Accelerated Epigenetic Aging and Incident Atrial Fibrillation: New Outlook on an Immutable Risk Factor?
Cavin Ward‐Caviness
Abstract
hronological age might be the most common health predictor, but are measures of aging built on molecular changes better predictors of health than chronological age alone? Epigenetics refers to the biological mechanisms that control gene transcription and cellular state without changing the underlying genetic code. Epigenetic aging biomarkers allow researchers to interrogate the aging process from a biological, as opposed to a chronological, perspective and to understand aging-related health risks using epigenetic features such as DNA methylation. Epigenetic aging biomarkers are associated with a range of health outcomes including cancer, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and lung function. One of the primary goals of research involving all aging biomarkers is to translate chronological age-related risks (which are unmodifiable) into biological aging-related risks that are grounded in biological processes that may be modifiable or even reversible. In this article, 3 the authors seek to translate the unmodifiable risks of chronological age for incident atrial fibrillation (AF) into modifiable risks using DNA methylation age, ie, biological age as estimated by DNA methylation loci, which may be reversible under certain interventions, 4 giving it significant clinical and public health benefits.