Pregnancy can accelerate biological aging in women, a study has found.
Scientists at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York examined the reproductive histories and DNA samples of 1,735 people in the Longitudinal Health Study in the Philippines to investigate the effects of pregnancy on the aging process.
They determined the participants' biological ages using six different “epigenetic clocks,” genetic tools that estimate biological age based on patterns in a process called DNA methylation. I did.
The study of 825 young women found that each time a woman reported a pregnancy, it was associated with an additional 2-3 months of biological aging, and more frequently during a 6-year follow-up period. Women who reported being pregnant were found to have a greater increase in biological aging. In the meantime, it will get old.
The association between pregnancy and biological aging persisted even when the authors took into account socioeconomic status, smoking, genetic diversity, and the built environment around the participants.
The authors found no association between increased biological aging and the number of pregnancies delivered by 910 men of the same age from the same health study.
The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Karen Ryan, lead author of the study and associate research scientist at the Columbia Center on Aging, said: “Our findings demonstrate that pregnancy accelerates biological aging and that these effects are important for young and fertile women. “This suggests that it is more obvious to women.” Our results are also the first to follow the same women over time and relate changes in each woman's number of pregnancies to changes in biological age. ”
Ryan highlighted the background, saying, “Many of the pregnancies reported in our baseline measurements occurred during late adolescence, when women were still in the growth phase. We anticipate that this will be particularly difficult for mothers in their early stages of life, especially when they have limited access to medical care, resources, and other supports.”
He added: “There is still much to learn about the role of pregnancy and other aspects of reproduction in the aging process. We also believe that accelerated epigenetic aging in these particular individuals may lead to poor health outcomes decades later.” We also don't know to what extent this will manifest as deterioration or death.”
