Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number Correlates with Self-Rated Health in Older Adults

In this study of 956 participants, we found that patients with higher mtDNA copy number in peripheral blood had better self-rated health independent of age. We also found that older patients had lower mtDNA copy numbers. Lastly, we found that men had lower mtDNA copy numbers than women. These findings are unique and differ from previous studies. These findings should continue to add to our understanding of the relationship of mtDNA copy number to self-rated health as well as the ongoing work on mtDNA and age and gender. There has been limited previous work in determining the relationship between self-rated health and mtDNA copy number. In one previous study, 1067 combined peripheral blood samples were examined for such an association. The authors found a positive association between better self-rated health and higher mtDNA copy numbers. Our study provides further evidence of the relationship between lower self-rated health and lower mtDNA copy number. In addition to this main finding, we found that older age was associated with lower mtDNA copy number. The relationship between age and mtDNA copy number depended upon the patient's sex. Previous studies, looking at different tissue types, also showed an age-related decline in mtDNA copy number, but the role of sex and mtDNA copy number differs in our study from previous studies. We found that men had a lower copy number than women. Biologically, the changes in the number of the mitochondria DNA with age may refle...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs