Religiosity, spiritual practices, and epigenetic aging: Insights from a population-based sample of middle-aged US adults.

In demographic and socioeconomic adjusted models, all dimensions of religiosity and spirituality were significantly associated with slower epigenetic age acceleration as measured by GrimAge2.

• R/S measures included spirituality, religious centrality, religious/spiritual coping, private religious practices, and daily spiritual experiences.
• GrimAge2 is a DNA methylation-based epigenetic clock used as an outcome variable.
• Models at this stage controlled for race/ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, education, and household income.
• Sample was drawn from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Study with N = 1310 participants.
• Analyses used multivariable linear regression.

Greater spirituality, religious/spiritual coping, and daily spiritual experiences were associated with a slower pace of aging as measured by DunedinPACE in demographic and socioeconomic adjusted models.

• DunedinPACE is a DNA methylation-based indicator of pace of aging used as a separate outcome variable.
• Not all five R/S dimensions were significantly associated with DunedinPACE, unlike the GrimAge2 results.
• Religious centrality and private religious practices were not significantly associated with DunedinPACE in these models.
• Sample consisted of middle-aged US adults from the MIDUS study (N = 1310).

After additionally accounting for smoking status, alcohol consumption, and BMI, only the association between religious/spiritual coping and DunedinPACE remained statistically significant.

• The full models controlled for race/ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, education, household income, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and body mass index (BMI).
• Associations between all R/S dimensions and GrimAge2 became non-significant after adding health behavior covariates.
• Associations between spirituality and daily spiritual experiences with DunedinPACE also became non-significant in fully adjusted models.
• This suggests health behaviors may mediate or confound much of the R/S–epigenetic aging relationship.

The study used two epigenetic clocks, GrimAge2 and DunedinPACE, as separate outcome variables to assess biological aging.

• Both GrimAge2 and DunedinPACE are DNA methylation-based indicators of biological aging.
• The two clocks capture different aspects of aging: GrimAge2 reflects epigenetic age acceleration while DunedinPACE reflects pace of aging.
• Participant data were drawn from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Study (N = 1310).
• The divergent results across the two clocks suggest they may capture distinct biological aging pathways.

Religiosity and spirituality are considered protective factors linked to extended longevity and optimal physiological health, and their impact may be observable at the cellular level through DNA methylation patterns.

• The authors note that 'how these influences manifest remains unclear.'
• Growing evidence suggests R/S impacts may be observable 'at the cellular level.'
• The study investigated multiple dimensions of R/S rather than a single measure.
• The authors conclude that 'several dimensions of R/S appeared to offer biomolecular advantages linked with aging processes.'