ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2024
Associations Between Loneliness, Epigenetic Aging, and Multimorbidity Through Older Adulthood.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Social Connection and Epigenetic Aging: Insights from DNA Methylation Clocks.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- Bidirectional associations between loneliness and physical multimorbidity and the mediating role of social inactivity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Psychological adversities and epigenetic ageing in midlife and older age: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2026Review
- Racial/ethnic variation of neighborhood social cohesion, loneliness, and cognitive functioning among midlife and older U.S. adults.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Negative social ties as emerging risk factors for accelerated aging, inflammation, and multimorbidity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Replicated evidence for an accelerated rate of whole-body aging in schizophrenia.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Disentangling social isolation, loneliness, and later-life cognitive function for older adults in the United States: evidence from causal inference modeling.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Psychosocial stressors, accelerated biological aging, and multiple morbidities: Evidence from an age-diverse sample.PloS one · 2026Article
- Social relationships and epigenetic markers of aging in middle-aged and older adults: cross-sectional and prospective analyses.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- What's counted counts: the implications of underrepresentation for the application of epigenetic clocks in diverse populations.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Review
- Life Expectancy and Health Expectancy in the Twenty-first Century: The Unthinkable, the Inconceivable, and the Unknowable.Demography · 2025Article
- Associations between positive and negative social experiences and epigenetic aging.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesLoneliness is a pressing public health concern, but the mechanisms by which it leads to declining physical health are uncertain. Prior work has begun to explore epigenetic pathways, with some evidence suggesting a link between loneliness and DNA methylation, though it is unclear whether epigenetic variation can help explain loneliness-health associations.
methodsAssociations between loneliness and epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) were estimated, as well as the degree to which EAA mediated and moderated the association between loneliness and the development of chronic physical health conditions (multimorbidity) in older adulthood. The sample consisted of Health and Retirement Study participants who provided blood draws and consented to methylation profiling (n = 4,018).
resultsBaseline loneliness was associated with greater EAA in the GrimAge measure net of demographic and behavioral covariates (β = 0.07, p = .003). Loneliness and GrimAge each predicted increasing condition counts, but there was no evidence of an interactive effect. The association between loneliness and increasing condition counts was, however, significantly mediated by GrimAge (indirect path β = 0.020, p = .003). DISCUSSION: These results suggest that the impact of loneliness on multimorbidity may, in part, operate through DNA methylation. The specific intermediary, physiological mechanisms that are involved will require further research, but EAA measures like GrimAge are promising in helping to understand the health impacts of loneliness.
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