NEW YORK (Dispatches) -- Scientists from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have discovered that untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) speeds-up the biological aging process and that appropriate treatment can slow or possibly reverse the trend.
The researchers studied 16 adult nonsmokers who were diagnosed with OSA and compared them to eight control subjects without the condition to assess the impact of OSA on epigenetic age acceleration over a one-year period. After a baseline blood test, the OSA group received continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment for one year before being tested again.
The result was that OSA-induced sleep disruptions and lower oxygen levels during sleep promoted faster biological age acceleration compared to the control group. But, the OSA patients who adhered to CPAP showed a deceleration of the epigenetic age, while the age acceleration trends did not change for the control group. The results suggested that biological age acceleration was at least partially reversible when effective treatment of OSA was implemented.
Age acceleration testing involves a blood test that analyzes DNA and uses an algorithm to measure a person’s biological age. The phenomenon of a person’s biological age surpassing their chronological age is called “epigenetic age acceleration,” and is linked to overall mortality and to chronic diseases.