Black Americans With Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Demonstrate Accelerated Epigenetic Pace of Aging Compared to Black Americans Without SCD.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic medical condition characterized by red blood cell sickling, vaso-occlusion, hemolytic anemia, and subsequently, end-organ damage and reduced survival. Because of this significant pathophysiology and early mortality, we hypothesized that patients with SCD are experiencing accelerated biological aging compared with individuals without SCD.

Methods

We utilized the DunedinPACE measure to compare the epigenetic pace of aging in 131 Black Americans with SCD to 1391 Black American veterans without SCD.

Results

SCD patients displayed a significantly accelerated pace of aging (DunedinPACE mean difference of 0.057 points) compared with the veterans without SCD, whereby SCD patients were aging ≈0.7 months more per year than those

SUBMITTER: Garrett ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11511909 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature