Fig. 3: Age-related somatic changes are associated with measures of physical function.
From: The Medical Genome Reference Bank contains whole genome and phenotype data of 2570 healthy elderly
Across multiple cohorts, a consistent decrease with age is observed for telomere length (a), mitochondria per nucleus (b), and Y copy number in males (c). In contrast, advanced age is associated with an increase in somatic mutation burden (d, e) and the fraction of samples with detectable clonal haematopoiesis (f), as well as a decrease in the key physical function measures gait speed (g) and grip strength (h). The count of mitochondria per nucleus is significantly related to grip strength beyond age alone in men, as indicated by the change in effective age as judged by grip strength with varying mitochondria count (i). For a–c, g, h individual measurements corrected for cohort batch effect are shown with LOESS smooths, and for d a logistic fit was used. Bands around estimates delimit 99% confidence intervals for the mean. Sample numbers were 1853 for the ASPREE cohort, 717 for the 45 and Up Study, and 344 for the ASRB cohort.
