DNA-based aging clocks track death risk in heart failure
In an observational study of 2,594 heart failure patients followed for three years, blood tests measuring biological age improved death risk prediction beyond clinical tools.
Multicenter
Limit: Did not record causes of death
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational cohort study, researchers analyzed 2,594 patients with established heart failure who had an average age of 63 years and were 34 percent female. The participants came from the Global Congestive Heart Failure study. Researchers analyzed chemical tags on DNA, called DNA methylation, from baseline blood samples. They derived 11 trait-specific scores and five epigenetic aging clocks, which measure biological age.
During a median follow-up of three years, 565 patients died from any cause. Several aging clocks and DNA scores were independently associated with death after adjusting for age, sex, ancestry, and clinical risk. Having five or more extreme scores was linked to a 2.70-fold higher risk of death. A combined epigenetic model improved death predictions beyond a standard clinical risk score, particularly in patients from low-income countries.
Why it matters
Heart failure is an age-related condition that varies widely among individuals of the same chronological age. Profiling biological age through DNA marks may help doctors identify vulnerable patients who conventional clinical tools overlook.
Caveats
Because the study was observational, it can show associations between epigenetic markers and mortality but cannot determine whether accelerated biological aging caused the deaths. The findings were reported in a conference abstract and apply only to people diagnosed with heart failure.
The paper
Epigenetic scores and aging clocks capture mortality risk in heart failure
Population Health Research Institute
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
