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Reproductive behaviors, genetic susceptibility and accelerated aging risk
Jinghui Zhong1, Deyan Kong2, Genpei Luo3
1Department of Neurology, Centre for Leading Medicine and Advanced Technologies of IHM, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
Npj Aging
|July 8, 2026
Summary
Reproductive behaviors like number of children ever born (NEB) and age at first birth (AFB) are linked to aging indicators. Certain patterns, such as 2-3 children or later first birth, may be associated with slower biological aging.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Health
- Genetics
- Aging Biology
Background:
- Reproductive behaviors are hypothesized to influence long-term health and aging.
- Genetic factors may interact with reproductive history to affect aging trajectories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate associations between reproductive behaviors and genetic susceptibility with multiple aging indicators in women.
- To explore how factors like number of children ever born (NEB), age at first birth (AFB), age at last birth (ALB), and span of years of births (SYB) relate to frailty, PhenoAge, KDM-BA acceleration, and brain age difference (BrainAGE-diff).
Main Methods:
- Utilized UK Biobank data from female participants.
- Employed multivariable analyses to assess associations between reproductive behaviors and aging indicators.
- Applied Mendelian randomization to evaluate genetically predicted effects of NEB and AFB on aging.
- Conducted joint analyses of polygenic risk scores and reproductive factors.
Main Results:
- Nonlinear associations were observed between reproductive behaviors and aging indicators.
- Having 2-3 children (NEB) was linked to lower risks of frailty, PhenoAge acceleration, KDM-BA acceleration, and BrainAGE-diff.
- Later AFB and ALB were associated with better aging markers, while longer SYB correlated with increased frailty and PhenoAge acceleration.
- Genetically predicted higher NEB was associated with higher frailty and PhenoAge acceleration, whereas genetically predicted later AFB showed associations with lower frailty and PhenoAge/KDM-BA acceleration.
- High polygenic risk scores combined with specific reproductive patterns (e.g., NEB > 3, AFB < 25 years, SYB ≥ 6 years) indicated a higher aging burden.
Conclusions:
- Reproductive behaviors, including NEB and AFB, show complex associations with biological aging indicators.
- Genetic predisposition, particularly for NEB and AFB, plays a role in the relationship between reproduction and aging.
- Specific reproductive profiles, especially when combined with genetic risk, may contribute to an accelerated aging phenotype.
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