ArticleNature communications2024
Severe drought exposure in utero associates to children's epigenetic age acceleration in a global climate change hot spot.
Article in Nature communications, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Epigenetic changes associated with multi-generational trauma: characterization, mechanisms, and therapeutics.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Climate informed precision health.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Beyond the genome: intergenerational inheritance through epigenetics and other pathways.Epigenomics · 2025Article
- Biological Mechanisms for Allen's Rule: DNA Methylation as Mediator of the Association Between In Utero Exposure to Environmental Heat and Tibial Growth in Childhood.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- The impact of climate change-related disasters on mental health and epigenetics: a narrative review.Frontiers in epigenetics and epigenomics · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The goal of this study is to examine the association between in utero drought exposure and epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) in a global climate change hot spot. Calculations of EAA in adults using DNA methylation have been found to accurately predict chronic disease and longevity. However, fewer studies have examined EAA in children, and drought exposure in utero has not been investigated. Additionally, studies of EAA in low-income countries with diverse populations are rare. We assess EAA using epigenetic clocks and two DNAm-based pace-of-aging measurements from whole saliva samples in 104 drought-exposed children and 109 same-sex sibling controls in northern Kenya. We find a positive association between in utero drought exposure and EAA in two epigenetic clocks (Hannum's and GrimAge) and a negative association in the DNAm based telomere length (DNAmTL) clock. The combined impact of drought's multiple deleterious stressors may reduce overall life expectancy through accelerated epigenetic aging.
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Registered trials
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