LifeQ has announced the results of its ground-breaking new study – Wearable-ome meets epigenome: A novel approach to measuring biological age with wearable devices, published in bioRxiv – revealing clear associations between wearable-derived behavioural and physiological features and the methylation of specific genes in pathways relating to the ageing process.
After nearly a decade of rigorous research and testing of its comprehensive health insights platform, LifeQ has recently completed a 40-day study involving 48 human participants exploring new opportunities to positively impact one’s physiological age with behavioural features measured by everyday wearables.
“Through everyday smartwatches and wearable devices, we now have the tools needed to flag health concerns, understand our health picture and improve both our healthspan and lifespan,” said Laurie Olivier, CEO and Co-founder, LifeQ. “The physiology of humans can differ significantly from person to person. A better understanding of the connections between lifestyle interventions and ageing processes on a molecular level will be helpful in evolving personalised lifestyle programmes that would most effectively impact their unique ageing curve.”
Human lifespan has almost doubled since the late 1800s due to reduced infectious diseases following the introduction of antibiotics and vaccinations, improved sanitation and better living conditions. However, once the impact of the top eight infectious diseases is removed, mortality rates have improved very little. The LifeQ study demonstrated that wearable-derived physiological features indicate health that is more strongly correlated with biological age than chronological age and correlated with age acceleration.
Humans age physiologically at different rates, some faster and some slower than their chronological or calendar age. This physiological age is often referred to as biological age, which more closely represents a person’s journey through their lifespan than calendar age.
The new study, Wearable-ome meets epigenome: A novel approach to measuring biological age with wearable devices, presents the case that Photoplethysmography (PPG) based wearable devices can capture portions of biological ageing and can be used as a tool for monitoring and managing healthy ageing.
Wearable data may be used to extrapolate information derived from epigenetic biological age predictions and its underlying biology. Smartwatches and other wearable devices can now be used to help make epigenetic clocks more actionable. For the LifeQ study, LifeQ-enabled wearables were used to measure behavior and its impacted physiological states, and DNA methylation levels were determined using the Illumina EPIC array.
“Biological ageing is driven by epigenetic changes which can be measured by blood and DNA analysis,” added Armin Deffur, Chief Medical Officer, LifeQ. “The biological events that accelerate the ageing process and are associated with poor health outcomes and shorter healthspan leave an imprint on the human genome in the form of epigenetic changes.”
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