title: Long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with biological aging.
abstract: Long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with age-related diseases. We explored the association between accelerated biological aging and air pollution, a potential mechanism linking air pollution and health. We estimated long-term exposure to PM10, PM2.5, PM2.5 absorbance/black carbon (BC), and NOx via land-use regression models in individuals from the KORA F4 cohort. Accelerated biological aging was assessed using telomere length (TeloAA) and three epigenetic measures: DNA methylation age acceleration (DNAmAA), extrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (correlated with immune cell counts, EEAA), and intrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (independent of immune cell counts, IEAA). We also investigated sex-specific associations between air pollution and biological aging, given the published association between sex and aging measures. In KORA an interquartile range (0.97 µg/m3) increase in PM2.5 was associated with a 0.33 y increase in EEAA (CI = 0.01, 0.64; P = 0.04). BC and NOx (indicators or traffic exposure) were associated with DNAmAA and IEAA in women, while TeloAA was inversely associated with BC in men. We replicated this inverse BC-TeloAA association in the Normative Aging Study, a male cohort based in the USA. A multiple phenotype analysis in KORA F4 combining all aging measures showed that BC and PM10 were broadly associated with biological aging in men. Thus, we conclude that long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with biological aging measures, potentially in a sex-specific manner. However, many of the associations were relatively weak and further replication of overall and sex-specific associations is warranted.
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.
authors: Cavin K
authors: CK
authors: Ward-Caviness
authors: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Jamaji C
authors: JC
authors: Nwanaji-Enwerem
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.
authors: Kathrin
authors: K
authors: Wolf
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.|Research Unit Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.
authors: Simone
authors: S
authors: Wahl
authors: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Colicino
authors: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Letizia
authors: L
authors: Trevisi
authors: Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Itai
authors: I
authors: Kloog
authors: Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Allan C
authors: AC
authors: Just
authors: VA Normative Aging Study, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and the Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Pantel
authors: P
authors: Vokonas
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.
authors: Josef
authors: J
authors: Cyrys
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.|Research Unit Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Gieger
authors: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Joel
authors: J
authors: Schwartz
authors: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Andrea A
authors: AA
authors: Baccarelli
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.
authors: Alexandra
authors: A
authors: Schneider
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Bavaria, Germany.
authors: Annette
authors: A
authors: Peters
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D052638:Particulate Matter; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter
keywords: Gerotarget; air pollution; biological aging; black carbon; epigenetic aging; telomere length