Background: DNA methylation (DNAm) algorithms, such as GrimAge and GrimAge2, have emerged as reliable measures of biological age acceleration and may offer additional insights into health outcomes. While previous research has explored the relationship between marital status and mortality, its association with accelerated biological aging remains understudied. This study aimed to examine the relationship between marital status and DNAm-based biological age acceleration in older adults.Methods: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used to assess GrimAge and GrimAge2 in 2,420 U.S. adults aged 50 and older. DNAm profiles were measured using the Infinium Methylation EPIC BeadChip kit (Illumina). Linear regression models, adjusted for potential confounders, were used to estimate associations between marital status and DNAm-based biological age acceleration.Results: Significant associations were observed between marital status and biological age acceleration. After adjusting for potential confounders, never-married males had significantly higher GrimAge2Acc (β = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.17–1.73) and GrimAgeAcc (β = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.28–1.47) scores compared to married males. Additionally, widowed females exhibited significantly higher GrimAge2Acc (β = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.02–0.85) compared to their married counterparts.Interpretation: This study highlights the significant role of marital status in biological aging, particularly for men. Never-married status may be linked to higher risks of biological aging, highlighting the need for social and environmental interventions that promote healthier lifestyles and emotional support for older adults, especially those without partners. These findings underscore the importance of addressing social determinants of health to mitigate the adverse effects of marital status on biological aging and overall health outcomes.

Depression and sarcopenia, which had some common risk factors and shared some common pathological mechanisms, were one of the common comorbidities for elderly. Some studies had revealed the association between depressive symptom and sarcopenia, but studies on Chinese older adults still remained scarce and controversial. This article revealed the association between depressive symptoms and sarcopenia in Chinese elderly. This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the 2018 wave of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. The basic characteristics of participants between the sarcopenia and the non-sarcopenia group were compared by χ ² test. The association between depressive symptoms and sarcopenia was investigated using multivariate logistic regression. Subsequently, exploratory subgroup analysis was conducted to assess whether the association was consistent across groups stratified by pre-defined factors. Among the 9123 older participants, the prevalence of depressive symptoms and sarcopenia were 63.42% and 32.66%, respectively. The proportion of depressive symptoms was 73.72% in the sarcopenia group, significantly higher than the 58.42% in non-sarcopenia group (χ ² = 202.496, P < .001). The prevalence of sarcopenia among elderly in different quartiles of depressive scores showed a linear increasing trend ( Z = 18.187, P < .001). Multivariate logistic regression model was adopted to explore the association between depressive symptoms and sarcopenia. And subsequently subgroup analysis was conducted among subgroups stratified by prefined factors. Elderly participants with depressive symptoms were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of sarcopenia (odds ratio = 1.683, 95% confidence interval: 1.502–1.886, P < .001) after adjusting for potential confounders. Subsequently, results of the exploratory subgroup analysis suggest that living arrangements might modify the strength of association between depression and sarcopenia ( P for interaction = .008). Our findings suggest an association between depressive symptoms and sarcopenia among the Chinese elderly, especially for elderly living alone or in an institute. This association warrants further investigation through longitudinal research to explore whether addressing depressive symptoms could be a potential strategy for sarcopenia prevention.

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of risk factors that increases cardiometabolic disease and mortality. A continuous MetS Score has been developed to quantify MetS severity, but its association with all-cause mortality in older Chinese adults remains unclear. Methods: We analyzed 2,443 participants from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS, 2008–2018 and 2011–2018). MetS Score was derived by confirmatory factor analysis using triglycerides, HDL-C, fasting glucose, systolic blood pressure, and BMI. Participants were categorized into quartiles (Q1-Q4). Cox proportional hazards models estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause mortality. Subgroup analyses examined heterogeneity by age, sex, residence, and other covariates, and restricted cubic splines explored dose–response relationships. Results: During 10,356 person-years of follow-up, 1,412 deaths occurred (136.3/1,000 person-years). Each 1-unit increase in MetS Score was associated with a 13.9% lower mortality risk (HR = 0.861, 95% CI: 0.787–0.942). The protective effect was concentrated in Q4 vs. Q1 (HR = 0.792, 95% CI: 0.669–0.938). Subgroup analyses showed stronger associations in those aged ≥80 years (HR = 0.785, 95% CI: 0.660–0.935), women (HR = 0.758, 95% CI: 0.617–0.931) and rural residents (HR = 0.817, 95% CI: 0.618–0.980). Restricted cubic splines confirmed a linear inverse association overall and among the ≥80 years group. Conclusion: MetS Score, reflecting MetS severity, was inversely associated with all-cause mortality in older Chinese adults, particularly among those aged ≥80 years. These findings suggest that higher MetS Score may paradoxically confer survival benefits in the older adults, warranting further mechanistic studies.

