The Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Telomere Length: A Meta‐analysis

Schutte, Nicola S.; Malouff, John M.

doi:10.1002/smi.2607

Cited by 71 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The effect sizes (i.e., d ) observed for the comparisons between the separated or divorced group and the other groups were −.16 for people who were continuously married and −.20 for people who had never been married; these d values translate into correlations of −.08 and −.10, respectively. These effect sizes are roughly comparable in magnitude to the effect sizes obtained in prior meta-analyses of the association between telomere length and gender ( d = .09, with women having longer telomeres than men; Gardner et al, 2014) and BMI ( r = −.06; Müezzinler et al, 2014), although they are smaller than the effect obtained in a prior meta-analysis of the association between telomere length and perceived stress ( r = −.25; Schutte & Malouff, 2014). Therefore, the association we found between marital disruption and telomere length is roughly comparable to the magnitude found for some other correlates of accelerated cellular aging.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

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Marital disruption is associated with shorter salivary telomere length in a probability sample of older adults

Whisman

Robustelli

Sbarra

2016

Social Science & Medicine

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Rationale Marital disruption (i.e., marital separation, divorce) is associated with a wide range of poor mental and physical health outcomes, including increased risk for all-cause mortality. One biological intermediary that may help explain the association between marital disruption and poor health is accelerated cellular aging. Objective This study examines the association between marital disruption and salivary telomere length in a United States probability sample of adults ≥ 50 years of age. Method Participants were 3,526 individuals who participated in the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Telomere length assays were performed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) on DNA extracted from saliva samples. Health and lifestyle factors, traumatic and stressful life events, and neuroticism were assessed via self-report. Linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between predictor variables and salivary telomere length. Results Based on their marital status data in the 2006 wave, people who were separated or divorced had shorter salivary telomeres than people who were continuously married or had never been married, and the association between marital disruption and salivary telomere length was not moderated by gender or neuroticism. Furthermore, the association between marital disruption and salivary telomere length remained statistically significant after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic variables, neuroticism, cigarette use, body mass, traumatic life events, and other stressful life events. Additionally, results revealed that currently married adults with a history of divorce evidenced shorter salivary telomeres than people who were continuously married or never married. Conclusion Accelerated cellular aging, as indexed by telomere shortening, may be one pathway through which marital disruption is associated with morbidity and mortality.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Meta-analytic findings across eight studies (involving 1,143 people) demonstrate a moderate-sized negative association ( r = −.25) between perceived stress and telomere length (Schutte & Malouff, 2014). A wide variety of life stressors are also associated with telomere length.…”

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confidence: 99%

Marital disruption is associated with shorter salivary telomere length in a probability sample of older adults

Whisman

Robustelli

Sbarra

2016

Social Science & Medicine

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“…Given the relationship between chronic psychological stress and/or childhood adversity and psychiatric illness(60, 61), future research should examine whether these experiences mediate the relationship between psychiatric diagnosis and LTL observed in our data. Future studies could test this hypothesis, perhaps by measuring history, chronicity, and severity of childhood adversity, as well as perceived psychological stress, and LTL in individuals across a variety of psychiatric diagnoses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Association Between Psychiatric Disorders and Telomere Length: A Meta-Analysis Involving 14,827 Persons

et al. 2016

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Objective This study examined the relationship between leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a marker of cell aging, and psychiatric disorders in adults compared to controls using meta-analytic methods. Methods Data were abstracted from studies examining the relationship between LTL and adult psychiatric disorders. In addition to an overall estimate of effect size, subgroup analyses and meta-regression were performed to examine whether covariates (including psychiatric diagnoses) moderated the estimate. Results A significant overall effect size showing LTL shortening was found across all psychiatric disorders (Hedge’s g = −0.50, p< 0.001). Subgroup analyses did not demonstrate significant differences in effect size based on individual covariates (psychiatric disorder, sex, age or assay method). The meta-regression indicated that although type of disorder and, likely, age moderate the overall effect size, the heterogeneity between studies could be explained by a model that included these variables as well as sex and assay method. Although not significantly different, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders had comparatively larger effect sizes (−1.27, −.53, and −.55), and psychotic and bipolar disorders had comparatively smaller ones (−.23 and −.26). Conclusions We observed a robust effect size of LTL shortening for psychiatric disorders as a whole compared to controls. The results were less straightforward regarding relative differences in the strength of this association by specific disorder. Future studies should focus on mechanisms explaining accelerated cell aging with psychiatric illness, defining directions (if any) of causality and elucidating possible differences in this association between disorders.

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“…In the following sections, we review the literature on LTL and PBMC TA in major psychiatric illnesses, but we direct the reader to other papers for discussion of cell aging in chronic psychological stress (Kiecolt-Glaser et al, 2011; Schutte and Malouff, 2014a; Starkweather et al, 2014) and adverse childhood experiences (Moffitt, 2012; Price et al, 2013; Shalev et al, 2013; Starkweather et al, 2014; Tyrka et al, 2010), both of which are common in individuals with psychatric illness and may confound data interpretation. Our review strategy started with MedLine searches (through January, 2015) for articles containing the key words “telomeres” or “telomerase” along with any of the following key words: “depression,” “depressive”, “bipolar,” mania”, “manic”, anxiety”, “obsessive”, ”compulsive”, “panic”, “phobia”, “post-traumatic stress”, “psychosis”, “psychotic”, or “schizophrenia”.…”

Section: Telomere Length In Psychiatric Illnessesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychiatric disorders and leukocyte telomere length: Underlying mechanisms linking mental illness with cellular aging

Lindqvist

Epel

Mellon³

et al. 2015

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

271

231

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Many psychiatric illnesses are associated with early mortality and with an increased risk of developing physical diseases that are more typically seen in the elderly. Moreover, certain psychiatric illnesses may be associated with accelerated cellular aging, evidenced by shortened leukocyte telomere length (LTL), which could underlie this association. Shortened LTL reflects a cell's mitotic history and cumulative exposure to inflammation and oxidation as well as the availability of telomerase, a telomere-lengthening enzyme. Critically short telomeres can cause cells to undergo senescence, apoptosis or genomic instability, and shorter LTL correlates with poorer health and predicts mortality. Emerging data suggest that LTL may be reduced in certain psychiatric illnesses, perhaps in proportion to exposure to the psychiatric illnesses, although conflicting data exist. Telomerase has been less well characterized in psychiatric illnesses, but a role in depression and in antidepressant and neurotrophic effects has been suggested by preclinical and clinical studies. In this article, studies on LTL and telomerase activity in psychiatric illnesses are critically reviewed, potential mediators are discussed, and future directions are suggested. A deeper understanding of cellular aging in psychiatric illnesses could lead to re-conceptualizing Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. DISCLOSURESJL is a consultant to Telomere Diagnostics Inc., formerly Telome Health, and owns stock in the company. The company had no role in this research or in writing this review. The remaining authors report no current disclosures or conflicts of interest. HHS Public Access

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The Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Telomere Length: A Meta‐analysis

Cited by 71 publications

References 22 publications

Marital disruption is associated with shorter salivary telomere length in a probability sample of older adults

Marital disruption is associated with shorter salivary telomere length in a probability sample of older adults

The Association Between Psychiatric Disorders and Telomere Length: A Meta-Analysis Involving 14,827 Persons

Psychiatric disorders and leukocyte telomere length: Underlying mechanisms linking mental illness with cellular aging

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