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Cells age prematurely in those with depression, study suggests - Livescience.com
Apr 08, 2021 1 min, 3 secs

People with major depression had accelerated cellular aging by an average of two years compared to healthy controls.

To figure this out, a group of researchers turned to so-called epigenetic clocks, which measure specific chemical changes in a person's DNA to estimate their biological or cellular age.

By tracking these chemical changes, scientists can also better understand whether a condition, such as depression, may be tied to accelerating cellular aging. .

In the new study, the researchers looked for specific patterns of methylation that have previously been linked to mortality, a measure known as "GrimAge,"using blood samples from 49 people with major depressive disorder who weren't being treated with medication, and from 60 healthy controls of the same age.

Even though people with major depression did not have physical signs of accelerated aging, they had greater GrimAge compared to their chronological age.

In other words, they had accelerated cellular aging by an average of two years compared to healthy controls. .

But it's not yet clear if depression causes changes in methylation in some people, or if depression and methylation are both related to some other underlying factor in the body, according to the statement.

Now, the researchers hope to determine whether treatments or therapy can prevent methylation changes that accelerate cellular aging. 

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