Reacción a "Reactions: study links living as a renter to faster biological ageing"

The study examines whether housing circumstances are related to faster ageing as measured by biological markers. Previous studies have already linked adverse housing conditions to poorer health. This study provides insights into the biological mechanisms that may be behind this. They find that private rental living, continued late payments or exposure to pollution are associated with faster biological ageing, which is estimated to be about half the equivalent of smoking or double that estimated for obesity. This fits with the known literature where we know that financial stress, residential insecurity or exposure to pollutants within the home can lead to poorer health. 

The study has a good design with use of UK biobank data. However, there may be some biases in the study, especially because of a very selected study population, with questions still to be answered about how it affects people with other circumstances of racism or whether it also leads to premature ageing in younger people such as children. The study may have relevance as the biological ageing process is potentially reversible, so better housing conditions could reverse these effects.