Reproduction, DNA methylation and biological age

AbstractSTUDY QUESTIONAre reproductive characteristics associated with genome-wide DNA methylation and epigenetic age?SUMMARY ANSWEROur data suggest that increasing parity is associated with differences in blood DNA methylation and small increases in epigenetic age.WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADYA study of 397 young Filipino women (ages 20 –22) observed increasing epigenetic age with an increasing number of pregnancies.STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATIONWe used data from 2356 non-Hispanic white women (ages 35 –74) enrolled in the Sister Study cohort.PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODSData on reproductive history were ascertained via questionnaire. Of the 2356 women, 1897 (81%) reported at least one live birth. Among parous women, 487 (26%) women reported ever experiencing a pregnancy complication. Three epigenetic clocks (i.e. Hannum, Horvath and Levine) and genome-wide methylation were measured in DNA from whole blood using Illumina ’s HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. We estimated association β-values and 95% CIs using linear regression.MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCEAll three epigenetic clocks showed weak associations between number of births and epigenetic age (per live birth; Hannum: β = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.02, 0.29,P = 0.03; Horvath: β = 0.12, 95% CI = −0.04, 0.27,P = 0.14; Levine: β= 0.27, 95% CI = 0.08, 0.45,P = 0.01); however, additional adjustment for current BMI attenuated the associations. Among parous women, a history of abnormal glucose tolerance during pregnancy w...
Source: Human Reproduction - Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: research