Adolescent Biological Aging Linked to Obesity, Inflammation, and Future Heart Risk

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. While traditional risk factors like obesity and inflammation are well-established, the early life origins of these risks, particularly during adolescence, are less understood. This study investigates whether accelerated biological aging, measured epigenetically, in adolescents predicts later-life cardiovascular risk factors.

The study found a significant association between epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) in adolescence and adverse health outcomes later in life. Adolescents with higher EAA showed a 25% greater likelihood of having elevated BMI in middle age. Furthermore, EAA was positively correlated with markers of inflammation, with a 1.8-fold increase in C-reactive protein levels for every 1-year increase in EAA. > The most striking finding was that each 1-year increase in adolescent EAA was associated with a 15% higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk score in middle age (p<0.001), independent of chronological age. This suggests that biological aging outpaces chronological aging in some adolescents, predisposing them to greater metabolic and cardiovascular burdens. The associations remained significant even after adjusting for traditional risk factors, indicating EAA as an independent predictor.