GrimAge — AgeMethod data

epigenetic method · published 2019 · measured from blood (DNA methylation, Illumina array)

Facts

Method type	epigenetic
Published	2019
Sample type	blood (DNA methylation, Illumina array)
Output	GrimAge (years); DNAm-based mortality risk estimate
Validated population	Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort (training/test); validated on additional independent cohorts within the same paper
Open or commercial	both
Formula publicly available	No — Computed via Horvath lab DNAm Age Calculator or third-party DNAm testing labs; underlying CpG weights not released as a standalone public formula

Required inputs

Genome-wide DNA methylation array (blood)

Original publication

Lu AT, Quach A, Wilson JG, Reiner AP, Aviv A, Raj K, Hou L, Baccarelli AA, Li Y, Stewart JD, Whitsel EA, Assimes TL, Ferrucci L, Horvath S. DNA methylation GrimAge strongly predicts lifespan and healthspan. Aging (Albany NY). 2019;11(2):303-327.
DOI: 10.18632/aging.101684 · PMID: 30669119

Limitations

Component weights are not fully published as an open, downloadable formula — GrimAge is computed via Horvath lab's DNAm Age Calculator (free for research use) or through commercial DNAm testing labs (e.g. TruDiagnostic), not from a public closed-form equation.
Built from DNAm surrogates for plasma proteins and smoking pack-years via elastic net regression, not a direct biological measurement.
A GrimAge2 update exists (Lu et al., Aging, 2022) with revised biomarkers; this record covers the original 2019 version only.