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Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging
Accelerated biological aging and risk of depression and anxiety: evidence from 424,299 UK Biobank participants
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Overview
Paper Summary
Conflicts of Interest
Identified Weaknesses
Rating Explanation
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Paper Summary
Paperzilla title
Feeling Old? You Might Get the Blues (and Anxious Too!)
Adults with "older" biological ages based on blood chemistry were more likely to have depression and anxiety at baseline and over an 8.7-year follow-up. These relationships remained after considering genetic risk for these conditions.
Possible Conflicts of Interest
None identified.
Identified Weaknesses
Observational study
The study is observational, so causality cannot be established. It is possible that more pronounced increases in biological age are reflected in increased risk for depression/anxiety, or vice versa, or that both are caused by a third factor.
Limited generalizability
The UK Biobank participants are not representative of the general UK population, tending to be healthier, wealthier, and more likely to be white and middle-aged or older.
Selection bias
Only about 1/3 of enrolled participants participated in the follow-up survey, introducing potential selection bias. This could lead to an underestimate of the true association.
Ascertainment bias
Diagnoses were obtained from hospital records and questionnaires, but many individuals with depression/anxiety do not seek treatment. This could lead to an underestimate of the true prevalence and incidence of these disorders.
Recall bias
Reliance on retrospective reports of childhood adversity in the follow-up survey could be subject to recall bias, limiting the power of this analysis.
Rating Explanation
This is a strong study with a large sample size that uses well-established methods for measuring biological age and mental health. However, the observational design and potential biases limit the strength of causal inference.
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File Information
Original Title:
Accelerated biological aging and risk of depression and anxiety: evidence from 424,299 UK Biobank participants
File Name:
s41467-023-38013-7.pdf
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File Size:
1.11 MB
Uploaded:
July 14, 2025 at 11:19 AM
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