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Journal article
Use of incorrect and correct methods to account for age in studies on epigenetic accelerated aging: implications and recommendations for best practices
American journal of epidemiology
30 Jan 2023
PMID: 36721372
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Motivated by our conduct of a literature review on social exposures and accelerated aging as measured by a growing number of epigenetic "clocks" (which estimate age via DNA methylation patterns (DNAm)), we report on three different approaches - 1 incorrect and 2 correct - in the epidemiologic literature on treatment of age in these and other studies using other common exposures (i.e., body mass index and alcohol consumption). Among the 50 empirical articles reviewed, the majority (n = 29; 58%) used the incorrect method of analyzing accelerated aging detrended for age as the outcome and did not control for age as a covariate. By contrast, only 42% used the correct methods, which are either to analyze accelerated aging detrended for age as the outcome and control for age as a covariate (n = 16; 32%), or to analyze raw DNAm age as the outcome and control for age as a covariate (n = 5; 10%). In accord with prior demonstrations of bias introduced by the incorrect approach, we provide simulation analyses and additional empirical analyses to illustrate how the incorrect method can lead to bias to the null, and we discuss implications for extant research and recommendations for best practices.
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Details
- Title
- Use of incorrect and correct methods to account for age in studies on epigenetic accelerated aging: implications and recommendations for best practices
- Creators
- Nancy Krieger (Corresponding Author) - Harvard UniversityJarvis T Chen - Harvard UniversityChristian Testa - Harvard UniversityAna Diez Roux - Drexel UniversityKate Tilling - University of BristolSarah Watkins - University of BristolAndrew J Simpkin - Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of GalwayMatthew Suderman - University of BristolGeorge Davey Smith - University of BristolImmaculata De Vivo - Harvard UniversityPamela D Waterman - Harvard UniversityCaroline Relton - University of Bristol
- Publication Details
- American journal of epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Urban Health Collaborative; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000955119500001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85159553778
- Other Identifier
- 991020112137504721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health