ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences2021
Epigenetic Age Acceleration and Cognitive Decline: A Twin Study.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Pilot Study of Second-Generation DNA Methylation Epigenetic Markers in Relation to Cognitive and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Older Adults.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2023Trial
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Severity-related Accelerated Aging, Hippocampal Volume, and CLDN5 DNA Methylation.Biopsychosocial science and medicine · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Changes in Inflammation-Related Methylation Risk Score for C-Reactive Protein Among People with HIV.Epigenomes · 2026Article
- Epigenetic Aging and Cognitive Performance in General and Psychiatric Populations: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Review
- Analysis of second-generation epigenetic clocks reveals further associations between disproportionate biological ageing and hippocampal volume.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Epigenetic Aging Clocks Associate with Cognitive Status but Not Cognitive Decline: Evidence from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Methylation array signals are predictive of chronological age without bisulfite conversion.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Epigenetic clocks and longitudinal plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Article
- Epigenetic Clocks Identify Harmful Epigenetic Aging Linked to Depression Severity and Cognitive Deficits in Major Depressive Disorder.Aging and disease · 2025Article
- Epigenetic age acceleration and midlife cognition: joint evidence from observational study and Mendelian randomization.npj aging · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Accelerated Epigenetic Aging and Its Role in Brain Dynamics and Cognition in Young Adulthood.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- The Interplay Between Biological Aging and Volunteering Engagement in Predicting Cognitive Performance: Evidence From the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
- The association of prenatal ambient air pollution with placental epigenetic gestational age at birth.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Epigenetic age acceleration and methylation differences in IgG4-related cholangitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Article
- β2-microglobulin and cognitive decline: unraveling the mediating role of the Dunedin Pace of Aging methylation.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- Epigenetic Aging Associations With Psychoneurological Symptoms and Social Functioning in Adults With Sickle Cell Disease.Biological research for nursing · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about the role of DNA methylation (DNAm) epigenetic age acceleration in cognitive decline. Using a twin study design, we examined whether DNAm age acceleration is related to cognitive decline measured longitudinally in persons without a clinical diagnosis of dementia.
methodsWe studied 266 paired male twins (133 pairs) with a mean age of 56 years at baseline. Of these, 114 paired twins returned for a follow-up after an average of 11.5 years. We obtained 6 indices of DNAm age acceleration based on epigenome-wide data from peripheral blood lymphocytes. At both baseline and follow-up, we administered a battery of cognitive measures and constructed 2 composite scores, one for executive function and one for memory function. We fitted multivariable mixed regression models to examine the association of DNAm age acceleration markers with cognitive function within pairs.
resultsIn cross-sectional analyses at baseline, there was no association between DNAm age acceleration and cognitive function scores. In longitudinal analyses, however, comparing twins within pairs, each additional year of age acceleration using the Horvath's method was associated with a 3% decline (95% CI, 1%-5%) in the composite executive function score and a 2.5% decline (95% CI, 0.01%-4.9%) in the memory function score. These results did not attenuate after adjusting for education and other risk factors.
conclusionsMiddle-aged men who had older DNAm age relative to their brothers of the same demographic age showed a faster rate of cognitive decline in the subsequent 11.5 years. These results point to the role of epigenetic modifications in cognitive aging.
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Registered trials
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