Immigration and epigenetic age acceleration in the health and retirement study: differences Between Hispanics and Non-Hispanics

Abstract

We assessed associations between immigrant status (foreign-born vs. not), age at migration (0-15, 16-40, 41-64, vs. non-immigrants), and time since immigration (0-39, ≥40 years, vs. non-immigrants) with epigenetic age acceleration (AA) by Hispanic ethnicity in the Health and Retirement Study (n = 3918). Epigenetic AA was defined as the standardized residual from the regression of epigenetic methylation scores from the Levine/PhenoAge, DunedinPoAm38, and GrimAge clocks on chronological age. Predicted mean AA scores from multivariable linear regression models were used to calculate immigration exposure contrasts (relative to non-immigrants) separately for Hispanics & non-Hispanics. Compared to Hispanic non-immigrants, Hispanic immigrants overall (ContrastGrimAge = -0.17, 95% CI: -0.32, -0.02), those who migrated between ages 0-15 (ContrastGrimAge = -0.3, 95% CI: -0.58, -0.02), and those with shorter (ContrastGrimAge -0.15, 95% CI: -0.32, 0.01) & longer times since immigration (ContrastGrimAge = -0.18, 95% CI: -0.36, -0.01) showed slower epigenetic aging. Compared to non-Hispanic non-immigrants, non-Hispanic immigrants who immigrated between ages 41-64 (ContrastLevine = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.87; ContrastGrimAge = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.67) and had shorter times since immigration (ContrastLevine = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.48) showed faster epigenetic aging. Hispanic and non-Hispanic immigrants may experience differences in epigenetic aging compared to their non-immigrant counterparts.