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Telomere length and the risk of atrial fibrillation: insights into the role of biological versus chronological aging.
Wednesday,2015-03-04 14:02 America/Los_Angeles — zdrager
| Title | Telomere length and the risk of atrial fibrillation: insights into the role of biological versus chronological aging. |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2014 |
| Authors | Roberts, JD, Dewland, TA, Longoria, J, Fitzpatrick, AL, Ziv, E, Hu, D, Lin, J, Glidden, DV, Psaty, BM, Burchard, EG, Blackburn, EH, Olgin, JE, Heckbert, SR, Marcus, GM |
| Journal | Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pagination | 1026-32 |
| Date Published | 2014 Dec |
| ISSN | 1941-3084 |
| Keywords | Age Factors, Aged, Aging, Atrial Fibrillation, California, Cardiac Surgical Procedures, Cellular Senescence, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Incidence, Leukocytes, Male, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prospective Studies, Risk Assessment, Risk Factors, Telomerase, Telomere, Time Factors |
| Abstract | <p><b>BACKGROUND: </b>Advanced age is the most important risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF); however, the mechanism remains unknown. Telomeres, regions of DNA that shorten with cell division, are considered reliable markers of biological aging. We sought to examine the association between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and incident AF in a large population-based cohort using direct LTL measurements and genetic data. To further explore our findings, we compared atrial cell telomere length and LTL in cardiac surgery patients.</p><p><b>METHODS AND RESULTS: </b>Mean LTL and the TERT rs2736100 single nucleotide polymorphism were assessed as predictors of incident AF in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). Among the surgical patients, within subject comparison of atrial cell telomere length versus LTL was assessed. Among 1639 CHS participants, we observed no relationship between mean LTL and incident AF before and after adjustment for potential confounders (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.09; 95% confidence interval: 0.92-1.29; P=0.299); chronologic age remained strongly associated with AF in the same model. No association was observed between the TERT rs2736100 single nucleotide polymorphism and incident AF (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.95; 95% confidence interval: 0.88-1.04; P=0.265). In 35 cardiac surgery patients (26 with AF), atrial cell telomere length was longer than LTL (1.19 ± 0.20 versus 1.02 ± 0.25 [T/S ratio], P<0.001), a finding that remained consistent within the AF subgroup.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>Our study revealed no evidence of an association between LTL and incident AF and no evidence of relative atrial cell telomere shortening in AF. Chronological aging independent of biological markers of aging is the primary risk factor for AF.</p> |
| DOI | 10.1161/CIRCEP.114.001781 |
| Alternate Journal | