ArticlePloS one2025
Racial and ethnic differences in epigenetic aging: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Observational
- Social support and epigenetic aging at the intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender: findings from NHANES 1999-2002.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Methodological innovations in studying marginalized populations in research on neurodegeneration and ageing.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Review
- From population science to the clinic? Limits of epigenetic clocks as personal biomarkers.Epigenomics · 2025Article
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8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAccelerated biological aging due to differences in socially patterned exposures has been proposed as a mechanism underlying racial and ethnic disparities in morbidity and mortality. Research exploring this hypothesis has been limited by a lack of consensus regarding the measurement of biological aging.
objectiveThe goal of this study is to examine self-reported race and ethnicity as a predictor of 13 measures of epigenetic aging.
methodsData are from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002), a nationally representative study of US residents aged two months and older. The analytic sample includes 2,402 adults aged 50-84 with epigenetic data. The exposure is self-reported race and ethnicity, and the outcomes are 13 measures of epigenetic aging trained on different aging phenotypes.
resultsIn linear regression models controlling for age, age-squared, gender, and nativity, White respondents had higher epigenetic aging than Black respondents (the reference group) for six out of seven measures trained on chronological age (Hannum: b = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.43, 2.54; Horvath: b = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.09, 1.40; Weidner: b = 1.15, 95% CI = 0.30, 2.01; Vidal-Bralo: b = 2.30, 95% CI = 1.76, 2.84; SkinBlood: b = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.28, 1.43; Zhang: b = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.40, 0.76) and for one measure trained on telomere length (b = -0.17, 95% CI = -0.20, -0.14). In contrast, White respondents had lower epigenetic aging than Black respondents for three out of four measures trained on physiological age (GrimAge: b = -1.33, 95% CI = -2.01, -0.64; DunedinPoAm: b = -0.03, 95% CI = -0.04, -0.01; GrimAge2: b = -1.97, 95% CI = -2.74, -1.20) and for one measure trained on stem cell divisions (b = -0.01, 95% CI = -0.01, -0.01). Fewer differences in epigenetic aging were observed when comparing Mexican American, other Hispanic, and another race or ethnicity respondents to Black respondents.
conclusionsWhite respondents had higher epigenetic aging than Black respondents for measures trained on chronological age, whereas the opposite was true for measures trained on physiological age. More work is needed to validate measures of epigenetic aging in non-White populations and to determine whether these measures are associated with health-related outcomes similarly across racial and ethnic groups.
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