May 17, 2024

Depression’s Unexpected Role in Accelerating Biological Aging

Researchers at the University of Connecticut Center on Aging have actually discovered that older grownups with depression age much faster than their peers. The research studys findings open up chances for preventive strategies to minimize special needs associated with anxiety in older grownups and slow down biological aging. To their surprise, the seriousness of a persons anxiety appeared unassociated to their level of sped up aging. The sped up aging was also associated with even worse efficiency on tests of brain health such as working memory and other cognitive skills.

” These clients show evidence of sped up biological aging, and poor physical and brain health,” which are the main chauffeurs of this association, states Breno Diniz, a UConn School of Medicine geriatric psychiatrist and author of the research study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Mental Health.
They measured the levels of proteins associated with aging in each individuals blood. Diniz and the other researchers compared the levels of these proteins with measures of the individuals physical health, medical problems, brain function, and the severity of their depression.
To their surprise, the seriousness of a persons anxiety seemed unrelated to their level of sped up aging. The sped up aging was likewise associated with even worse performance on tests of brain health such as working memory and other cognitive skills.
” Those two findings open chances for preventive methods to minimize the disability associated with significant anxiety in older adults, and to prevent their acceleration of biological aging,” Diniz, of the UConn Center on Aging, states.
The researchers are now looking at whether therapies to lower the number of aged, “senescent” cells in a persons body can improve late-in-life depression. They are also looking at specific sources and patterns of proteins associated with aging, to see if this may result in tailored treatments in the future.
Referral: “Major anxiety, physical health and molecular senescence markers problems” by Johanna Seitz-Holland, Benoit H. Mulsant, Charles F. Reynolds III, Daniel M. Blumberger, Jordan F. Karp, Meryl A. Butters, Ana Paula Mendes-Silva, Erica L. Vieira, George Tseng, Eric J. Lenze and Breno S. Diniz, 22 March 2023, Nature Mental Health.DOI: 10.1038/ s44220-023-00033-z.
Funding: NIH/National Institute of Mental Health.

Older adults with anxiety experience sped up biological aging, causing poor physical and brain health, according to a study from the UConn Center on Aging. This discovery opens chances for preventive strategies and targeted treatments to minimize special needs and decrease aging in this population.
Scientists have discovered that older grownups experiencing anxiety age faster than their peers.
Researchers at the University of Connecticut Center on Aging have actually discovered that older adults with depression age faster than their peers. The research studys findings open up chances for preventive strategies to reduce disability associated with depression in older grownups and slow down biological aging.
Older adults with depression are in fact aging faster than their peers, University of Connecticut Center on Aging scientists report.