Extreme heat can accelerate biological aging in older people

Extreme heat seems to accelerate biological aging in the elderly, suggesting that it could increase the risk of age -related slides.

“This is one of the first major studies that connect long -term heat exposure to biological aging in humans,” says Eun Young Choi at the University of Southern California. “Older adults living in areas with more extreme hot days, age biologically fast than those in cooler regions.”

Choi and her colleagues analysis of genetic data extracted from blood test collection of other researchers in 2006-7 from 3600 people across the United States. Everyone was 56 years old and over at the time.

The biological ages of each participant Estimated each participant by the help of so -called epigenetic watches that set up to look at patterns of chemical tags called methyl groups on DNA. These patterns change as we grow older and such changes have been linked to age -related diseases.

The researchers also examined daily air -temp that readings taken within a few kilometers from where the participants lived in the six years before blood tests were taken.

They found that participants at exhibitions for daily maximum temperatures of at least 32.2 ° C (90 ℉) during the six -year period, where participants at exhibitions for daily maximum temperatures of at least 32.2 ° C (90 ℉) were up to 3.5 months older than those in cooler areas. This number varied depending on which clock was used.

“This points out that heat exposure increases the speed of biological aging,” says Austin Argentieri at Harvard University, who was involved in the study.

Previous studies of people in Taiwan and Germany have also found a connection between extreme heat exposure and biological aging.

But epigenetic watches do not perfectly capture the aging process or people’s risk of illness, Argentieri says. “More work that can be taken both an exhibition for extreme warmth, biological aging from these watches and influence on age -related slides, mortality or life itself would really help drive home what we need to remove from this.”

In addition, the study does not draw access to air conditioning or how long participants spent outdoors, which would change their personal exposure to heat, Argentieri says. The team controlled for other factors such as age, gender, race, wealth, ethnicity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, obesity and physical activity.

Further studies should investigate whether the results are translated into younger people, or those living in different countries where humans may have different approaches to keep cool, Argentieri says.

Pinpoining, which is most at risk of aging faster due to extreme heat, can help politicians develop and deploy measures to protect them, he says.