%0 Journal Article %J Physiological Reports %D 2024 %T The long and the short of it: Salivary telomere length as a candidate biomarker for hypertension and age-related changes in blood pressure. %A Speer, Hollie %A McKune, Andrew J %A Woodward, Andrew P %K Aged %K Bayes Theorem %K Biomarkers %K Blood pressure %K Female %K Humans %K Hypertension %K Telomere %K Telomere Shortening %X

Hypertension becomes more prevalent with increasing age. Telomere length (TL) has been proposed as a candidate biomarker and can be accessibly extracted from saliva. However, clarity is needed to evaluate the suitability of using TL as a predictor in such instances. This study investigated salivary TL in a cohort of older adults from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study (n = 3329; F: 58%, mean age: 69.4, SD: 10.3 years) to examine any associations with blood pressure (BP). A Bayesian robust regression model was fit using weakly informative priors to predict the effects of TL with age, sex, systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), and treatment status. There were small effects of treatment (β: -0.07, 95% CrI [-0.33, 0.19], pd: 71.91%) and sex (β: -0.10, 95% CrI [-0.27, 0.07], pd: >86.78%). Population effects showed a reduction of 0.01 log units in TL with each year of advancing age (95% CrI [-0.01, -0.00]). Conditional posterior predictions suggest that females, and treated individuals, experience greater change in TL with increasing age. Bayes R was ~2%. TL declines with increasing age, differs between sexes, and appears to be influenced by antihypertensive drugs. Overall, all effects were weak. The data do not currently support the suitability of salivary TL as a biomarker to predict or understand any age-related changes in BP.

%B Physiological Reports %V 12 %P e15910 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.14814/phy2.15910 %0 Journal Article %J Acta Diabetologica %D 2023 %T Salivary telomere length and the risks of prediabetes and diabetes among middle-aged and older adults: findings from the Health and Retirement Study. %A Yu, Hong-Jie %A Ho, Mandy %A Chau, Pui Hing %A Geng, Leiluo %A Fong, Daniel Yee Tak %K Cardiovascular Diseases %K Diabetes Mellitus %K Obesity %K Overweight %K Prediabetic State %K Telomere %K Telomere Shortening %X

AIM: To assess the association of telomere length (TL) with prediabetes/diabetes and to explore the potential factors affecting TL among individuals with prediabetes/diabetes by weight status.

METHODS: This study included 3,379 eligible adults (aged 45-85 years, males: 42%) from the US Health and Retirement Study in 2008. TL was assayed using quantitative PCR of saliva (T/S ratio). Linear and nonlinear associations between TL and prediabetes/diabetes were assessed using the logistic regression and restricted cubic spline model, respectively, adjusting for TL-plate numbers, age, sex, race, body mass index, lifestyles, diabetes medications, and cardiometabolic parameters (blood pressure, C-reactive protein, and total cholesterol). Multiple linear regression was used for testing any factors associated with TL.

RESULTS: Among 3,379 participants, 868 (25.7%) had prediabetes with a mean TL of 1.34 ± 0.37 (T/S ratio) and 858 (25.4%) had diabetes with a mean TL of 1.36 ± 0.43 (T/S ratio). Neither linear nor nonlinear association of TL with prediabetes/diabetes was significant by weight status. Age was negatively associated with TL in both normal-weight (β = - 0.002, p = 0.025) and overweight/obese (β = - 0.002, p = 0.006) prediabetes, but non-significant in normal-weight and overweight/obese diabetes. BMI and cardiometabolic parameters were not associated with TL in prediabetes/diabetes by weight status.

CONCLUSIONS: Salivary TL was not associated with prediabetes/diabetes among the US middle-aged and older adults. Further longitudinal studies are required to establish the link between TL and diabetes development and to identify potential factors affecting TL shortening, particularly in normal-weight diabetic patients.

