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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDClinical epigenetics

Life's Simple 7 score and epigenetic age acceleration: associations and effect modification by race and ethnicity.

  • Nicholas Pryor1
  • Darya Dokshina2
  • Hanyang Shen3
  • Nicole Gladish4
  • Jennifer A Smith2,5
  • David Rehkopf4,6,7,8,9
  • Belinda L Needham2,10
10 affiliations
  1. 1Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Kalamazoo, MI, USA. [email protected].
  2. 2Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
  3. 3Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  4. 4Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
  5. 5Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
  6. 6Department of Medicine (Division of Primary Care and Population Health), Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
  7. 7Department of Pediatrics, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
  8. 8Department of Health Policy, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
  9. 9Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
  10. 10University of Michigan Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
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Abstract

Background

Accelerated epigenetic aging is hypothesized to contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular outcomes. However, most measures of epigenetic age were developed in predominantly or exclusively White samples. To establish the utility of these measures for health disparities research, it is important to determine whether associations with health differ across racial and ethnic groups.Results

Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002, we examined associations of the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 (LS7) cardiovascular health score with 13 standardized measures of epigenetic age among a nationally representative sample of non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic White, Mexican American, other Hispanic, and another race or ethnicity adults aged 50 to 84 (n = 2,401). In covariate adjusted models, a higher score on the LS7 was associated with lower epigenetic age acceleration on the Hannum (β = -0.032, 95% CI: -0.061, -0.004), PhenoAge (β = -0.052, 95% CI: -0.077, -0.026), GrimAge (β = -0.142, 95% CI: -0.171, -0.114), GrimAge2 (β = -0.158, 95% CI: -0.186, -0.130), DunedinPoAm (β = -0.142, 95% CI: -0.177, -0.108), and Telomere (β = 0.032, 95% CI: 0.010, 0.055) measures. Associations of LS7 with the Horvath, Weidner, Vidal-Bralo, Lin, SkinBlood, Zhang, and Yang measures were not statistically significant. With one exception for the Horvath measure, interactions between LS7 and race and ethnicity were non-significant.Conclusions

Better cardiovascular health was associated with lower epigenetic age acceleration, with insufficient evidence of differences by race and ethnicity. Associations were most consistent and robust for measures of epigenetic age trained on physiological age, suggesting that these measures may be useful for research on racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular outcomes.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{pryor2026lifes,
  title = {{Life's Simple 7 score and epigenetic age acceleration: associations and effect modification by race and ethnicity.}},
  author = {Nicholas Pryor and Darya Dokshina and Hanyang Shen and Nicole Gladish and Jennifer A Smith and David Rehkopf and Belinda L Needham},
  journal = {Clinical epigenetics},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.1186/s13148-026-02218-6},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958336},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Life's Simple 7 score and epigenetic age acceleration: associations and effect modification by race and ethnicity.
AU  - Nicholas Pryor
AU  - Darya Dokshina
AU  - Hanyang Shen
AU  - Nicole Gladish
AU  - Jennifer A Smith
AU  - David Rehkopf
AU  - Belinda L Needham
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/01
JO  - Clinical epigenetics
DO  - 10.1186/s13148-026-02218-6
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958336
AB  - Background  Accelerated epigenetic aging is hypothesized to contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular outcomes. However, most measures of epigenetic age were developed in predominantly or exclusively White samples. To establish the utility of these measures for health disparities research, it is important to determine whether associations with health differ across racial and ethnic groups.Results  Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002, we examined associations of the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 (LS7) cardiovascular health score with 13 standardized measures of epigenetic age among a nationally representative sample of non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic White, Mexican American, other Hispanic, and another race or ethnicity adults aged 50 to 84 (n = 2,401). In covariate adjusted models, a higher score on the LS7 was associated with lower epigenetic age acceleration on the Hannum (β = -0.032, 95% CI: -0.061, -0.004), PhenoAge (β = -0.052, 95% CI: -0.077, -0.026), GrimAge (β = -0.142, 95% CI: -0.171, -0.114), GrimAge2 (β = -0.158, 95% CI: -0.186, -0.130), DunedinPoAm (β = -0.142, 95% CI: -0.177, -0.108), and Telomere (β = 0.032, 95% CI: 0.010, 0.055) measures. Associations of LS7 with the Horvath, Weidner, Vidal-Bralo, Lin, SkinBlood, Zhang, and Yang measures were not statistically significant. With one exception for the Horvath measure, interactions between LS7 and race and ethnicity were non-significant.Conclusions  Better cardiovascular health was associated with lower epigenetic age acceleration, with insufficient evidence of differences by race and ethnicity. Associations were most consistent and robust for measures of epigenetic age trained on physiological age, suggesting that these measures may be useful for research on racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular outcomes.
SN  - 1868-7083
SN  - 1868-7075
ER  -