Surgery-associated accelerated biological aging: Evidence from a cross-sectional study.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology and Aging Research
• Surgical Science
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Surgery and anesthesia are significant physiological stressors linked to biological aging.
• Physical activity (PA) is recognized for its anti-aging properties.
• The interplay between PA and surgery-induced biological aging requires clarification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between surgical history and biological aging.
• To determine if physical activity modifies the relationship between surgery and biological aging.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional analysis of UK Biobank data (126,668 participants, aged ≥60).
• Assessed biological aging using PhenoAge acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel).
• Examined associations with surgery number, interval, and recency, adjusting for covariates; PA categorized as high (≥600 MET-min/week) or low (<600 MET-min/week).

Main Results:

• Increased cumulative surgical exposure correlated with accelerated biological aging (PhenoAgeAccel).
• Participants with ≥4 surgeries showed 0.14–0.39 years of PhenoAgeAccel compared to those with none.
• Shorter surgical intervals (≤1 year) and recent surgery (≤1 year) were linked to accelerated aging.
• High PA attenuated these associations, with significant aging observed only at higher surgery counts or within one year of recent surgery.

Conclusions:

• Surgical factors like number, interval, and recency are associated with accelerated biological aging.
• Optimizing surgical timing could mitigate the biological burden of repeated surgeries.
• Higher physical activity levels are negatively correlated with surgery-related aging.