The Statistical Ghost of Epigenetic Aging

A study by Hukkanen et al. has been recently published in Nat. Comm. which used demethylation and epigenetic clocks to suggest that women not having children can be subjected to an accelerated biological aging by about one year [1]. As scientists, we respect these early molecular findings; however, as human beings, we must ask: does this change how long a woman will actually live? Our analysis shows that this 1.0-year difference is virtually invisible when compared to the natural variety of human life. It explains less than 1.2% of survival outcomes. For any individual woman, the risk is statistically indistinguishable from a coin toss. Our goal is to ensure that personal life choices are not burdened by biological labels that have little impact on a person’s actual destiny.