Pandemic linked to faster DNA-based aging in UK adults
A blood-based aging measure rose during 2020–2021 (adjusted estimate 0.99); infected and uninfected participants showed no detectable difference.
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Cohort study of 129 UK twins, approximately 11 months, against pre-pandemic cohort participants
- What changed:
- DNA-based aging accelerated during the pandemic, while a separate pre-pandemic cohort showed slight slowing
- The catch:
- Differences in geography and cohort structure could explain the contrast with pre-pandemic participants
- In the record:
- The 92nd paper on sars-cov-2 infection with results in people; 176 on record in all.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Among 129 TwinsUK participants with paired blood DNA profiles, an observational study assessed DNA-based aging from spring 2020 to spring 2021, about 11 months apart. The wider cohort was predominantly female (86.9%), with a mean age of 50.7 in 2020.
The researchers measured DNA methylation, chemical marks on DNA, and used GrimAge, an aging measure based on those marks. Its measure of aging beyond calendar age increased after adjustments for biological and technical factors. The researchers detected no difference between infected and uninfected participants, or between recent and more distant coronavirus infections. A separate pre-pandemic comparison followed 35 Nurses’ Health Study II participants over a similar period and did not show the same acceleration.
Why it matters
Blood DNA patterns offer one way to investigate how the pandemic may relate to aging beyond the effects of infection itself.
Caveats
The pre-pandemic comparison used a different cohort, so differences between the groups could have contributed to the contrast. The increase was not detected separately in the 46 participants infected before spring 2020.
From the paper
- Participants
The cohort comprised 137 TwinsUK research participants with blood-derived DNA samples and serology data collected in both Spring 2020 and Spring 2021.
Quoted word for word from the full text on PubMed Central.
The paper
King's College London
Clinical Epigenetics, May 26, 2026, Open access
Comments
Be the first to comment.