ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2020
Adversity exposure during sensitive periods predicts accelerated epigenetic aging in children.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 82 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 141 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- A systematic review of childhood maltreatment and DNA methylation: candidate gene and epigenome-wide approaches.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Epigenetic impact of a 1-week intensive multimodal group program for adolescents with multiple adverse childhood experiences.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Epigenetic Regulation of Modulatory Neurotransmitter System Integrity in the Aging Brain: A Scoping Review Across the Lifespan.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Timing of adverse childhood experiences shapes epigenetic ageing and life-history outcomes.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Childhood adversity, benevolent experiences, and perceived stress among pregnant women in Mexico: psychosocial determinants of maternal well-being in a middle-income setting.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Observational
- Associations of war-related exposures and early life adversity with late-life cognition.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Differential Methylation by Early Life Adversity in the Future of Families Child Wellbeing Study.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Epigenetic regulation of brain development, plasticity, and response to early-life stress.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Social genomics and cancer - untangling nature from nurture in squamous cell carcinoma outcomes.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Molecular pathways linking chronic psychological stress to accelerated aging: mechanisms and interventions.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
- Adolescent depression, childhood maltreatment, and the immune system; a role for epigenetic aging?Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Adverse Childhood Experiences, Genetic Susceptibility, and the Risk of Osteoporosis: A Cohort Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Early-Life Adversity and Epigenetic Aging: Findings from a 17-Year Longitudinal Study.Biomolecules · 2025Article
- Sensitive periods for exposure to indoor air pollutants and psychosocial factors in association with symptoms of psychopathology at school-age in a South African birth cohort.Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2025Article
- Early resilience and epigenetic ageing: Results from the prospective Young Finns Study with a 31-year follow-up.Aging cell · 2025Article
- Probing the roles of developmentally active neurons, in early-life adversity induced disruptions of adult behaviors.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- A Brief Historic Review of Research on Early Life Stress and Inflammation across the Lifespan.Neuroimmunomodulation · 2025Review
- Lifetime chronic stress exposures, stress hormones, and biological aging: Results from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Maximizing insights from longitudinal epigenetic age data: simulations, applications, and practical guidance.Clinical epigenetics · 2024Article
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesExposure to adversity has been linked to accelerated biological aging, which in turn has been shown to predict numerous physical and mental health problems. In recent years, measures of DNA methylation-based epigenetic age--known as "epigenetic clocks"--have been used to estimate accelerated epigenetic aging. Although a small number of studies have found an effect of adversity exposure on epigenetic age in children, none have investigated if there are "sensitive periods" when adversity is most impactful.
methodsUsing data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC; n = 973), we tested the prospective association between repeated measures of childhood exposure to seven types of adversity on epigenetic age assessed at age 7.5 using the Horvath and Hannum epigenetic clocks. With a Least Angle Regression variable selection procedure, we evaluated potential sensitive period effects.
resultsWe found that exposure to abuse, financial hardship, or neighborhood disadvantage during sensitive periods in early and middle childhood best explained variability in the deviation of Hannum-based epigenetic age from chronological age, even after considering the role of adversity accumulation and recency. Secondary sex-stratified analyses identified particularly strong sensitive period effects. These effects were undetected in analyses comparing children "exposed" versus "unexposed" to adversity. We did not identify any associations between adversity and epigenetic age using the Horvath epigenetic clock.
conclusionsOur results suggest that adversity may alter methylation processes in ways that either directly or indirectly perturb normal cellular aging and that these effects may be heightened during specific life stages.
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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.