According to the results of a recent study conducted by researchers affiliated with the University of Southern California, ambient outdoor heat can age a person as much as if they were a smoker. The study’s findings were published in the academic journal Science Advances.
“This study examines the association between ambient outdoor heat and epigenetic aging in a nationally representative sample of US adults aged 56+ (N = 3686).” the researchers stated about the focus of their study.
“The number of heat days in neighborhoods is calculated using the heat index, covering time windows from the day of blood collection to 6 years prior. Multilevel regression models are used to predict PCPhenoAge acceleration, PCGrimAge acceleration, and DunedinPACE.” the researchers stated about their study’s methodology.
“More heat days over short- and mid-term windows are associated with increased PCPhenoAge acceleration (e.g., Bprior7-dayCaution+heat: 1.07 years). Longer-term heat is associated with all clocks (e.g., Bprior1-yearExtremecaution+heat: 2.48 years for PCPhenoAge, Bprior1-yearExtremecaution+heat: 1.09 year for PCGrimAge, and Bprior6-yearExtremecaution+heat: 0.05 years for DunedinPACE). Subgroup analyses show no strong evidence for increased vulnerability by sociodemographic factors.” the authors concluded.
That is, of course, a lot of scientific jargon. For a laypeople’s translation, I will turn to NPR’s coverage of the study (which is how I first learned about the study).
“A new study published in Science Advances shows that prolonged heat exposure of that magnitude can even modify how people’s genes behave, speeding up aging at the molecular level and potentially impacting people’s long-term health.” NPR stated in its coverage.
“The impact is “similar to the effect of smoking and drinking,” says Eunyoung Choi, a gerontologist at the University of Southern California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and the study’s lead researcher.” NPR also stated.
As with all studies, the results of this particular study are not the final answer on the matter. However, given the seriousness of the findings, it is something that people should know, and they should consider taking reasonable measures to try to mitigate the health risks associated with an increase in ambient outdoor heat.
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