Epigenetic clocks and research implications of the lack of data on whom they have been developed: a review of reported and missing sociodemographic characteristics.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic clocks are increasingly being used as a tool to assess the impact of a wide variety of phenotypes and exposures on healthy ageing, with a recent focus on social determinants of health. However, little attention has been paid to the sociodemographic characteristics of participants on whom these clocks have been based. Participant characteristics are important because sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors are known to be associated with both DNA methylation variation and healthy ageing. It is also well known that machine learning algorithms have the potential to exacerbate health inequities through the use of unrepresentative samples - prediction models may underperform in social groups that were poorly represented in the training data used to construct the model. To address

SUBMITTER: Watkins SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10411856 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature