Experiencing the death of a family member may age you faster
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.
Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.
People: This is a study based on research using people.
Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.
People: This is a study based on research using people.
People who have experienced the death of a partner or family member may be ageing faster than the rest of us, and the more losses you've experienced, the faster you seem to age, according to US research. The study found that among US adults aged 33 to 44 years, having experiences of loss was linked to having an older biological age and a faster pace of ageing as measured by changes to DNA known as epigenetic clocks. They also found that people who had experienced multiple losses by this age were ageing even faster. The researchers say that this accelerated biological ageing may be a key way that experiencing the death of a family member impacts our health later in life.
Funder: This project was funded by the NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
(grant No. R01MD013349 to Drs Aiello and Harris). This research uses data from Add Health, funded by grant No.
P01 HD31921 to Dr Harris from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal
agencies and foundations. Add Health is currently directed by Dr Hummer and funded by the National Institute
on Aging cooperative agreements (No. U01 AG071448 to Dr Hummer and No. U01AG071450 to Drs Aiello and
Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Columbia University. Add Health was designed by
J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Dr Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr Belsky is a
fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Childhood Brain Development Network. Dr Mishra was
supported by grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD of the NIH (Nos. F32HD103400 and P2CHD050924
to the Carolina Population Center) during the conduct of the study
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