Genetics
Using self-organizing maps to investigate the relationship between psychosocial factors and epigenetic aging in the Hispanic Community Health Study Sarina Abrishamcar* Sarina Abrishamcar Grace Christensen Jasmine K. Aqua Christian Dye Rebecca Jones-Antwi Anke Huels Jianwen Cai Carmen R. Isasi Robert C. Kaplan Karen N. Conneely Shakira F. Suglia
Background: Evidence suggests that psychosocial stressors are associated with epigenetic age acceleration (EAA), where one’s predicted biological age based on DNA methylation (DNAm) exceeds their chronological age. While Hispanic/Latinos experience high rates of psychosocial stressors, most studies have been conducted in populations of European descent. Objective: We investigated whether exposure to multiple psychosocial factors is associated with longitudinal changes in EAA among 974 adults in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Methods: We utilized self-organizing maps (SOM), an unsupervised clustering method, to categorize participant exposure profiles and assess the joint effects of psychosocial factors (acculturation, discrimination, mental health, stressful life events, and low social support) on EAA. We measured DNAm from whole blood at two visits six years apart using the MethylationEPIC BeadChip and calculated EAA using the GrimAge clock and DunedinPACE (PACE) pace of aging biomarker. We used linear mixed-effect models to estimate the effect of exposure cluster on change in EAA across the two timepoints adjusting for age and gender. Results: The SOM algorithm identified four clusters of participants, with Cluster 1 containing the highest levels of all psychosocial factor exposure and Cluster 4 containing the lowest levels, relative to the other clusters. We found evidence of EAA across all exposure clusters. Compared to Cluster 4 participants, Cluster 1 participants had the highest GrimAge EAA and fastest PACE (β [95%CI]=1.22[0.51,1.93] years & 0.03[0.01,0.05], respectively), followed by Cluster 2 (0.65[0.03,1.27] years & 0.02[-0.004,0.03], respectively), and finally Cluster 3 (0.57[-0.06,1.20] years & 0.02[0.004,0.04], respectively). Conclusion: Exposure to multiple psychosocial stressors was associated with EAA over time, providing insight into how biological aging may contribute to health disparities among Hispanic/Latino populations.
