A frequent mental disease called depression results in a constant feeling of melancholy and a loss of interest in activities. It can impact how you feel, think, and act and cause several emotional and physical issues. According to a recent study performed by experts at McMaster University, experiencing depression and living in a poor urban neighborhood may cause you to age more quickly.
Eurek Alert reported that the results, which were reported on June 5 in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, demonstrated that having depressive symptoms and residing in urban areas with high levels of material and social inequality were both independently associated with premature biological ageing.
This was true even after taking into account behavioural and health risk factors at the level of the individual, such as chronic illnesses and unhealthy habits.
The research team was led by Parminder Raina, a professor in McMaster University’s Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact. Other team members came from the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.
“To examine aging at the cellular level and calculate the discrepancy between chronological age and biological age, our study used two DNA methylation-based estimators, known as epigenetic clocks,” said Divya Joshi, the study’s first author and a research associate in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster.
“Our results demonstrated a favorable relationship between neighborhood deprivation and depression symptoms and an acceleration of the epigenetic age calculated using the DNAm GrimAge clock.
This supports the mounting evidence that living in metropolitan areas with more excellent rates of neighborhood impoverishment and experiencing symptoms of depression are both linked to early biological aging.
A 10-item standardized depression scale was used in the study to assess depressive symptoms. For every additional point on the scale of depressed symptoms, the researchers discovered an acceleration in the probability of death of one month.
They postulated that the emotional anguish brought on by depression might promote more biological deterioration and physiological system dysregulation, which could result in early aging.
Using two indices created by the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) based on the 2011 census, the researchers evaluated the material and social deprivation of the community. Material deprivation indicates that people lack access to modern conveniences like decent housing, wholesome food, a car, high-speed internet, or a neighborhood with recreational amenities.
Social deprivation reflects the lack of social resources in the family and community. Compared to individuals exposed to lesser neighborhood deprivation, the researchers discovered an almost one-year increase in the chance of death. The study did not uncover evidence that affluence in the neighborhood increased the impact of depressed symptoms on the acceleration of epigenetic aging.
“Our results showed that the effect of neighborhood deprivation on epigenetic age acceleration was similar regardless of depression symptoms, suggesting that depression influences epigenetic age acceleration through mechanisms unrelated to neighborhood deprivation,” Joshi said.
The study looked at epigenetic information from 1,445 participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Ageing (CLSA), a platform for research that has tracked more than 50,000 people from 45 to 85 years old at the time of recruitment.
“Longitudinal studies, like the CLSA, are important to confirm associations like those found in this study,” said Raina, the paper’s senior author, and the CLSA’s lead principal investigator.
We will assess whether epigenetic changes are persistent or reversible over time by monitoring the same set of individuals throughout 20 years. We will also learn more about the processes causing rapid epigenetic aging.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canada Foundation for Innovation support the CLSA on behalf of the Canadian government. The European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme contributed additional funding for this project.
A frequent mental disease called depression results in a constant feeling of melancholy and a loss of interest in activities. It can impact how you feel, think, and act and cause several emotional and physical issues. According to a recent study performed by experts at McMaster University, experiencing depression and living in a poor urban neighborhood may cause you to age more quickly.
Eurek Alert reported that the results, which were reported on June 5 in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, demonstrated that having depressive symptoms and residing in urban areas with high levels of material and social inequality were both independently associated with premature biological ageing.
This was true even after taking into account behavioural and health risk factors at the level of the individual, such as chronic illnesses and unhealthy habits.
The research team was led by Parminder Raina, a professor in McMaster University’s Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact. Other team members came from the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.
“To examine aging at the cellular level and calculate the discrepancy between chronological age and biological age, our study used two DNA methylation-based estimators, known as epigenetic clocks,” said Divya Joshi, the study’s first author and a research associate in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster.
“Our results demonstrated a favorable relationship between neighborhood deprivation and depression symptoms and an acceleration of the epigenetic age calculated using the DNAm GrimAge clock.
This supports the mounting evidence that living in metropolitan areas with more excellent rates of neighborhood impoverishment and experiencing symptoms of depression are both linked to early biological aging.
A 10-item standardized depression scale was used in the study to assess depressive symptoms. For every additional point on the scale of depressed symptoms, the researchers discovered an acceleration in the probability of death of one month.
They postulated that the emotional anguish brought on by depression might promote more biological deterioration and physiological system dysregulation, which could result in early aging.
Using two indices created by the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) based on the 2011 census, the researchers evaluated the material and social deprivation of the community. Material deprivation indicates that people lack access to modern conveniences like decent housing, wholesome food, a car, high-speed internet, or a neighborhood with recreational amenities.
Social deprivation reflects the lack of social resources in the family and community. Compared to individuals exposed to lesser neighborhood deprivation, the researchers discovered an almost one-year increase in the chance of death. The study did not uncover evidence that affluence in the neighborhood increased the impact of depressed symptoms on the acceleration of epigenetic aging.
“Our results showed that the effect of neighborhood deprivation on epigenetic age acceleration was similar regardless of depression symptoms, suggesting that depression influences epigenetic age acceleration through mechanisms unrelated to neighborhood deprivation,” Joshi said.
The study looked at epigenetic information from 1,445 participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Ageing (CLSA), a platform for research that has tracked more than 50,000 people from 45 to 85 years old at the time of recruitment.
“Longitudinal studies, like the CLSA, are important to confirm associations like those found in this study,” said Raina, the paper’s senior author, and the CLSA’s lead principal investigator.
We will assess whether epigenetic changes are persistent or reversible over time by monitoring the same set of individuals throughout 20 years. We will also learn more about the processes causing rapid epigenetic aging.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canada Foundation for Innovation support the CLSA on behalf of the Canadian government. The European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme contributed additional funding for this project.
