Associations of exposure to volatile organic compounds with biological aging: a cross-sectional study

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are recognized as potentially linked to various health damages. However, the effects of VOCs exposure on biological aging remain unknown. This study aimed to investigate this potential association through cross-sectional analyses.

This study analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2011-2016). There was a total of 29,902 participants and 3,205 participants were finally included. Biological aging was represented by PhenoAge acceleration calculated through multiple indicators including albumin and alkaline phosphatase and so on. We employed weighted multivariate logistic regression to examine the correlation between individual VOC exposure and biological aging. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression was utilized to identify key VOCs for the weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, which assessed the association between mixed exposure to VOCs and biological aging. In addition, subgroup analyses were conducted using data from the same database on individuals' daily behaviors, such as physical activity levels, smoking, and alcohol consumption, to explore the influence of daily behaviors on the above associations.

Logistic regression analysis indicated that exposure to various individual VOCs was associated with biological aging. The WQS results revealed a significant positive association between mixed exposure to VOCs and biological aging (P < 0.001, OR = 1.523). Additionally, we found that participants with drinking, smoking, and lower levels of physical activity were more affected by exposure to individual VOCs. Mixed VOCs exposures differed only between smoking (P < 0.001, OR = 1.422) and non-smoking populations (P = 0.216, OR = 1.158).

VOCs exposure was associated with biological aging, and daily behaviors may influence an individual's susceptibility to such exposure. This discovery provided a new way of thinking about slowing down the aging process and improving overall health.