Early resilience and epigenetic ageing : Results from the prospective Young Finns Study with a 31‐year follow‐up
: Saarinen, Aino; Marttila, Saara; Mishra, Pashupati P.; Lyytikäinen, Leo‐Pekka; Mishra, Binisha Hamal; Raitoharju, Emma; Mononen, Nina; Kähönen, Mika; Raitakari, Olli; Lehtimäki, Terho; Keltikangas‐Järvinen, Liisa
Publisher: Wiley
: 2024
: Aging Cell
: Aging Cell
: e14394
: 1474-9718
: 1474-9726
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.14394(external)
: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acel.14394(external)
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/458921368(external)
Evidence is accumulating on the connection of early adversities and harsh family environment with epigenetic ageing. We investigated whether early psychosocial resilience is associated with epigenetic ageing in adulthood. We used the population-based Young Finns data (n = 1593). Early psychosocial resilience was assessed in 1980-1989 across five broad domains: (1) index of psychological strength (self-esteem at home/in general/at school, perceived possibilities to influence at home, internal life control), (2) index of social satisfaction (perceived support from family/friends and life satisfaction), (3) index of leisure time activities (hobbies and physical fitness), (4) index of responsible health behaviors (infrequent smoking or alcohol consumption), and (5) index of school career (school grades and adaptation). Epigenetic ages were calculated for blood samples from 2011, and the analyses were performed with variables describing age deviation (AgeDevHannum, AgeDevHorvath, AgeDevPheno, AgeDevGrim) and DunedinPACE. Covariates included early family environment, polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia and major depression, adulthood education, and adulthood health behaviors. All of the early resilience indexes were associated with lower levels of epigenetic ageing in adulthood, most consistently with AgeDevGrim and DunedinPACE. The associations of psychological strength and social satisfaction, in particular, seemed to be non-linear. In a smaller subsample (n = 289), high early resilience was related to lower AgeDevGrim over a 25-year follow-up in those who had high "baseline" levels of AgeDevGrim. In conclusion, early resilience seems to associate with lower level of epigenetic ageing in adulthood. Our results tentatively suggest that early resilience may increase "equality in epigenetic ageing" in a general population.
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The Young Finns Study has been financially supported by the Academy of Finland: grants 356405, 322098, 286284, 134309 (Eye), 126925, 121584, 124282, 129378 (Salve), 117797 (Gendi), and 141071 (Skidi); the Social Insurance Institution of Finland; Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility area of Kuopio, Tampere and Turku University Hospitals (grant X51001); Juho Vainio Foundation; Paavo Nurmi Foundation; Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research; Finnish Cultural Foundation; The Sigrid Juselius Foundation; Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation; Emil Aaltonen Foundation; Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation; Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation; Diabetes Research Foundation of Finnish Diabetes Association; EU Horizon 2020 (grant 755320 for TAXINOMISIS and grant 848146 for To Aition); European Research Council (grant 742927 for MULTIEPIGEN project); Tampere University Hospital Supporting Foundation; Finnish Society of Clinical Chemistry; the Cancer Foundation Finland; pBETTER4U_EU (Preventing obesity through Biologically and bEhaviorally Tailored inTERventions for you; project number: 101080117); CVDLink (EU grant nro. 101137278) and the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. Pashupati P. Mishra was supported by the Academy of Finland (grant 349708) and Emma Raitoharju by the Academy of Finland (grants 330809 and 338395).