SynthesisThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences2022
The Role of Epigenetic Clocks in Explaining Educational Inequalities in Mortality: A Multicohort Study and Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular Biomarkers for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease and the Complementary Role of Engineered Nanomaterials: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Observational
- Physiological health Age (PhysAge): a novel multi-system molecular timepiece predicts health and mortality in older adults.GeroScience · 2026Article
- The impact of working conditions on breast cancer outcomes: a study protocol for a population-based cohort study using UK Biobank data.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Remarkable concordance in associations between epigenetic clocks and health behaviors across three countries.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Using machine-learning to identify differences in the association between blood-based biomarkers and later life health across race and ethnicity.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
- Interplay of education and DNA methylation age on cognitive impairment: insights from the Health and Retirement Study.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Quantification of Epigenetic Aging in Public Health.Annual review of public health · 2025Review
- Association of phenotypic age acceleration with all-cause and cause-specific mortality among U.S. cancer survivors: a retrospective cohort study.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Article
- Epigenetic Aging and Racialized, Economic, and Environmental Injustice: NIMHD Social Epigenomics Program.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- The embodiment of parental death in early life through accelerated epigenetic aging: Implications for understanding how parental death before 18 shapes age-related health risk among older adults.SSM - population health · 2024Article
- Review
- Educational Mobility, Pace of Aging, and Lifespan Among Participants in the Framingham Heart Study.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Generations of epigenetic clocks and their links to socioeconomic status in the Health and Retirement Study.Epigenomics · 2024Article
- Epigenetic aging & embodying injustice: USmedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- Parental education and epigenetic aging in middle-aged and older adults in the United States: A life course perspective.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2023Article
- Epigenetic age acceleration mediates the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and pain severity in adults with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis pain.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2023Article
- Article
- Global Alliance for the Promotion of Physical Activity: the Hamburg Declaration.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
38 authors at 17 institutions in 8 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Educational inequalities in all-cause mortality have been observed for decades. However, the underlying biological mechanisms are not well known. We aimed to assess the role of DNA methylation changes in blood captured by epigenetic clocks in explaining these inequalities. Data were from 8 prospective population-based cohort studies, representing 13 021 participants. First, educational inequalities and their portion explained by Horvath DNAmAge, Hannum DNAmAge, DNAmPhenoAge, and DNAmGrimAge epigenetic clocks were assessed in each cohort via counterfactual-based mediation models, on both absolute (hazard difference) and relative (hazard ratio) scales, and by sex. Second, estimates from each cohort were pooled through a random effect meta-analysis model. Men with low education had excess mortality from all causes of 57 deaths per 10 000 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI]: 38, 76) compared with their more advantaged counterparts. For women, the excess mortality was 4 deaths per 10 000 person-years (95% CI: -11, 19). On the relative scale, educational inequalities corresponded to hazard ratios of 1.33 (95% CI: 1.12, 1.57) for men and 1.15 (95% CI: 0.96, 1.37) for women. DNAmGrimAge accounted for the largest proportion, approximately 50%, of the educational inequalities for men, while the proportion was negligible for women. Most of this mediation was explained by differential effects of unhealthy lifestyles and morbidities of the World Health Organization (WHO) risk factors for premature mortality. These results support DNA methylation-based epigenetic aging as a signature of educational inequalities in life expectancy emphasizing the need for policies to address the unequal social distribution of these WHO risk factors.
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