ArticleThe lancet. Healthy longevity2021
Epigenetic age acceleration in the emerging burden of cardiometabolic diseases among migrant and non-migrant African populations: the population based cross-sectional RODAM study.
Article in The lancet. Healthy longevity, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Accelerated epigenetic age in hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2026Pooled it
- Chemical and climatic environmental exposures and epigenetic aging: A systematic review.Environmental research · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- Epigenetic age acceleration in adolescence: cross-sectional associations with dietary intake and prospective associations with cardiometabolic risk indicators in a Mexico City cohort.Nutrition, metabolism, and cardiovascular diseases : NMCD · 2026Article
- Early-life determinants of cardiometabolic outcomes and accelerated biological ageing in Colombia.Aging · 2026Article
- Dietary intake and epigenetic aging in an African population: food groups, dietary patterns, and plant-based diets in the RODAM study.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Common DNA sequence variation influences epigenetic aging in African populations.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Cumulative Epigenetic Aging From Birth to Young Adulthood and Prospective Associations With Cardiometabolic Health in the CHAMACOS Study.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Article
- What's counted counts: the implications of underrepresentation for the application of epigenetic clocks in diverse populations.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Review
- Urbanization exacerbates age-associated declines in cardiometabolic health in Turkana and Orang Asli.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- The associations of long-term physical activity in adulthood with later biological ageing and all-cause mortality - a prospective twin study.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Epigenetics of Early Cardiometabolic Disease: Mechanisms and Precision Medicine.Circulation research · 2023Review
- Epigenetic aging in patients diagnosed with coronary artery disease: results of the LipidCardio study.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Article
- An integrative framework and recommendations for the study of DNA methylation in the context of race and ethnicity.Discover social science and health · 2023Review
- Cohort profile: Research on Obesity and Diabetes among African Migrants in Europe and Africa Prospective (RODAM-Pros) cohort study.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Type 2 diabetes burden among migrants in Europe: unravelling the causal pathways.Diabetologia · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
15 authors at 11 institutions in 10 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAfrican populations are experiencing health transitions due to rapid urbanization and international migration. However, the role of biological aging in this emerging burden of cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) among migrant and non-migrant Africans is unknown. We aimed to examine differences in epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) as measured by four clocks (Horvath, Hannum, PhenoAge and GrimAge) and their associations with cardiometabolic factors among migrant Ghanaians in Europe and non-migrant Ghanaians.
methodsGenome-wide DNA methylation (DNAm) data of 712 Ghanaians from cross-sectional RODAM study were used to quantify EAA. We assessed correlation of DNAmAge measures with chronological age, and then performed linear regressions to determine associations of body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose (FBG), blood pressure, alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, and one-carbon metabolism nutrients with EAA among migrant and non-migrants. We replicated our findings among 172 rural-urban sibling pairs from India migration study and among 120 native South Africans from PURE-SA-NW study.
findingsWe found that Ghanaian migrants have lower EAA than non-migrants. Within migrants, higher FBG was positively associated with EAA measures. Within non-migrants, higher BMI, and Vitamin B9 (folate) intake were negatively associated with EAA measures. Our findings on FBG, BMI and folate were replicated in the independent cohorts.
interpretationOur study shows that migration is negatively associated with EAA among Ghanaians. Moreover, cardiometabolic factors are differentially associated with EAA within migrant and non-migrant subgroups. Our results call for context-based interventions for CMD among transitioning populations that account for effects of biological aging.
fundingEuropean Commission.
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.