ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2025
Does volunteering reduce epigenetic age acceleration among retired and working older adults? Results from the Health and Retirement Study.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Health benefits and harms of older adult volunteering: mixed methods systematic review.The Gerontologist · 2026Pooled it
- Prosocial helping behaviors attenuate accelerated cognitive decline driven by APOE ε4.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Voting behavior and mortality risk in older adults: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Survival of Open Versus Thoracoscopic Esophagectomy for Esophageal Squamous Cell Cancer by Tumor Location: An Energy Balancing Weights Analysis.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- First-generation versus next-generation epigenetic aging clocks: Differences in performance and utility.Biogerontology · 2025Review
- The Interplay Between Biological Aging and Volunteering Engagement in Predicting Cognitive Performance: Evidence From the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe current study aims to explore the relationship between the frequency of volunteering and biological aging, as measured by epigenetic age acceleration. It also investigates whether this relationship differs between retired and working older adults. Understanding this connection could inform interventions promoting healthy aging and reducing age-related chronic health conditions.
methodData were derived from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), including pre-treatment covariates (2012), volunteer frequency and work status (2014), and five DNA methylation measures (2016) (N = 2,605). Generalized linear models were estimated to examine the relationship between volunteering and epigenetic age acceleration, stratified by retirement status. The analyses adjusted for relevant covariates and utilized energy balancing weights to account for selection into volunteering.
resultsFindings show that volunteering, especially for 1-49 h per year and 200+ hours per year, was linked to less epigenetic age acceleration, with significant effects on DNA methylation measures PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE clocks. Among retired individuals, moderate volunteering was significantly associated with decelerated epigenetic age acceleration, indicating greater benefits for retirees compared to working individuals.
conclusionsThe study found that frequent volunteering may lead to decelerated epigenetic aging, potentially offering a public health intervention to enhance health and quality of life among older adults. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to understand how volunteering might differentially impact retired and working individuals. Such insights could guide the development of targeted strategies to promote healthy aging and address age-related health disparities.
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