Steve Horvath, UCLA

Title: Epigenetic clock analysis of race/ethnicity, sex, and chronic diseases
Abstract: Epigenetic biomarkers of aging (the "epigenetic clock") have the potential to address puzzling findings surrounding mortality rates and incidence of cardio-metabolic disease such as: (1) women consistently exhibiting lower mortality than men despite having higher levels of morbidity; (2) racial/ethnic groups having different mortality rates even after adjusting for socioeconomic differences; (3) the black/white mortality cross-over effect in late adulthood; and (4) Hispanics in the United States having a longer life expectancy than Caucasians despite having a higher burden of traditional cardio-metabolic risk factors.
The epigenetic clock method has been used in many applications including studying aging effects associated with obesity, Down syndrome, cognitive decline, HIV infection, neurodegenerative diseases, and centenarian status. #5382