Prenatal and early-life air pollutant exposure and epigenetic aging acceleration
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Background This study investigated the association of prenatal and early childhood exposure to air pollution with epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) at six years of age using the Environment and Development of Children Cohort (EDC Cohort) Materials & methods Air pollution, including particulate matter [< 2.5 µm (PM 2.5 ) and < 10 µm (PM 10 ) in an aerodynamic diameter], nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), ozone (O 3 ), carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) were estimated based on the residential address for two periods: 1) during the whole pregnancy, and 2) for one year before the follow-up in children at six years of age. The methylation levels in whole blood at six years of age were measured, and the methylation clocks, including Horvath’s clock, Horvath’s skin and blood clock, PedBE, and Wu’s clock, were estimated. Multivariate linear regression models were constructed to analyze the association between EAA and air pollutants. Results A total of 76 children in EDC cohort were enrolled in this study. During the whole pregnancy, interquartile range (IQR) increases in exposure to PM 2.5 (4.56 μg/m 3 ) and CO (0.156 ppm) were associated with 0.406 years and 0.799 years of EAA (Horvath’s clock), respectively. An IQR increase in PM 2.5 (4.76 μg/m 3 ) for one year before the child was six years of age was associated with 0.509 years of EAA (Horvath’s clock) and 0.289 years of EAA (Wu’s clock). PM 10 (4.30 μg/m 3 ) and O 3 (0.003 ppm) exposure in the period were also associated with EAA in Horvath’s clock (0.280 years) and EAA in Horvath’s skin and blood clock (0.163 years), respectively. Conclusion We found that prenatal and childhood exposure to ambient air pollutants is associated with EAA among children. The results suggest that air pollution could induce excess biological aging even in prenatal and early life.
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Prenatal and early-life air-pollutant exposure is associated with epigenetic age estimates at 6 years when several algorithms are applied.
“Prenatal and early-life air-pollutant exposure was also associated with epigenetic age estimates at 6 years when several algorithms were applied [135].”
From Placental Pathophysiology and Developmental Programming of Adult Cardiometabolic Risk: A Narrative Review of Pregnancy Exposures (2026) · cites this paper as [135]
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- Authors
- Lee, D.-W., Lim, Y.-H., Choi, Y.-J., Kim, S., Shin, C. H., Lee, Y. A., Kim, B.-N., Kim, J. I., & Hong, Y.-C.
- Affiliations
- Inha University (KR)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- National Cancer Center (KR)
- Ajou University (KR)
- Seoul National University (KR)
- Hanyang University (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Hong, Yun-Chul
- ORCID
- Venue
- Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-09
- Volume
- 283
- Pages
- 116823
- ISSN
- 0147-6513 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4401251527
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 2.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Seoul National University Open Repository (Seoul National University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Ministry of Education (2018R1D1A1B07043446)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- Keywords
- air pollution, prenatal exposure, children's exposure, epigenetic aging, DNA methylation, Horvath clock, ambient particulate matter, residential addresses
- MeSH terms
- Aging, Air Pollutants, Air Pollution, Carbon Monoxide, Child, China, Environmental Exposure, Female, Humans, Male, Nitrogen Dioxide, Ozone, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Cohort Studies, Maternal Exposure, DNA Methylation, Epigenesis, Genetic, Particulate Matter
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