No Association Between Telomere Length and Survival Among the Elderly and Oldest Old

Bischoff, Claus; Petersen, Hans Christian; Graakjær, Jesper; Andersen‐Ranberg, Karen; Vaupel, James W.; Bohr, Vilhelm A.; Kølvraa, Steen; Christensen, Kaare

doi:10.1097/01.ede.0000199436.55248.10

Cited by 229 publications

(180 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This shows that the effect of high vegetable intake on LTL remains regardless of weight. Literature on the association of adiposity and LTL is based on cross-sectional studies and the findings are conflicting as some of the studies, including ours, found no association between BMI or other measures of adiposity and LTL, 4,5,22,[47][48][49] whereas some have reported significant inverse associations. 7,8,16,19,50 A recent cross-sectional study assessing total body and abdominal obesity in subjects aged 8-80 years noticed that the negative association between BMI and LTL is stronger among young subjects compared with the old.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 56%

Leukocyte telomere length and its relation to food and nutrient intake in an elderly population

Männistö

et al. 2012

Eur J Clin Nutr

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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with several chronic diseases, but only a few studies have assessed the association between dietary factors and LTL. Our objective was to study the association between fats, fruits, vegetables and LTL in a cross-sectional study design. We hypothesized that intakes of fruits and vegetables would be positively associated with LTL and that intakes of fats, and especially saturated fatty acids (SFAs), would be negatively associated with LTL. SUBJECTS/METHODS: LTL was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 1942 men and women aged 57-70 years from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. We assessed the whole diet by a validated semiquantitative 128-item food-frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: In general, there were only a few significant results. However, total fat and SFA intake (P ¼ 0.04 and 0.01, respectively) were inversely associated with LTL in men adjusting for age and energy intake. In women, vegetable intake was positively associated with LTL (P ¼ 0.05). Men consuming the most butter and least fruits had significantly shorter telomeres than those consuming the lowest amounts of butter and highest amounts of fruits (P ¼ 0.05). We found no association between LTL and body mass index, waist-hip ratio, smoking, physical activity or educational attainment. CONCLUSIONS: In this cross-sectional study of elderly men and women, there were only a few statistically significant effects of diet, but in general they support the hypothesis that fat and vegetable intakes were associated with LTL.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 56%

Leukocyte telomere length and its relation to food and nutrient intake in an elderly population

Männistö

et al. 2012

Eur J Clin Nutr

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“…[2][3][4] In epidemiological studies, both of cross-sectional and prospective design, decreased telomere length (TL) in leukocytes was associated with increased mortality, [5][6][7][8] although this finding was not consistent. 9,10 Increased TL in leukocytes has been associated with longevity in a comparison of long-lived Ashkenazi Jews and their offspring with younger controls. 11 Genetic association studies have revealed associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TERC and TERT genes and TL.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meta-analysis of telomere length in 19 713 subjects reveals high heritability, stronger maternal inheritance and a paternal age effect

