Fig. 7: Association of PedBE epigenetic age acceleration and childhood-onset OCD diagnosis attenuated after accounting for estimated buccal epithelial cell proportions.

A significant but attenuated association of PedBE Epigenetic Age Acceleration (EAA) with childhood-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) diagnosis was observed when EAA calculation accounted for both chronological age and estimated BEC proportion in the cohort (ANCOVA). Box plots of PedBE EAA on the y-axis against the OCD-cases (n = 28, 0.82 ± 1.57, minima = −1.34, maxima = 5.36, 1st Quantile = −0.30, 3rd Quantile = 1.78)) and controls (n = 31, −0.74 ± 2.04, minima = −4.06, maxima = 4.10, 1st Quantile = −2.31, 3rd Quantile = 0.39) showed a significant but attenuated association, when PedBE EAA accounted for both chronological age and estimated BEC proportion, whereas when PedBE EAA corrected only for age a lower p value was obtained when OCD-cases (0.16 ± 1.57, minima = −2.76, maxima = 4.00, 1st Quantile = −0.73, 3rd Quantile = 0.95) were compared to the controls (−0.95 ± 1.86, minima = −4.01, maxima = 3.11, 1st Quantile = −2.41, 3rd Quantile = 0.32). “Source data are provided as a Source Data file”.