TY - JOUR
T1 - Postpartum sleep loss and accelerated epigenetic aging
AU - Carroll, Judith E.
AU - Ross, Kharah M.
AU - Horvath, Steve
AU - Okun, Michele
AU - Hobel, Calvin
AU - Rentscher, Kelly E.
AU - Coussons-Read, Mary
AU - Schetter, Christine Dunkel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Sleep Foundation
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Background: Insufficient sleep has been linked to accelerated biological aging in adults, providing a possible mechanism through which sleep may influence disease risk. In the current paper, we test the hypothesis that short sleep in postpartum would predict older biological age in women one year post birth, as indicated by accelerated epigenetic aging. Methods: As part of a larger study of pregnancy and postpartum health (Healthy Babies Before Birth, HB3), 33 mothers provided blood samples for epigenetic aging clock estimates. intrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (IEAA), extrinsic apigenetic age acceleration, phenotypic epigenetic age acceleration (PEAA), GrimAge, DNAmPAI-1, and DNAm telomere length (TL) were calculated using established protocols. Sleep duration was categorized as insufficient sleep (<7 hours per night) or healthy sleep duration (7+ hours per night). Sleep quality was determined using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Global score >5). Results: Maternal postpartum sleep duration at 6 months, but not 12 months, following a birth was predictive of older 12-month IEAA, B (SE) = 3.0 (1.2), P =.02, PEAA, B (SE) = 7.3 (2.0), P =.002, and DNAmTL, B (SE) = −0.18 (0.07), P =.01, but not other indices, all P>.127. Self-reported poor sleep quality at 6 and 12 months was not significantly related to epigenetic age. Conclusions: These findings suggest that insufficient sleep duration during the early postpartum period is associated with accelerated biological aging. As the sample size is small, additional research is warranted with a larger sample size to replicate these findings.
AB - Background: Insufficient sleep has been linked to accelerated biological aging in adults, providing a possible mechanism through which sleep may influence disease risk. In the current paper, we test the hypothesis that short sleep in postpartum would predict older biological age in women one year post birth, as indicated by accelerated epigenetic aging. Methods: As part of a larger study of pregnancy and postpartum health (Healthy Babies Before Birth, HB3), 33 mothers provided blood samples for epigenetic aging clock estimates. intrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (IEAA), extrinsic apigenetic age acceleration, phenotypic epigenetic age acceleration (PEAA), GrimAge, DNAmPAI-1, and DNAm telomere length (TL) were calculated using established protocols. Sleep duration was categorized as insufficient sleep (<7 hours per night) or healthy sleep duration (7+ hours per night). Sleep quality was determined using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Global score >5). Results: Maternal postpartum sleep duration at 6 months, but not 12 months, following a birth was predictive of older 12-month IEAA, B (SE) = 3.0 (1.2), P =.02, PEAA, B (SE) = 7.3 (2.0), P =.002, and DNAmTL, B (SE) = −0.18 (0.07), P =.01, but not other indices, all P>.127. Self-reported poor sleep quality at 6 and 12 months was not significantly related to epigenetic age. Conclusions: These findings suggest that insufficient sleep duration during the early postpartum period is associated with accelerated biological aging. As the sample size is small, additional research is warranted with a larger sample size to replicate these findings.
KW - Aging
KW - Epigenetic
KW - Postpartum
KW - Sleep
KW - Women
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106572831&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.sleh.2021.02.002
DO - 10.1016/j.sleh.2021.02.002
M3 - Journal Article
C2 - 33903077
AN - SCOPUS:85106572831
VL - 7
SP - 362
EP - 367
JO - Sleep Health
JF - Sleep Health
IS - 3
ER -