Loss of genomic DNA methylation has been found in a variety of common human age-
related diseases. Whether DNA methylation decreases over time as individuals age is
unresolved. We measured DNA methylation in 1097 blood DNA samples from 718 elderly
subjects between 55 and 92 years of age (1–3 samples/subjects), who have been
repeatedly evaluated over an 8-year time span in the Boston area Normative Aging Study.
DNA methylation was measured using quantitative PCR-Pyrosequencing analysis in Alu …