Childhood sleep health and epigenetic age acceleration in late adolescence: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses

Authors

David Balfour
Phillip E. Melton
Joanne A. McVeigh
Rae-Chi Huang, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Peter R. Eastwood
Sian Wanstall
Amy C. Reynolds
Sarah Cohen-Woods

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Acta Paediatrica, International Journal of Paediatrics

Volume

112

Issue

5

First Page

1001

Last Page

1010

PubMed ID

36808764

Publisher

Wiley

School

Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute

RAS ID

56597

Funders

Flinders University. Grant Number: Research Co-investment Strategy / National Health and Medical Research Council / Raine Medical Research Foundation

Grant Number

NHMRC Numbers : 003209, 1059711, 211912, 353514, 403981

Comments

Balfour, D., Melton, P. E., McVeigh, J. A., Huang, R. C., Eastwood, P. R., Wanstall, S., ... & Cohen‐Woods, S. (2023). Childhood sleep health and epigenetic age acceleration in late adolescence: Cross‐sectional and longitudinal analyses. Acta Paediatrica, 112(5), 1001-1010. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.16719

Abstract

Aim: Investigate if childhood measures of sleep health are associated with epigenetic age acceleration in late adolescence. Methods: Parent-reported sleep trajectories from age 5 to 17, self-reported sleep problems at age 17, and six measures of epigenetic age acceleration at age 17 were studied in 1192 young Australians from the Raine Study Gen2. Results: There was no evidence for a relationship between the parent-reported sleep trajectories and epigenetic age acceleration (p ≥ 0.17). There was a positive cross-sectional relationship between self-reported sleep problem score and intrinsic epigenetic age acceleration at age 17 (b = 0.14, p = 0.04), which was attenuated after controlling for depressive symptom score at the same age (b = 0.08, p = 0.34). Follow-up analyses suggested this finding may represent greater overtiredness and intrinsic epigenetic age acceleration in adolescents with higher depressive symptoms. Conclusion: There was no evidence for a relationship between self- or parent-reported sleep health and epigenetic age acceleration in late adolescence after adjusting for depressive symptoms. Mental health should be considered as a potential confounding variable in future research on sleep and epigenetic age acceleration, particularly if subjective measures of sleep are used.

DOI

10.1111/apa.16719

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.