A unique study using epigenetic markers to track biological aging has found that children born prematurely, with extremely low birth weight, appear to age faster than girls born prematurely with a similar birth weight.
It’s unclear why, but research, conducted by scientists at McMaster University, suggests that the health of male premature survivors should be closely monitored throughout their lives.
What weight is considered extremely low?
Boys weighing less than a kilogram age faster than men. They are usually 4.6 years older than children of normal birth weight. However, this difference was not found between premature girls and girls born after nine months of gestation.
The scientists noted that “the rate of aging may be influenced by the physiological stress management of children before birth and in the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital after birth.”
The scientists used an epigenetic clock to look at the genes of 45 premature babies along with 47 babies of normal birth weight when they were between 30 and 35 years old to compare their biological age, monitoring for chronic health problems and sensory deficits.
“Although it is not clear why accelerated biological aging is observed in very low birth weight men, this suggests that prenatal exposures play an important role in aging. Previous research has shown that premature infants are more susceptible to prenatal stress than extremely underweight girls. This certainly highlights the need to monitor the health of premature survivors throughout their lives, and more research is needed. It also emphasizes the need to warn low-weight men and promote healthy aging so that they can proactively mitigate these risks, ”explains Ryan Van Lieshout, leader of the work.
Referencia: Ryan J. Van Lieshout et al. Extremely Low Birth Weight and Accelerated Biological Aging. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-001230
