WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Scientists at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York found that pregnancy might speed up biological ageing process in women.
For the health survey, researchers considered the DNA samples and reproductive background of 1,735 people, consisting of 825 women and 910 men, in Philippines to understand the influence of pregnancy on the ageing process.
They used several genetic tools to determine the biological age of the participants, based on which the scientists found that each individual pregnancy increased the biological age of women by an additional two to three months.
During a six-year follow up period, the scientists noted that women who get pregnant often showed accelerated ageing during that period.
Calen Ryan, the lead author of the study and an associate research scientist in the Columbia Aging Center, said, 'Our findings suggest that pregnancy speeds up biological ageing, and that these effects are apparent in young, high-fertility women. Our results are also the first to follow the same women through time, linking changes in each woman's pregnancy number to changes in her biological age.'
The study published in in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, also took into account socioeconomic status, smoking habits, genetic variation and the participants' surroundings.
Ryan added, 'We still have a lot to learn about the role of pregnancy and other aspects of reproduction in the ageing process. We also do not know the extent to which accelerated epigenetic ageing in these particular individuals will manifest as poor health or mortality decades later in life.'
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