Physical activity and DNA methylation–based markers of ageing in 6208 middle-aged and older Australians: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses

HT Zheng; DL Li; MWC Lou; AM Hodge; MC Southey; GG Giles; RL Milne; BM Lynch; PA Dugué

Journal article

Physical activity and DNA methylation–based markers of ageing in 6208 middle-aged and older Australians: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses

HT Zheng, DL Li, MWC Lou, AM Hodge, MC Southey, GG Giles, RL Milne, BM Lynch, PA Dugué

Geroscience | SPRINGER | Published : 2025

DOI: 10.1007/s11357-024-01408-5

Download PDF

Abstract

Epigenetic age quantifies biological age using DNA methylation information and is a potential pathway by which physical activity benefits general health. We aimed to assess the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between physical activity and epigenetic age in middle-aged and older Australians. Blood DNA methylation data for 6208 participants (40% female) in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS) were available at baseline (1990–1994, mean age, 59 years) and, of those, for 1009 at follow-up (2003–2007, mean age, 69 years). Physical activity measurements (weighted scores at baseline and follow-up and total MET hours per week at follow-up) were calculated from self-reported ..

View full abstract

University of Melbourne Researchers

Allison Hodge Author

Melissa Southey Author

Graham Giles Author

Roger Milne Author

Related Projects (7)

Epidemiology of chronic disease, health interventions and DNA studies

Methylation of DNA and colorectal cancer

Methylation of DNA involves a change to the chemical composition of DNA. It can affect the function of genes and normal methylation is essen..

METHYLATION AS A RISK FACTOR FOR PROSTATE CANCER

DNA methylation is a process that plays a critical role throughout life by altering the expression of genes. We aim to investigate the poten..

METHYLATION AND THE RISK OF UROTHELIAL CELL CANCER

Why don’t we run prevention programs for urinary tract cancers like we do for others? It’s because we don’t know which lifestyle factors, ex..

A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF HEALTH - RELATED LIFESTYLE FACTORS ON DNA METHYLATION

It is known that DNA methylation can lead to disease. We aim to discover what causes DNA methylation to change. This could open the way for ..

THE HEALTH 2020 COHORT STUDY (HEALTH 2020)

Our aim is to develop appropriate infrastructures necessary to facilitate access by researchers to the accumulated data, including questionn..

PRECISION PUBLIC HEALTH FOR MAJOR CANCERS - NOVEL APPROACHES TO BUILDING THE GENETIC, EPIGENETIC AND LIFESTYLE KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR ASSESSING RISK AND PROGNOSIS

The Program of research seeks to increase our understanding of cancer risk. We will use our large collections of population and family-based..

Grants

Awarded by Cancer Council Victoria

Funding Acknowledgements

Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS) cohort recruitment was funded by VicHealth and Cancer Council Victoria. The MCCS was further supported by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council grants 209057, 396414, and 1074383 and by infrastructure provided by Cancer Council Victoria. The nested case-control methylation studies were supported by the NHMRC Grants 1011618, 1026892, 1027505, 1050198, 1043616, and 1074383. Cases and their vital status were ascertained through the Victorian Cancer Registry and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, including the Australian Cancer Database. The longitudinal methylation study was supported by the NHMRC grants 1088405 and 1106016. MCS is a recipient of a NHMRC L3 Investigator Fellowship (GNT2017325).