REVIEW article
Front. Aging
Sec. Molecular Mechanisms of Aging
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fragi.2025.1516664
This article is part of the Research TopicBiological Markers of Healthy AgingView all 6 articles
Depressed mood affects the process of biological aging, analyses from the NHANES dataset
Provisionally accepted
- Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, China
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Background Depressive mood may influence biological aging and the difference (δ-age) between biological age (BA) and chronological age (CA). This study explores the relationship between depressive mood and whole-body delta age (δ-age).Methods A total of 7,383 U.S. adults were selected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted between 2007 and 2018. Depressed mood was evaluated using PHQ-9 scores. Biological age (BA) was estimated based on circulating biomarkers, and the calculated delta age (δ-age) was validated through a generalized linear regression analysis.After adjusting for confounding variables, logistic regression analysis demonstrated a significant association between elevated depressive symptoms and accelerated biological aging. The restricted cubic splines (RCS) results further indicated a positive dose-response relationship between depression scale scores and the risk of biological aging. Additionally, the weighted quantile sum regression (WQS) findings revealed a positive, though non-significant, trend linking depressive mood to the risk of biological aging. Notably, overeating and low self-perception emerged as the most significant contributors to the scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale.Conclusions Depressive symptoms are linked to accelerated biological aging. Thus, interventions aimed at improving mood may help slow biological aging and contribute to delaying the aging process.With advances in medical technology, average life expectancy has gradually increased, from 60.8 years in 2005 to 70.8 years in 2015(Source: United Nations Statistical Yearbook, 2017 edition. Data refers to a five-year period preceding the reference year). However, the rise in average age has been accompanied by an increased prevalence of age-related diseases, thereby imposing a growing burden on societal and healthcare systems. Aging is characterized by degenerative changes in the structural integrity and physiological functions of body tissues. Additionally, individual variability plays a significant role in the manifestation and progression of age-related changes. The progression of aging is not uniform across individuals, inability to accurately mirror the patient's actual condition. So, aging is commonly quantified by BA. Aging, also referred to as biological aging, was influenced by a wide range of elements, including environmental aspects, genetics, lifestyle choices, and psychological well-being. BA is proposed as a metric to assess the aging state of the human
Keywords: Depressed mood, biological aging, Aging, Actual age, NHANES
Received: 24 Oct 2024; Accepted: 25 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tian, Lu, Li, Zhou, Wang, Zhong and Luo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jing Li, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, China
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