Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40817994›Full record

ArticleBiogerontology2025

Cortisol, DHEAS, and the cortisol/DHEAS ratio as predictors of epigenetic age acceleration.

Rafaela S C Takeshita, Amber T Nguyen, Anthony P Auger, Wilson C J Chung

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biogerontology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Rafaela S C TakeshitaDepartment of Anthropology, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Dr, 231 Lowry Hall, Kent, OH, USA. rtakeshi@kent.edu.ORCID 0000-0003-1548-1735
Amber T NguyenDepartment of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA.ORCID 0009-0005-3173-4802
Anthony P AugerDepartment of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA.
Wilson C J ChungDepartment of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0550-7567

Funding

STATISTICS COREP01AG020166 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI RYFF, CAROL D. · 2002 to 2015
$50.6M
Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences 2123574NIA NIH HHS P01 AG020166
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cortisol has been widely used as biomarker of stress and aging, but confounding effects and disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis can lead to misinterpretation of results based on a single measurement. A possible alternative is the co-measurement of cortisol and the adrenal hormone dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS), a glucocorticoid antagonist that modulates the stress response. Using data from 969 individuals from the Midlife in the United States study, this study aimed to investigate the influence of age, sex, and self-identified biosocial group (SIBG) on DHEAS, cortisol, and the cortisol/DHEAS ratio, to test whether these hormones add predictive power to epigenetic age estimates, and to compare the performance of these three hormonal measures in predicting epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) using sex epigenetic clocks: Horvath, Horvath's skin & blood (Horvath2), Hannum, PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE. Our findings revealed that age, sex and SIBG significantly influenced all three hormonal measures. Controlling for these biodemographic factors, we found that the cortisol/DHEAS was the best predictor of epigenetic clocks. There was a significant and positive correlation between cortisol and Hannum epigenetic age, and between cortisol/DHEAS ratio in three out of the six clocks (Hannum, Horvath2, PhenoAge), but no significant associations between DHEAS and epigenetic age. The cortisol/DHEAS ratio also had a significant and positive correlation with Hannum EAA. DHEAS and cortisol were not significantly associated with EAA for any epigenetic clock. Our results reinforce the importance of co-measuring cortisol and DHEAS in studies investigating the effect of stress in aging processes.

Indexed as

AgingDehydroepiandrosterone SulfateEpigenesis, GeneticHydrocortisoneAdultAgedAge FactorsBiomarkersFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSex FactorsBiomarkersDehydroepiandrosterone SulfateHydrocortisoneAdrenal hormonesAging biomarkersDehydroepiandrosterone-sulfateDNA methylationEpigenetic clockStress response

Identifiers

PMID40817994
PMCPMC12357812

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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.