Lessons from Knowledge on the Correlates of the Age of Onset of Physical Illness

Epidemiological studies over the last century have highlighted that the risk of non-communicable diseases increases with age, and suggest that ageing can be considered a marker of the accumulation of exposure to modifiable risk factors. Recently, a strong association between chronological age and DNA methylation changes has been described. As a consequence, DNA methylation has been proposed as a biomarker of (un)healthy ageing.