%B Acta Diabetologica %V 60 %P 273-283 %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1007/s00592-022-02004-9 %0 Journal Article %J Scientific Reports %D 2022 %T How social/environmental determinants and inflammation affect salivary telomere length among middle-older adults in the health and retirement study. %A Courtney, Margaret Gough %A Roberts, Josephine %A Godde, Kanya %K C-reactive protein %K Inflammation %K Retirement %K Social determinants of health %K Telomere %K Telomere Shortening %X

Social epidemiology posits that chronic stress from social determinants will lead to a prolonged inflammatory response that may induce accelerated aging as measured, for example, through telomere length (TL). In this paper, we hypothesize variables across demographic, health-related, and contextual/environmental domains influence the body's stress response, increase inflammation (as measured through high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP)), and thereby lead to shortening of telomeres. This population-based research uses data from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study on participants ages ≤ 54-95 + years, estimating logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models of variables (with and without confounders) across the domains on shortened TL. A mediation analysis is also conducted. Contrary to expectations, hs-CRP is not associated with risk of shortened TL. Rather, factors related to accessing health care, underlying conditions of frailty, and social inequality appear to predict risk of shorter TL, and models demonstrate considerable confounding. Further, hs-CRP is not a mediator for TL. Therefore, the social determinants of health examined do not appear to follow an inflammatory pathway for shortened TL. The finding of a relationship to social determinants affecting access to health care and medical conditions underscores the need to address social determinants alongside primary care when examining health inequities.

%B Scientific Reports %V 12 %P 8882 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41598-022-12742-z %0 Journal Article %J Obes Res Clin Pract %D 2017 %T Body weight status and telomere length in U.S. middle-aged and older adults. %A An, Ruopeng %A Yan, Hai %K Aged %K Aging %K Body Mass Index %K Body Weight %K ethnicity %K Female %K Humans %K Linear Models %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Obesity %K Overweight %K Racial Groups %K Risk Factors %K Sex Factors %K Telomere %K Telomere Shortening %K United States %K White People %X

OBJECTIVE: Telomere length has been proposed as a biomarker of biological aging. This study examined the relationship between body weight status and telomere length in U.S. middle-aged and older adults.

METHODS: Nationally representative data (N=2749) came from the Health and Retirement Study. Linear regressions were performed to examine the relationship between baseline body weight status reported in 1992 and telomere length measured in 2008 in the overall sample and by sex and racial/ethnic groups, adjusted for individual characteristics.

RESULTS: Baseline overweight (25kg/m≤body mass index [BMI]<30kg/m) and obesity (BMI≥30kg/m) status positively predicted telomere length 17 years later. Compared with their normal weight counterparts, telomere length ratio was on average 0.062 (95% confidence interval=0.016, 0.109) and 0.125 (0.048, 0.202) larger among overweight and obese adults, respectively. In comparison to women and racial/ethnic minorities, the estimated positive associations between overweight and obesity status and telomere length were more salient among men and non-Hispanic whites, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The positive association between body weight status and telomere length found in this study was opposite to what existing biological model predicts, and could partially relate to the nonlinear relationship between body weight status and telomere length across age cohorts, and/or the lack of reliability of BMI as an indicator for adiposity in the older population. Large-scale longitudinal studies with baseline telomere length measures are warranted to replicate this study finding and explore the potential heterogeneous relationship between body weight status and telomere length.

%B Obes Res Clin Pract %V 11 %P 51-62 %8 2017 Jan-Feb %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26895795?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.orcp.2016.01.003 %0 Journal Article %J Psychosom Med %D 2017 %T Depressive Symptoms and Salivary Telomere Length in a Probability Sample of Middle-Aged and Older Adults. %A Mark A Whisman %A Emily D Richardson %K Aged %K Anxiety Disorders %K Body Mass Index %K Chronic disease %K depression %K Female %K Humans %K Life Style %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Neuroticism %K Psychological Trauma %K Saliva %K Sex Factors %K Smoking %K Telomere Shortening %X

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between depressive symptoms and salivary telomere length in a probability sample of middle-aged and older adults, and to evaluate age and sex as potential moderators of this association and test whether this association was incremental to potential confounds.

METHODS: Participants were 3,609 individuals from the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Telomere length assays were performed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction on DNA extracted from saliva samples. Depressive symptoms were assessed via interview, and health and lifestyle factors, traumatic life events, and neuroticism were assessed via self-report. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between predictor variables and salivary telomere length.

RESULTS: After adjusting for demographics, depressive symptoms were negatively associated with salivary telomere length (b = -.003; p = .014). Furthermore, this association was moderated by sex (b = .005; p = .011), such that depressive symptoms were significantly and negatively associated with salivary telomere length for men (b = - .006; p < .001) but not for women (b = - .001; p = .644). The negative association between depressive symptoms and salivary telomere length in men remained statistically significant after additionally adjusting for cigarette smoking, body mass index, chronic health conditions, childhood and lifetime exposure to traumatic life events, and neuroticism.

CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with shorter salivary telomeres in men, and this association was incremental to several potential confounds. Shortened telomeres may help account for the association between depression and poor physical health and mortality.

%B Psychosom Med %V 79 %P 234-242 %8 2017 Feb/Mar %G eng %U http://content.wkhealth.com/linkback/openurl?sid=WKPTLP:landingpage&an=00006842-900000000-98910 %N 2 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28029664?dopt=Abstract %! Psychosomatic Medicine %R 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000383 %0 Journal Article %J Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A %D 2016 %T Lifespan adversity and later adulthood telomere length in the nationally representative US Health and Retirement Study. %A Puterman, Eli %A Gemmill, Alison %A Karasek, Deborah %A David R Weir %A Nancy E Adler %A Aric A Prather %A Elissa S Epel %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Cellular Senescence %K Female %K Humans %K Longevity %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Multivariate Analysis %K Odds Ratio %K Public Health Surveillance %K Risk Factors %K Stress, Psychological %K Telomere %K Telomere Shortening %K United States %X

Stress over the lifespan is thought to promote accelerated aging and early disease. Telomere length is a marker of cell aging that appears to be one mediator of this relationship. Telomere length is associated with early adversity and with chronic stressors in adulthood in many studies. Although cumulative lifespan adversity should have bigger impacts than single events, it is also possible that adversity in childhood has larger effects on later life health than adult stressors, as suggested by models of biological embedding in early life. No studies have examined the individual vs. cumulative effects of childhood and adulthood adversities on adult telomere length. Here, we examined the relationship between cumulative childhood and adulthood adversity, adding up a range of severe financial, traumatic, and social exposures, as well as comparing them to each other, in relation to salivary telomere length. We examined 4,598 men and women from the US Health and Retirement Study. Single adversities tended to have nonsignificant relations with telomere length. In adjusted models, lifetime cumulative adversity predicted 6% greater odds of shorter telomere length. This result was mainly due to childhood adversity. In adjusted models for cumulative childhood adversity, the occurrence of each additional childhood event predicted 11% increased odds of having short telomeres. This result appeared mainly because of social/traumatic exposures rather than financial exposures. This study suggests that the shadow of childhood adversity may reach far into later adulthood in part through cellular aging.

%B Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A %V 113 %P E6335-E6342 %8 2016 10 18 %G eng %U http://www.pnas.org/content/113/42/E6335.long %N 42 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27698131?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1073/pnas.1525602113 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Epidemiol %D 2016 %T Sex-Specific and Time-Varying Associations Between Cigarette Smoking and Telomere Length Among Older Adults. %A Zhang, Chenan %A Diane S. Lauderdale %A Brandon L Pierce %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Aging %K Biomarkers %K DNA %K Female %K Health Status %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Oxidative stress %K Polymerase Chain Reaction %K Prospective Studies %K Saliva %K Sex Distribution %K Smoking %K Smoking cessation %K Telomere Shortening %X

Inconsistent associations between smoking and telomere length (TL) have been reported in epidemiologic studies, perhaps because of the time-varying nature of smoking behaviors. We estimated the associations of TL, which was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction using saliva DNA, with concurrent and past smoking status reported biennially for up to 16 years before TL measurement in 5,624 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2008). Smoking was associated with reduced TL when we used prospective data on smoking statuses among men and women, but the association was strongly attenuated among men in cross-sectional analyses. This attenuation was largely due to a higher rate of smoking cessation during the study period among men with shorter TL than among men with longer TL. Short TL was also associated with poorer overall health in men, which suggests that male smokers with short TL were more likely to quit smoking because of poor health. Analyses of years since cessation, smoking duration, and pack-years of smoking all support the hypothesis that increased cigarette use shortens TL. Our results provide a potential explanation for the inconsistent associations between smoking and TL reported in previous cross-sectional studies. Time-varying associations should be considered in future studies of smoking behavior, TL, aging, and disease risk.

%B Am J Epidemiol %V 184 %P 922-932 %8 2016 12 15 %G eng %U http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/lookup/doi/10.1093/aje/kww102 %N 12 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27856448?dopt=Abstract %! Am. J. Epidemiol. %R 10.1093/aje/kww102