Journal of Hazardous Materials · Nov 13, 2024

Association between wildfire-related PM2.5 and epigenetic aging: A twin and family study in Australia

By Wu Y, Xu R, Li S et al.

Wildfire-related PM2.5 has been associated with various adverse health outcomes, but its association with epigenetic aging remains unclear. This study examined the association between wildfire-related PM2.5 exposure and epigenetic aging using DNA methylation data from a twin and family study. With a within-sibship analysis, we found that each 1 µg/m³ increase in annual wildfire-related PM2.5 was associated with a 0.25-year (95 % CI: 0.04, 0.47) increase in GrimAge1 acceleration and a 0.36-year (95 % CI: 0.12, 0.59) increase in GrimAge2 acceleration. Subgroup analyses found that participants aged ≥ 60 years, those with a history of current or former smoking and alcohol consumption, and those living in rural regions exhibited more pronounced epigenetic age acceleration. These findings suggest that wildfire smoke could accelerate biological aging, particularly in vulnerable populations, posing a significant challenge to healthy aging.

doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136486Open accessPubMed 39566450Populations