In the course of scientific work, scientists studied blood samples from people with major depressive disorder in order to determine the level of methylation – the process of attaching methyl groups to certain sections of DNA, affecting the activity of genes. It is noted that DNA methylation itself undergoes changes with age, making this indicator suitable for determining the biological age of a person.

As a result, experts found that people with depression have a higher cell age on average than healthy people. It was also found that the risk of death is higher in people with MDD than in healthy volunteers of the same age.