et al. 2013

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Telomere length (TL) has been associated with aging and mortality, but individual differences are also influenced by genetic factors, with previous studies reporting heritability estimates ranging from 34 to 82%. Here we investigate the heritability, mode of inheritance and the influence of parental age at birth on TL in six large, independent cohort studies with a total of 19 713 participants. The meta-analysis estimate of TL heritability was 0.70 (95% CI 0.64-0.76) and is based on a pattern of results that is highly similar for twins and other family members. We observed a stronger mother-offspring (r ¼ 0.42; P-value ¼ 3.60 Â 10 À61 ) than father-offspring correlation (r ¼ 0.33; P-value ¼ 7.01 Â 10 À5 ), and a significant positive association with paternal age at offspring birth (b ¼ 0.005; P-value ¼ 7.01 Â 10 À5 ). Interestingly, a significant and quite substantial correlation in TL between spouses (r ¼ 0.25; P-value ¼ 2.82 Â 10 À30 ) was seen, which appeared stronger in older spouse pairs (mean age Z55 years; r ¼ 0.31; P-value ¼ 4.27 Â 10 À23 ) than in younger pairs (mean ageo55 years; r ¼ 0.20; P-value ¼ 3.24 Â 10 À10 ). In summary, we find a high and very consistent heritability estimate for TL, evidence for a maternal inheritance component and a positive association with paternal age. European Journal of Human Genetics (2013) 21, 1163-1168; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2012.303; published online 16 January 2013Keywords: telomere length; heritability; paternal age effect INTRODUCTIONTelomeres are specialized DNA structures located at the terminal ends of chromosomes. 1 Their primary function is to maintain genomic stability. Because of the inability of DNA polymerase to fully replicate the 3 0 end of the DNA strand, that is, the 'end-replication problem' , telomeres naturally shorten with each cell division and, therefore, with age. [2][3][4] In epidemiological studies, both of cross-sectional and prospective design, decreased telomere length (TL) in leukocytes was associated with increased mortality, 5-8 although this finding was not consistent. 9,10 Increased TL in leukocytes has been associated with longevity in a comparison of long-lived Ashkenazi Jews and their offspring with younger controls. 11 Genetic association studies have revealed associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TERC and TERT genes and TL. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Other studies reported associations between SNPs in TERC and POT1 with human longevity, 11,17,18 suggesting that genes regulating TL may influence human longevity.

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“…As aging-related diseases and environmental factors may cause premature mortality, and as men's LTL [1,7,9,14,25] and life expectancy [27] are shorter than women's, the potential relation between LTL and human longevity has been explored in several studies, which yielded conflicting results [18,[28][29][30][31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Offspring's Leukocyte Telomere Length, Paternal Age, and Telomere Elongation in Sperm

Kimura¹,

Cherkas²,

Kato³

et al. 2005

PLoS Genet

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Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a complex genetic trait. It shortens with age and is associated with a host of agingrelated disorders. Recent studies have observed that offspring of older fathers have longer LTLs. We explored the relation between paternal age and offspring's LTLs in 4 different cohorts. Moreover, we examined the potential cause of the paternal age on offspring's LTL by delineating telomere parameters in sperm donors. We measured LTL by Southern blots in Caucasian men and women (n¼3365), aged 18-94 years, from the Offspring of the Framingham Heart Study (Framingham Offspring), the NHLBI Family Heart Study (NHLBI-Heart), the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins (Danish Twins), and the UK Adult Twin Registry (UK Twins). Using Southern blots, Q-FISH, and flow-FISH, we also measured telomere parameters in sperm from 46 young (,30 years) and older (.50 years) donors. Paternal age had an independent effect, expressed by a longer LTL in males of the Framingham Offspring and Danish Twins, males and females of the NHLBI-Heart, and females of UK Twins. For every additional year of paternal age, LTL in offspring increased at a magnitude ranging from half to more than twice of the annual attrition in LTL with age. Moreover, sperm telomere length analyses were compatible with the emergence in older men of a subset of sperm with elongated telomeres. Paternal age exerts a considerable effect on the offspring's LTL, a phenomenon which might relate to telomere elongation in sperm from older men. The implications of this effect deserve detailed study.Citation: Kimura M, Cherkas LF, Kato BS, Demissie S, Hjelmborg JB, et al. (2008) Offspring's leukocyte telomere length, paternal age, and telomere elongation in sperm. PLoS Genet 4(2): e37.

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No Association Between Telomere Length and Survival Among the Elderly and Oldest Old

Abstract: This longitudinal study of the elderly and oldest old does not support the hypothesis that telomere length is a predictor for remaining lifespan once age is controlled for.

Cited by 229 publications

References 34 publications

Leukocyte telomere length and its relation to food and nutrient intake in an elderly population

Leukocyte telomere length and its relation to food and nutrient intake in an elderly population

Meta-analysis of telomere length in 19 713 subjects reveals high heritability, stronger maternal inheritance and a paternal age effect

Offspring's Leukocyte Telomere Length, Paternal Age, and Telomere Elongation in Sperm

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