Cholesterol metabolism is critical in cancer biology, yet its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains poorly understood. We investigated the expression and prognostic significance of cholesterol homeostasis genes in HCC to identify potential biomarkers for risk stratification. Using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, we identified differentially expressed cholesterol-related genes (logFC ≥ 1.5, false discovery rate < 0.05), intersecting them with genes annotated in the Molecular Signatures Database. Prognostic biomarkers were evaluated using univariate and multivariate Cox regression. A predictive model was constructed to assess survival outcomes. Cholesterol homeostasis genes, particularly fatty acid-binding protein 5 (FABP5) and alcohol dehydrogenase 4 (ADH4), are key prognostic biomarkers in HCC. The proposed model provides a novel approach for predicting outcomes and may inform therapeutic strategies. Further studies are needed to validate these findings and explore their clinical utility. Nine cholesterol homeostasis genes were differentially expressed, including 6 upregulated (choline kinase alpha, FABP5, fatty acid synthase, farnesyl diphosphate synthase, mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase, and squalene epoxidase) and 3 downregulated (ADH4, activating transcription factor 5, and arginine vasopressin receptor 1A). FABP5 and ADH4 emerged as independent prognostic factors: high FABP5 expression was associated with poor prognosis, while high ADH4 expression predicted improved survival. A prognostic model integrating FABP5 and ADH4 and clinical characteristics achieved a concordance index of 0.683, effectively stratifying patients into high-risk and low-risk groups (χ ² = 20.60, P < .001) with median survival times of 1135 and 2532 days, respectively.

Objectives: We assessed how socioeconomic status (SES) and diet quality, separately and jointly, related to depressive and anxiety symptoms in older Chinese adults. Methods: Data came from 9278 participants aged 65 years or older in the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. Education, main occupation before age 60, and annual household income were integrated into latent SES classes. Diet quality was represented by the Chinese-modified Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay score (cMIND), Healthy Eating Index (HEI), Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), and Anti-Inflammatory Dietary Diversity Score (AIDDS). Depression and anxiety symptom status was determined from the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) and 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). We used multivariable logistic models, joint-exposure models, restricted cubic splines, exploratory SES-by-diet interaction models, and multiple imputation for missing covariates. Results: Relative to high SES, low SES was associated with greater odds of depressive symptoms (OR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.32–1.71) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.43–2.16). All four dietary indices showed inverse associations with both outcomes. The largest joint estimates occurred for low SES plus low AIDDS (depressive symptoms: OR = 2.26, 95% CI: 1.94–2.64; anxiety symptoms: OR = 2.69, 95% CI: 2.12–3.40). No overall multiplicative interaction was found for dichotomized diet scores. For standardized continuous scores, nominal SES-by-diet interactions were observed for HEI, DDS, and AIDDS for depressive symptoms, but after Benjamini-Hochberg false-discovery-rate (FDR) correction only DDS and AIDDS remained below q < 0.05; no anxiety interaction survived correction. Conclusions: Socioeconomic disadvantage and poorer diet quality were each associated with greater symptom burden, while their co-occurrence identified the least favorable joint profile. Longitudinal and intervention studies are needed before dietary improvement can be interpreted as reducing SES-related mental-health inequalities.