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Leukocyte telomere length and mortality in the Cardiovascular Health Study.
Tuesday,2012-11-06 12:25 America/Los_Angeles — eenright
| Title | Leukocyte telomere length and mortality in the Cardiovascular Health Study. |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2011 |
| Authors | Fitzpatrick, AL, Kronmal, RA, Kimura, M, Gardner, JP, Psaty, BM, Jenny, NS, Tracy, RP, Hardikar, S, Aviv, A |
| Journal | J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pagination | 421-9 |
| Date Published | 2011 Apr |
| ISSN | 1758-535X |
| Keywords | Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Body Mass Index, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cause of Death, Comorbidity, Coronary Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Female, Humans, Hypertension, Leukocytes, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Prospective Studies, Smoking, Stroke, Telomere |
| Abstract | <p><b>BACKGROUND: </b>Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is related to diseases of aging, but studies of mortality have been inconsistent.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>We evaluated LTL in relation to total mortality and specific cause of death in 1,136 participants of the Cardiovascular Health Study who provided blood samples in 1992-1993 and survived through 1997-1998. LTL was measured by Southern blots of the terminal restriction fragments. Cause of death was classified by a committee of physicians reviewing death certificates, medical records, and informant interviews.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>A total of 468 (41.2%) deaths occurred over 6.1 years of follow-up in participants with mean age of 73.9 years (SD 4.7), 65.4% female, and 14.8% African American. Although increased age and male gender were associated with shorter LTLs, African Americans had significantly longer LTLs independent of age and sex (p < .001). Adjusted for age, sex, and race, persons with the shortest quartile of LTL were 60% more likely to die during follow-up than those within the longest quartile (hazard ratio: 1.61, 95% confidence interval: 1.22-2.12, p = .001). The association remained after adjustment for cardiovascular disease risk factors. Evaluations of cause of death found LTL to be related to deaths due to an infectious disease etiology (hazard ratio: 2.80, 95% confidence interval: 1.32-5.94, p = .007), whereas a borderline association was found for cardiac deaths (hazard ratio: 1.82, 95% confidence interval: 0.95-3.49, p = .07) in adjusted models. Risk estimates for deaths due to cancer, dementia, and ischemic stroke were not significant.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION: </b>These data weakly corroborate prior findings of associations between LTL and mortality in the elderly.</p> |
| DOI | 10.1093/gerona/glq224 |
| Alternate Journal | J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. |
| PubMed ID | 21289018 |
| PubMed Central ID | PMC3055278 |
| Grant List | N01-HC-85085 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States U01 HL080295 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-85081 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-85086 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-85082 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-35129 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01 HC-55222 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States 1 R01 HL80698-01 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-85083 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-75150 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-85080 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01 HC-15103 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-45133 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-85079 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01-HC-85084 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States |