Occupational Years of Service and Leukocyte Epigenetic Aging: Relationships in United States Firefighters

Jamaji C Nwanaji-Enwerem; Andres Cardenas; Jaclyn M Goodrich; Melissa A Furlong; Alesia M Jung; Philip A Collender; Alberto J Caban-Martinez; Casey Grant; Shawn C Beitel; Sally Littau; Derek J Urwin; Jamie J Gabriel; Jeff Hughes; John Gulotta; Darin Wallentine; Jefferey L Burgess

doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000002817

Occupational Years of Service and Leukocyte Epigenetic Aging: Relationships in United States Firefighters

J Occup Environ Med. 2023 May 1;65(5):e312-e318. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002817. Epub 2023 Feb 15.

Authors

Jamaji C Nwanaji-Enwerem¹, Andres Cardenas, Jaclyn M Goodrich, Melissa A Furlong, Alesia M Jung, Philip A Collender, Alberto J Caban-Martinez, Casey Grant, Shawn C Beitel, Sally Littau, Derek J Urwin, Jamie J Gabriel, Jeff Hughes, John Gulotta, Darin Wallentine, Jefferey L Burgess

Affiliation

¹ From the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Emory Rollins School of Public Health, and Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia (J.C.N.-E.); Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, California (J.C.N.-E., A.C.); Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (J.M.G.); Department of Community, Environment and Policy, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (M.A.F., A.M.J., S.C.B., S.L., J.L.B.); Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Center for Computational Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California (P.A.C.); Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida (A.L.C.-M.); Fire Protection Research Foundation, Quincy, Massachusetts (C.G.); Los Angeles County Fire Department, Los Angeles, California (D.J.U., J.J.G.); Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (D.J.U.); Health, Safety and Medicine Division, International Association of Fire Fighters, Washington, District of Columbia (D.J.U.); Orange County Fire Authority, Orange County, California (Hughes); and Tucson Fire Department, Tucson, Arizona (J.G., D.W.).

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study is to examine associations between years of firefighting service and eight chronological age-adjusted measures of blood leukocyte epigenetic age acceleration: Horvath, Hannum, SkinBloodClock, Intrinsic, Extrinsic, PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DNAm telomere length.

Methods: The study used a repeated measures analysis of data from 379 incumbent firefighters from eight career departments and 100 recruit firefighters from two of the departments, across the United States.

Results: Incumbent firefighters had on average greater epigenetic age acceleration compared with recruit firefighters, potentially due to the cumulative effect of occupational exposures. However, among incumbent firefighters, additional years of service were associated with epigenetic age deceleration, particularly for GrimAge, a strong predictor of mortality.

Conclusions: Long-term studies with more specific occupational exposure classification are needed to better understand the relationship between years of service and aging biomarkers.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aging / genetics
Epigenesis, Genetic
Firefighters*
Humans
Leukocytes
Longitudinal Studies
United States / epidemiology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding