Overview
- The peer‑reviewed analysis pooled biomarker and omics data from more than 154,000 UK Biobank participants and about 10,000 NIH All of Us participants to estimate biological age with measures such as PhenoAge, the Klemera–Doubal Method, a metabolomic score, and blood proteomics.
- Researchers found recent birth cohorts had modestly larger systemic biological‑age gaps than earlier cohorts, for example UK births 1965–74 showed 23% of one standard deviation higher aging than 1950–54 and US births 1990–99 showed 92% higher aging than 1965–69.
- A larger age gap predicted higher early‑onset cancer risk: each standard‑deviation increase in the age‑gap score was linked to about an 8% higher risk of solid cancers before age 55, and the subgroup with the most advanced systemic aging had roughly a 15% higher risk.
- Organ‑specific proteomic analyses connected advanced immune‑system aging with early‑onset lung cancer and advanced adipose (fat) tissue aging with early‑onset colorectal cancer, suggesting different tissues may drive risk for different cancers.
- The study is observational, relied mostly on single‑time‑point measures and had limited power for some site analyses in the smaller U.S. sample, so authors urge larger, longitudinal and more diverse studies to test causation and identify modifiable drivers.