Traumatic Stress, Epigenetic Aging, and Heart Risk in Veterans
Official title: Traumatic Stress, Epigenetic Aging, and Cardiovascular Risk in the Million Veteran Program
Funded at VA Boston Health Care System · NIH-11531287 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A large study using Veterans Affairs data to see if traumatic stress and faster biological aging relate to higher risk of stroke and heart disease.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | VA Boston Health Care System NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2025 |
| Project end | March 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2027 |
| NIH project number | 5I01BX006510-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11531287 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Veterans enrolled in the Million Veteran Program with the potential to contribute data and biospecimens.
✕Less likely to help
Individuals not represented in MVP or without relevant data may not benefit from this study.
What this research studies
We will analyze nationwide data from the Million Veteran Program to understand if traumatic stress is linked to older-appearing DNA and higher cardiovascular risk. The project will look at epigenetic aging measures derived from DNA methylation and see how they predict future heart events like stroke and heart attack. We will explore whether lifestyle factors, medications, and genetics modify these relationships, and we will build a translational model to estimate heart risk based on epigenetic age. This work could help identify high-risk Veterans and inform prevention strategies.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the study could improve early identification of Veterans at higher cardiovascular risk and inform personalized prevention strategies.
How similar studies have gone: Past studies have linked stress, epigenetic aging, and heart risk, but this project aims to translate those links into a predictive tool.
Where this research is happening
-
VA Boston Health Care System
Boston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wolf, Erika J — VA Boston Health Care System
- Study coordinator: Wolf, Erika J
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Traumatic stress, biological aging, and heart/stroke risk in Veterans
This project looks at whether past traumatic stress speeds up biological aging in DNA and raises the chance of heart disease and stroke for Veterans.
-
Investigating how repeated concussions and heart health affect brain aging and behavior.
This study is looking at how mild brain injuries and repeated hits to the head can affect your brain and behavior as you get older, using MRI scans to see how these changes relate to your age and heart health.
-
Aging Well with HIV: Alcohol, Risk Reduction, and Education Center (AWAR3E)
A center at Yale is exploring how aging with HIV interacts with alcohol use to create inflammation and frailty, with the goal of finding biomarkers and potential treatments.
-
Cardiovascular risk planning and reduction for men with prostate cancer
A program to better predict and reduce heart disease risk in men treated for prostate cancer, especially older patients.
-
Cognitive SuperAging: Exploring why some octogenarians stay sharp in memory
This NIH grant studies why a small group of people aged 80+ keep memory skills as good as much younger people, hoping to understand how to protect memory as we age.
-
Biological aging across the lifespan through a national high school-to-adult study
This grant uses a long-running national study of students and adults to collect saliva biomarkers of aging, alongside surveys, to understand how aging markers relate to health and life experiences.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.