System-Specific Epigenetic Aging Signatures in Autistic Adults
Background: Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition, but the biological processes shaping aging are poorly understood. DNA methylation-based measures index physiological decline and mortality risk independently of chronological age. We tested whether biological aging differs in autistic adults, whether differences are system-specific, and which factors predict within-autism variation.…
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition, yet the biological factors influencing aging in autistic adults remain poorly understood. DNA methylation, a process that can provide insight into physiological decline and mortality risk, is independent of an individual's chronological age. A study sought to determine if aging differs biologically in autistic adults, whether such differences are specific to certain systems within the body, and what factors may contribute to variations among autistic individuals.
The research analyzed saliva DNA methylation in 37 autistic adults, all of whom had been followed since early childhood and spanned a wide range of abilities, including those with intellectual disabilities. The group was compared to 188 non-autistic adults from four public datasets. The analysis incorporated 15 measures, including four global DNA methylation measures (Horvath, GrimAge, DunedinPACE, and SystemsAge) and 11 system-specific subscores of SystemsAge.
While global aging measures did not differ between the two groups (all p values greater than .34), autistic adults exhibited higher scores for Brain, Blood, and Liver SystemsAge subscores (beta values of 0.81, 0.65, and 0.58, respectively). All reported p values were less than .05, indicating that these differences were statistically significant.
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