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Potential pathways linking urban green spaces to improved health include relaxation, stress alleviation, and improved immune system functioning. Epigenetic age acceleration EAA is a composite biomarker of biological aging based on DNA methylation measurements; it is predictive of morbidity and mortality. This cross-sectional study of adult residents of a metropolitan area in central North Carolina investigated associations between exposure to residential green spaces and EAA using four previously developed epigenetic age formulas.
EAA values were calculated as residuals from the linear regression model of epigenetic age on chronological age. Residential greenness was characterized using tree cover, total vegetated land cover, and normalized difference vegetation index NDVI data.
An interquartile range IQR increase in distance-to-residence weighted average greenness within m of residence was consistently associated with a reduced EAA adjusted for sociodemographic covariates, smoking status, white blood cell fractions, and the two-dimensional spline function of geographic coordinates.
This study produced new evidence linking reduced epigenetic aging to greater greenness near residences. Methylation of a cytosine nucleotide followed by guanine, the arrangement known as a CpG site, affects the functions of regulatory elements and modifies gene expression. Biological aging in humans is associated with DNA methylation changes at multiple genomic sites 1.
