BIOLOGICAL AGE ESTIMATION OF THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE 32-ND BULGARIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION
Keywords:
Biological Age, blood markers, Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition, Mortality RiskAbstract
It is assumed that Biological Age better evaluates the physiological deterioration of the organism than
chronological age. Specific blood biomarkers have shown the ability to detect differences in Biological Age, even in
young and healthy individuals, before the development of disease or phenotypic manifestations of accelerated aging.
This work aimed to calculate the Biological Age of the participants in the 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition,
assessing their objective physiological state and formatting recommendations in case of increased levels of health
risk. Traveling to Antarctica and staying there is a prerequisite for a rise of the participants’ stress levels, related to
logistics, the change of the social environment, and work in adverse climatic conditions. Data indicated that
exposure to stress increased the Biological Age in humans, but it decreased after the stress resolved. This research
involved 28 individuals, 22 men, and 6 women, at a mean age of 43.04 ± 8.19 years (between 26 and 56 years old).
All participants resided at the Bulgarian Antarctic base "St. Kliment Ohridski" at Livingstone Island for 30 days.
The journey to the base involved several connecting flights passing through different time zones, and finally, with
the Bulgarian naval research vessel “St. Cyril and Methodius” (RSV 421) across the Drake Passage and in the
reverse order when returning. Blood samples were taken from the participants twice (before and after the
expedition). Sera was obtained after natural coagulation and centrifugation at 3000 rpm per 20 min. and the
following markers were measured in it: White Blood Cells (WBC), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Red Cell
Distribution Width (RDW), Lymphocytes% (LYM%), Glucose (Glu), Creatinine (Crt), Albumin (Alb), Alkaline
Phosphatase (ALP), and C-Reactive Protein (CRP). Biological Age and the 10-year Mortality Risk were calculated
according to the formula of Levine et al., (2018) with the correction made by Liu et al. (2018). The results showed a
variation of the Biological Age values between 10.3 years younger and 8.4 years older (mean 3.52 ± 4.06 years
younger) than the chronological age of the individuals before the expedition and 15.7 years younger and 1.3 years
older (mean 6.02 ± 4.05 years younger) than the chronological age of the individuals after returning. Concerning the
10-year Mortality Risk, the results showed a variation between 0.26% and 5.49% (mean 2.05 ± 1.44%) before the
expedition and between 0.24% and 4.33% (mean 1.73 ± 1.14%) after the expedition. Both indicators decreased
statistically significantly after the expedition, with about 2.5 years for the Biological Age and about 0.3% for the 10-
year Mortality Risk. In conclusion, the obtained results indicated that participation in the Bulgarian Antarctic
expeditions does not lead to an increase in Biological Age and 10-year Mortality Risk. In this study, the Biological
Age of participants in an Antarctic expedition was calculated for the first time. Likely, the results for Biological Age
and 10-year Mortality Risk in other more severe conditions at the Antarctic mainland closer to the Pole may differ
significantly. It can be recommended that blood samples for calculating the Biological Age be also taken during the
stay at the polar base, which will allow a complete picture of the stressful conditions of polar expeditions to be
obtained.
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