Epigenetic Changes in Response to Tai Chi Practice: A Pilot Investigation of DNA Methylation Marks

Table 1

Characteristics of the female participants*.

Characteristics	Tai Chi (𝑁=237) %^†	Control (𝑁=263) %^†	Difference (𝑃 value)
Age (year) (mean ± SD)	64.6±10.4	62.6±10.9	0.71
Education level			0.59
Secondary	32	27
Tertiary	31	31
Degree (university)	35	40
Other	3	2
Have children	81	80	0.66
Occupation			0.14
Employed	36	42
Homemaker	9	10
Retired	54	45
Other	1	3
Born in Australia	71	70	0.83
Ethnic background			0.66
European^‡	90	89
Asian^‡	5	6
Other	5	5
Regular non-tai chi exercise	86	85	0.99
Do yoga or meditation	3	4	0.37
Smoke			0.84
Never smoked	82	76
Smoked in the past	15	19
Still smoking	3	5
Medical conditions
Type 2 diabetes	3	6	0.55
Hypertension	32	25	0.06
Cardiovascular disease	4	7	0.16
Body mass index^§			0.61
Underweight	14	12
Normal	50	45
Overweight	23	23
Obese	13	20
Situational anxiety^¶	32.8±9.8	35.3±11.4	0.04^‡‡**
Perceived stress^∥	4.5±2.6	4.8±2.9	0.28^‡‡
Degree of stress^††	7.2±2.0	6.9±2.1	0.32^‡‡

*Self-report data from questionnaire.
^†All values (except age) are given as a percentage of the total number of participants in the cohort.
^‡“European” refers to both Northern and Southern European origins. “Asian” refers to Chinese and Indian origins.
^§Body mass index (BMI) is weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. Underweight (BMI < 18.5); normal weight (BMI 18.5–24.9); overweight (BMI 25–29.9); obese (BMI ≥ 30).
^¶Participants were asked to describe how they felt presently at the moment of answering the questionnaire using the state subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (mean ± SD), where the range of scores for the STAI is 20–80, 80 being the highest level of STAI.
^∥Participants were asked to describe their feelings and thoughts during the last month at the time of answering the questionnaire using the Perceived Stress Scale (mean ± SD) on a scale of 0–16, 16 being the highest level of PSS.
^††Participants were asked if they had experienced significant stressful life events in the past 12 months, for example, the death of someone close, diagnosis of a serious health condition in the participant or someone close. Values (mean ± SD) denote the degree of stress on a scale of 1–10, 10 being the highest level of stress.
**A significant difference between the tai chi and control cohorts.
^‡‡𝑡-test was performed for these continuous data instead of the Chi-squared tests used for the other categorical data.