Figure 4.

Epigenetic age (EpiAge) is accelerated in those with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. DNA was isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of each sample and the methylation status near the ELOVL2 gene was measured using bisulfite sequencing. An EpiAge was calculated for each participant, and the CMV-negative (n = 21) and CMV-positive (n = 54) groups were compared using a multilinear regression analysis including age, sex, smoking status, and body mass index as covariables. A violin plot was generated for each group, with the median and quartiles represented by dashed lines. P values below .05 were considered significant.