MSSP Alum Research Highlight: PTSD and Biological Aging

  • By: ronansm

Xiang (Kurt) Zhao (MSSP ’19) recently co-authored a study in Psychological Medicine exploring how trauma may accelerate aging at the cellular level.

Psychological Medicine

In the study, PTSD and Epigenetic Aging: A Longitudinal Meta-Analysis, Zhao and his collaborators examined whether PTSD is associated with accelerated biological aging.

Epigenetic age, estimated using DNA methylation, reflects how “biologically old” someone is—regardless of chronological age. It can be shaped by trauma, psychiatric conditions, lifestyle, and environmental exposures.

The team analyzed data from over 1,300 individuals across seven military and civilian cohorts.

Their key findings:

  • +2 months of epigenetic aging for individuals with new-onset PTSD (19-month period).
  • +3 months of aging in those with the largest increase in PTSD symptoms (21-month period).

This is the first and largest longitudinal meta-analysis to show that PTSD may accelerate biological aging—highlighting the biological consequences of trauma.

Kurt Zhao

About Xiang (Kurt) Zhao
PhD candidate in Biostatistics at Boston University and MSSP graduate.
Connect with him on LinkedIn →

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