Preprint · Jun 30, 2026
Unconditional cash transfers as an anti-aging program: Saliva epigenetic clocks in young-to-midlife mothers
By Sperber JF, Willems YE, Mitchell C et al.
Accelerated biological aging, as indicated by epigenetic clocks, is a robust predictor of health and well-being. While several clinical trials have demonstrated these clocks’ sensitivity to behavioral health interventions, little is known about how these indices respond to social assistance interventions. The Baby’s First Years study recently examined whether unconditional cash transfers to low-income mothers across the first few years of their child’s life caused differences in mother’s epigenetic clocks at 4 years postpartum. The present study will extend this work to examine if, after two additional years of cash gifts, treatment effects are found in mothers at 6 years postpartum. We will estimate the effect of the cash transfers on DunedinPACE, GrimAgeAccel, and PhenoAgeAccel in mothers, and test if these effects vary longitudinally with greater exposure to the cash gifts (i.e., 4 years vs. 6 years duration). We will also assess the associations among these epigenetic clocks and measures of maternal anthropomorphic and physical health, cognitive performance, and mental health at 6 years postpartum. The present document extends our previous clinical trial preregistration (identifier NCT03593356) to provide a detailed preprocessing pipeline and analysis plan for maternal DNA methylation data from the Age 6 wave of data collection.