ArticleNeurobiology of stress2021
The pediatric buccal epigenetic clock identifies significant ageing acceleration in children with internalizing disorder and maltreatment exposure.
Article in Neurobiology of stress, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- DNA Methylation Biomarkers for Young Children with Idiopathic Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Parenting Practices May Buffer the Impact of Adversity on Epigenetic Age Acceleration Among Young Children With Developmental Delays.Psychological science · 2023Trial
- Epigenetic age and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children born preterm.Genetics in medicine open · 2026Article
- Child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing traits, and epigenetic summary scores: A scoping review.Biological psychology · 2025Article
- Adolescent depression, childhood maltreatment, and the immune system; a role for epigenetic aging?Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Stochastic epigenetic mutation profiles as biomarkers of clinical activity in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a multi-omic machine learning approach for gene prioritization.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Epigenomic signatures of accelerated epigenetic aging are associated with congenital heart disease in newborns.BMC medical genomics · 2025Article
- The Impact of Early Life Adversity on Peripubertal Accelerated Epigenetic Aging and Psychopathology.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2025Article
- Genetic and environmental contributions to epigenetic aging across adolescence and young adulthood.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Article
- PedBE age and age acceleration in umbilical vein endothelial cells: an examination of infant birth outcomes.Journal of developmental origins of health and disease · 2025Article
- Epigenetic age across development in children and adolescents with ADHD.Psychiatry research · 2025Article
- Molecular insights into trauma: A framework of epigenetic pathways to resilience through intervention.Med (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Review
- Impact of age-related changes in buccal epithelial cells on pediatric epigenetic biomarker research.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- A Brief Historic Review of Research on Early Life Stress and Inflammation across the Lifespan.Neuroimmunomodulation · 2025Review
- Prenatal exposures and cell type proportions are main drivers ofNeurobiology of stress · 2024Article
- Sex-Specific Associations between Prenatal Exposure to Bisphenols and Phthalates and Infant Epigenetic Age Acceleration.Epigenomes · 2024Article
- Impact of childhood maltreatment on aging: a comprehensive Mendelian randomization analysis of multiple age-related biomarkers.Clinical epigenetics · 2024Article
- The Impact of Childhood Mental Health and Substance Use on Methylation Aging Into Adulthood.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2024Article
- Prenatal stress and gestational epigenetic age: No evidence of associations based on a large prospective multi-cohort study.Research square · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundStudies reporting accelerated ageing in children with affective disorders or maltreatment exposure have relied on algorithms for estimating epigenetic age derived from adult samples. These algorithms have limited validity for epigenetic age estimation during early development. We here use a pediatric buccal epigenetic (PedBE) clock to predict DNA methylation-based ageing deviation in children with and without internalizing disorder and assess the moderating effect of maltreatment exposure. We further conduct a gene set enrichment analysis to assess the contribution of glucocorticoid signaling to PedBE clock-based results.
methodDNA was isolated from saliva of 158 children [73 girls, 85 boys; mean age (SD) = 4.25 (0.8) years] including children with internalizing disorder and maltreatment exposure. Epigenetic age was estimated based on DNA methylation across 94 CpGs of the PedBE clock. Residuals of epigenetic age regressed against chronological age were contrasted between children with and without internalizing disorder. Maltreatment was coded in 3 severity levels and entered in a moderation model. Genome-wide dexamethasone-responsive CpGs were derived from an independent sample and enrichment of these CpGs within the PedBE clock was identified.
resultsChildren with internalizing disorder exhibited significant acceleration of epigenetic ageing as compared to children without internalizing disorder (F
conclusionUsing the novel PedBE clock, we show that internalizing disorder is associated with accelerated epigenetic ageing in early childhood. This association is moderated by maltreatment severity and may, in part, be driven by glucocorticoids. Identifying developmental drivers of accelerated epigenetic ageing after maltreatment will be critical to devise early targeted interventions.
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