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Author Notes:

Corresponding Author: Tanja Jovanovic, Email: tjovano@emory.edu

All authors contributed significantly to the work.

T.J. wrote the first draft of the manuscript and edited the final version, provided funding for the study, designed the startle experiment, trained staff to collect data, and completed the statistical analyses.

A.V. collected and analyzed physiological and clinical data from the participants and was responsible for subject recruitment and testing.

D.C. was involved in assessment of trauma history in the children and data management.

A.K.K. and V.K. were responsible for DNA extraction and methylation analyses.

V.M. was responsible for collection and management of saliva samples from participants and provided funding for the study.

T.K. contributed to epigenetic analyses and writing of the first draft.

A.K.S. contributed to writing of the manuscript, methylation training and supervision of the research staff, and provided funding support.

All authors reviewed the manuscript.

We thank Rebecca Hinrichs, Angelo Brown, and the Grady Trauma Project staff for their assistance with participant recruitment and data collection.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Subjects:

Research Funding:

This work was supported by funding from NIH (R01 MH100122, R01 HD071982, K12 HD085850 and R21MH106902), and NARSAD awards from Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.

Keywords:

  • Science & Technology
  • Multidisciplinary Sciences
  • Science & Technology - Other Topics
  • POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER
  • HEART-RATE-VARIABILITY
  • METHYLATION
  • RESPONSES
  • PTSD
  • AGE
  • CHILDHOOD
  • DIAGNOSIS
  • PROFILES
  • VETERANS

Exposure to Violence Accelerates Epigenetic Aging in Children

Tools:

Journal Title:

Scientific Reports

Volume:

Volume 7, Number 1

Publisher:

, Pages 8962-8962

Type of Work:

Article | Final Publisher PDF

Abstract:

Epigenetic processes, including DNA methylation, change reliably with age across the lifespan, such that DNA methylation can be used as an "epigenetic clock". This epigenetic clock can be used to predict age and age acceleration, which occurs when methylation-based prediction of age exceeds chronological age and has been associated with increased mortality. In the current study we examined epigenetic age acceleration using saliva samples collected from children between ages 6-13 (N = 101). Children's exposure to neighborhood violence and heart rate during a stressful task were assessed. Age acceleration was associated with children's direct experience of violence (p = 0.004) and with decreased heart rate (p = 0.002). Children who were predicted to be older than their chronological age had twice as much violence exposure as other children and their heart rate was similar to that of adults. The results remained significant after controlling for demographic variables, such as sex, income and education. This is the first study to show the effects of direct violence exposure on epigenetic aging in children using salivary DNA. Although longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether accelerated epigenetic aging leads to adverse health outcomes later in life, these data point to DNA methylation during childhood as a putative biological mechanism.

Copyright information:

© 2017 The Author(s).

This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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