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Citation

Lodge, Evans K.; Dhingra, Radhika; Martin, Chantel L.; Fry, Rebecca C.; White, Alexandra J.; Ward-Caviness, Cavin K.; Wani, Agaz H.; Uddin, Monica; Wildman, Derek E.; & Galea, Sandro, et al. (2022). Serum Lead, Mercury, Manganese, and Copper and DNA Methylation Age among Adults in Detroit, Michigan. Environmental Epigenetics, 8(1), dvac018. PMCID: PMC9620967

Abstract

Although the effects of lead, mercury, manganese, and copper on individual disease processes are well understood, estimating the health effects of long-term exposure to these metals at the low concentrations often observed in the general population is difficult. In addition, the health effects of joint exposure to multiple metals are difficult to estimate. Biological aging refers to the integrative progression of multiple physiologic and molecular changes that make individuals more at risk of disease. Biomarkers of biological aging may be useful to estimate the population-level effects of metal exposure prior to the development of disease in the population. We used data from 290 participants in the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study to estimate the effect of serum lead, mercury, manganese, and copper on three DNA methylation-based biomarkers of biological aging (Horvath Age, PhenoAge, and GrimAge). We used mixed models and Bayesian kernel machine regression and controlled for participant sex, race, ethnicity, cigarette use, income, educational attainment, and block group poverty. We observed consistently positive estimates of the effects between lead and GrimAge acceleration and mercury and PhenoAge acceleration. In contrast, we observed consistently negative associations between manganese and PhenoAge acceleration and mercury and Horvath Age acceleration. We also observed curvilinear relationships between copper and both PhenoAge and GrimAge acceleration. Increasing total exposure to the observed mixture of metals was associated with increased PhenoAge and GrimAge acceleration and decreased Horvath Age acceleration. These findings indicate that an increase in serum lead or mercury from the 25th to 75th percentile is associated with a

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvac018

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2022

Journal Title

Environmental Epigenetics

Author(s)

Lodge, Evans K.
Dhingra, Radhika
Martin, Chantel L.
Fry, Rebecca C.
White, Alexandra J.
Ward-Caviness, Cavin K.
Wani, Agaz H.
Uddin, Monica
Wildman, Derek E.
Galea, Sandro
Aiello, Allison E.

Article Type

Regular

PMCID

PMC9620967

Data Set/Study

Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)

Continent/Country

United States of America

State

Michigan

Race/Ethnicity

White
Black

ORCiD

Lodge - 0000-0002-2222-5441
Martin, C. - 0000-0003-1907-0810
Aiello - 0000-0001-7029-2537