and accelerated aging

Nature news has the scoop on an important new study on the exposome and accelerated aging in different regions of the world.  From the news item:

Social inequality and weak democratic institutions are linked to faster ageing, as are other environmental features such as high levels of air pollution, finds a study spanning four continents1. Education was one of the top factors that protected against faster ageing.

The study also showed that ageing is accelerated by less-surprising factors such as high blood pressure and heart disease. But the link to social and political influences could help to explain why rates of ageing vary from country to country, the authors say.

The abstract from the study:

Protective and risk factors can drive healthy or accelerated aging, with distinct environments modulating their effects. The impact of the exposome—the combined physical and social exposures experienced throughout life—on accelerated aging remains unknown. We assessed delayed and accelerated aging in 161,981 participants from 40 countries (45.09% female; mean age, 67.06; s.d., 9.85) by measuring biobehavioral age gaps (BBAGs), defined as the difference between estimated age from protective and risk factors and chronological age, in cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. BBAGs predicted chronological age, followed by regional and exposomal factor analyses, linked to accelerated aging. Europe led in healthy aging, while Egypt and South Africa showed the greatest acceleration; Asia and Latin America fell in between (Cliff’s delta (δd) = 0.15–0.52; all P < 0.0001). Accelerated aging was more evident in eastern and southern Europe; globally, it was also associated with lower income (δd = 0.48–0.56, P < 1 × 10−15). Exposomal factors of accelerated aging include physical (air quality), social (socioeconomic and gender inequality, migration) and sociopolitical (representation, party freedom, suffrage, elections and democracy) determinants (all Cohen’s d (d) > 0.37, P < 0.0001). BBAGs predicted future functional (r (Pearson correlation) = −0.33, P < 1 × 10−15, d = 0.70) and cognitive declines (r = −0.22, P < 1 × 10−15, d = 0.44), and larger BBAGs (P < 0.0001, d = 1.55). Healthy and accelerated aging are influenced by physical, social and sociopolitical exposomes, with considerable disparities across nations.

Cheers, 

Colin