The association of epigenetic age acceleration and depressive and anxiety symptom severity among children recently exposed to substantiated maltreatment

Zhang, Zhenyu Z.; Moeckel, Camille; Mustafa, Manal; Pham, Hung; Olson, Anneke E.; Dorn, Lorah D.; Engeland, Christopher G.; Shenk, Chad E.

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.07.007

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…A growing body of evidence suggests that such indicators of more rapid epigenetic aging may also be associated with developmental measures in children. Youth with greater EAA are more likely to have experienced stress/adverse childhood experiences 22 with future cognitive impairment 23 and depression and anxiety 24 . Our report adds to the growing body of work that examines EAA with respect to childhood markers of growth and maturation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetic age acceleration is associated with speed of pubertal growth but not age of pubertal onset

Kim,

Harrall,

Glueck

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Using data from a longitudinal cohort of children, we examined whether epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) was associated with pubertal growth and whether these associations were mediated by adiposity. We examined associations between EAA at approximately 10 years of age with pubertal growth metrics, including age at peak height velocity (PHV), PHV, and sex steroid levels and whether these associations were mediated by measures of adiposity including body mass index (BMI) and MRI-assessed visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). Children (n = 135) with accelerated EAA had higher PHV (β 0.018, p = 0.0008) although the effect size was small. The association between EAA and age at PHV was not significant (β − 0.0022, p = 0.067). Although EAA was associated with higher BMI (β 0.16, p = 0.0041), VAT (β 0.50, p = 0.037), and SAT (β 3.47, p = 0.0076), BMI and VAT did not mediate associations between EAA and PHV, while SAT explained 8.4% of the association. Boys with higher EAA had lower total testosterone (β − 12.03, p = 0.0014), but associations between EAA and other sex steroids were not significant, and EAA was not associated with sex steroid levels in girls. We conclude that EAA did not have strong associations with either age at onset of puberty or pubertal growth speed, although associations with growth speed were statistically significant. Studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm this pattern of associations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetic age acceleration is associated with speed of pubertal growth but not age of pubertal onset

Kim,

Harrall,

Glueck

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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“…However, it is possible that evidence of accelerated biological age may have been evident earlier in the lives of the individuals in the current study. In 2 recent studies of young children who had substantiated cases of child maltreatment prior to study entry ( 72 , 73 ), there was evidence of accelerated aging in relation to anxiety, depression, and PTSD. As pointed out by Zannas ( 74 ), existing research has “assumed unidirectional causality that stress and mental suffering drive accelerated aging” (page E1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Maltreatment and Biological Aging in Middle Adulthood: The Role of Psychiatric Symptoms

Widom,

Do,

Miller

et al. 2024

Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science

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Intervening After Trauma: Child–Parent Psychotherapy Treatment Is Associated With Lower Pediatric Epigenetic Age Acceleration

Sullivan,

Merrill,

Konwar

et al. 2024

Psychol Sci

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Early-life adversity increases the risk of health problems. Interventions supporting protective and responsive caregiving offer a promising approach to attenuating adversity-induced changes in stress-sensitive biomarkers. This study tested whether participation in an evidence-based dyadic psychosocial intervention, child–parent psychotherapy (CPP), was related to lower epigenetic age acceleration, a trauma-sensitive biomarker of accelerated biological aging that is associated with later health impairment, in a sample of children with trauma histories. Within this quasi-experimental, repeated-measures study, we examined epigenetic age acceleration at baseline and postintervention in a low-income sample of children receiving CPP treatment ( n = 45; age range = 2–6 years; 76% Latino) compared with a weighted, propensity-matched community-comparison sample ( n = 110; age range = 3–6 years; 40% Latino). Baseline epigenetic age acceleration was equivalent across groups. However, posttreatment, epigenetic age acceleration in the treatment group was lower than in the matched community sample. Findings highlight the potential for a dyadic psychosocial intervention to ameliorate accelerated biological aging in trauma-exposed children.

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The association of epigenetic age acceleration and depressive and anxiety symptom severity among children recently exposed to substantiated maltreatment

Cited by 4 publications

References 46 publications

Epigenetic age acceleration is associated with speed of pubertal growth but not age of pubertal onset

Epigenetic age acceleration is associated with speed of pubertal growth but not age of pubertal onset

Childhood Maltreatment and Biological Aging in Middle Adulthood: The Role of Psychiatric Symptoms

Intervening After Trauma: Child–Parent Psychotherapy Treatment Is Associated With Lower Pediatric Epigenetic Age Acceleration

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