One should probably expect inflammatory and autoimmune conditions that are known to increase mortality risk, such as psoriasis, to also accelerate biological age, as measured by various aging clocks. Or at least a clock that doesn't exhibit this behavior is not a good clock in this context. Conducting assessments of biological age in many contexts and conditions is a necessary part of establishing confidence in aging clocks, so expect to see many studies similar in nature to the one noted here in the years ahead. Here, researchers obtained aging clock measurements for patients with psoriasis and assessed the degree to which these measures of biological age are predictive of actual mortality. Given fifty such studies for a range of conditions, one might gain a sense of how a given clock performs, enough to provide guidance and comfort regarding its use in a new context, or to assess a potential rejuvenation therapy.
Psoriasis is an immune-mediated genetic disorder characterized by scaly skin lesions, affects approximately 0.14%-1.99% of the global population. Compared to the general population, patients with psoriasis are at increased risk for immune and metabolic comorbidities including cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease. A survey based on the United States population noted that psoriasis was associated with a two-fold increased risk of all-cause mortality.
Patients with psoriasis and non-psoriasis were recruited from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (12,973 cases), Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC-IV) (558 cases) and The First Clinical Medical College of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (206 cases). Biological age was calculated using Klemera-Doubal method age (KDM-age) and phenotypic age (PhenoAge). Linear regression and logistic regression were used to explore the association between psoriasis and biological age advance. Cox regression was used to investigate the association between biological age advance and mortality. Finally, biological age advance was used to predict the death of psoriasis patients.
In NHANES, linear regression showed that psoriasis led to an increase in PhenoAge (Beta: 0.54). The KDM-age increase due to psoriasis was not statistically significant. Using data from China, we came to the new conclusion that for every unit rise in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, PhenoAge rose by 0.12 (Beta: 0.12). Using NHANES data, cox regression shows for every unit rise in PhenoAge advance patients had an 8% rise in mortality. Using MIMIC-IV, logistic regression showed a 13% increase in mortality within 28 days of admission for every 1 unit rise in PhenoAge advance. Finally, we used PhenoAge advance to predict death, with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.71 in the NHANES, an ACU of 0.79 for predicting death within 1 years in the general ward of MIMIC-IV. In the ICU of MIMIC-IV, the AUC for predicting death within 28 days was 0.71.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12979-025-00500-4
View the full article at FightAging
