Summary: Untreated obstructive sleep apnea can accelerate biological aging, but treating OSA can slow or even reverse the process.
Source: University of Missouri
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects 22 million people in the U.S. and is linked to a higher risk of hypertension, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and many other chronic conditions. But now researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have found that untreated OSA also accelerates the biological aging process and that appropriate treatment can slow or possibly reverse the trend.
Age acceleration testing involves a blood test that analyzes DNA and uses an algorithm to measure a person’s biological age. The phenomenon of a person’s biological age surpassing their chronological age is called “epigenetic age acceleration,” and is linked to overall mortality and to chronic diseases.
“Age acceleration isn’t unique to OSA—it can be caused by a variety of environmental factors like smoking, poor diet or pollution,” said Rene Cortese, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Child Health and the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health. “In Western culture, it’s not uncommon for people to experience epigenetic age acceleration, but we wanted to know how OSA affects systemic age acceleration compared to those who don’t suffer from this condition.”
Cortese’s team studied 16 adult nonsmokers who were diagnosed with OSA and compared them to eight control subjects without the condition to assess the impact of OSA on epigenetic age acceleration over a one-year period. After a baseline blood test, the OSA group received continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment for one year before being tested again.
“Our results found that OSA-induced sleep disruptions and lower oxygen levels during sleep promoted faster biological age acceleration compared to the control group,” Cortese said.
“However, the OSA patients who adhered to CPAP showed a deceleration of the epigenetic age, while the age acceleration trends did not change for the control group. Our results suggest that biological age acceleration is at least partially reversible when effective treatment of OSA is implemented.”
Cortese said the key to CPAP’s success in slowing age acceleration is strong adherence to using the device for at least four hours per night. It’s not clear how age acceleration will affect clinical outcomes and how it applies to other risk groups or children with OSA.
“Since children with OSA are treated differently from adults, this research raises a lot of questions,” Cortese said. “We need to learn more about the mechanisms and the biology behind these findings. It’s very exciting and thought-provoking research.”
About this aging and sleep research news
Author: Press Office
Source: University of Missouri
Contact: Press Office – University of Missouri
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Original Research: Closed access.
“Epigenetic age acceleration in obstructive sleep apnea is reversible with adherent treatment” by Rene Cortese et al. European Respiratory Journal
Abstract
Epigenetic age acceleration in obstructive sleep apnea is reversible with adherent treatment
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) leads to activation and propagation of oxidative stress and systemic inflammatory pathways, essentially mimicking accelerated biological aging (senescence).
Biological aging is a complex and time-dependent deterioration of physiological processes with attendant morbidity and mortality. During aging there is continuous and accelerated accumulation of epigenetic changes manifesting either systemically or restricted to a specific tissue/cell type.
Epigenetic Clocks or DNA Methylation Clocks, have emerged as valuable biological age prediction tools. By regressing DNA methylation age on chronological age, epigenetic clocks can determine whether biological age acceleration occurs in certain diseases or in response to environmental factors.
Using this approach, age acceleration measurements in blood were abnormally high in the context of common conditions such as obesity, neurological diseases, and cigarette smoking.
