Physiologic Aging and Longevity: The Association of 6 Blood Biomarkers with Age at Death in the Cardiovascular Health Study
"The median (IQR) age at biomarker measurement was 72.9 (70.0 – 77.0) years, and the median (IQR) age at death was 88.5 (83.0 – 93.1) years in females and 86.2 (80.8 – 91.0) in males. Unadjusted associations are shown in Figure 1. After adjusting for covariates, a 2-fold higher level of IL-6, cystatin C, and BNP was associated with significant 1.01-, 3.99-, and 1.02-year reductions in longevity (95% CIs: 0.80–1.22; 3.47–4.50; 0.75–0.99). A 2-fold higher level of hs-CRP was associated with a significant 0.30-year reduction longevity (95% CI: 0.14-0.46) among females and a significant 0.46-year reduction (95% CI: 0.29-0.64) among males. For DHEAS and IGF-1, significant U-shaped relationships between these biomarkers and age at death were observed, as indicated by p < 0.001 for coefficients of the quadratic terms in these models.
Higher levels of cystatin C, a biomarker reflecting worse kidney function, were most strongly associated with earlier death. Our results are consistent with prior literature and illustrate how these biomarkers relate to longevity outcomes."