ArticleThe American journal of psychiatry2018
Epigenetic Aging in Major Depressive Disorder.
Article in The American journal of psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05294835 (Impact of Ketamine on Epigenetic Age), which is not on this map. Cited by 153 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Impact of Ketamine on Epigenetic Age (IKEA)
Who cites it
153 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 255 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of adverse childhood experiences on DNA methylation age: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Pooled it
- The association between white matter hyperintensities and suicide attempts in affective disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence and Associated Factors of Chronic Depression Among Older Adults: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- A perspective on epigenomic aging processes in the human brain and their plasticity in patients with mental disorders - a systematic review.Neurogenetics · 2024Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of epigenetic aging in schizophrenia reveals multifaceted relationships with age, sex, illness duration, and polygenic risk.Clinical epigenetics · 2024Pooled it
- The Impact of Psychosocial Stress from Life Trauma and Racial Discrimination on Epigenetic Aging-A Systematic Review.Biological research for nursing · 2022Pooled it
- DNA methylation signatures of aggression and closely related constructs: A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide studies across the lifespan.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review of childhood maltreatment and DNA methylation: candidate gene and epigenome-wide approaches.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Cognitive impairment and depression: Meta-analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging studies.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2021Pooled it
- A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Environmental, Lifestyle, and Health Factors Associated With DNA Methylation Age.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2020Pooled it
- The epigenetic clock as a predictor of disease and mortality risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical epigenetics · 2019Pooled it
- Article
- How education gets under the skin: Pathways linking educational advantage to slower biological aging.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2026Article
- Peripheral blood DNA methylation partially reports on immune cell type composition in the frontal brain.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Epigenetic age acceleration is associated with brain connectivity changes and the risk of major depression after trauma.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- DNA methylation-derived age acceleration reveals neurodevelopmental and stress-linked pathways in depression and suicide.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- Depression, but not anxiety, is associated with epigenetic age accelerations among Asian older adults.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Mechanism-First Psychobiotics: Fermented Vegetables, Dairy, and Soy for Depression and Anxiety.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Peripheral transcriptomic aging acceleration in major depressive disorder: the mediating role of insular cortex alterations.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Epigenetic Aging and Cognitive Performance in General and Psychiatric Populations: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Review
93 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
15 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveMajor depressive disorder is associated with an increased risk of mortality and aging-related diseases. The authors examined whether major depression is associated with higher epigenetic aging in blood as measured by DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns, whether clinical characteristics of major depression have a further impact on these patterns, and whether the findings replicate in brain tissue.
methodDNAm age was estimated using all methylation sites in blood of 811 depressed patients and 319 control subjects with no lifetime psychiatric disorders and low depressive symptoms from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. The residuals of the DNAm age estimates regressed on chronological age were calculated to indicate epigenetic aging. Major depression diagnosis and clinical characteristics were assessed with questionnaires and psychiatric interviews. Analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and health status. Postmortem brain samples of 74 depressed patients and 64 control subjects were used for replication. Pathway enrichment analysis was conducted using ConsensusPathDB to gain insight into the biological processes underlying epigenetic aging in blood and brain.
resultsSignificantly higher epigenetic aging was observed in patients with major depression compared with control subjects (Cohen's d=0.18), with a significant dose effect with increasing symptom severity in the overall sample. In the depression group, epigenetic aging was positively and significantly associated with childhood trauma score. The case-control difference was replicated in an independent data set of postmortem brain samples. The top significantly enriched Gene Ontology terms included neuronal processes.
conclusionsAs compared with control subjects, patients with major depression exhibited higher epigenetic aging in blood and brain tissue, suggesting that they are biologically older than their corresponding chronological age. This effect was even more profound in the presence of childhood trauma.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.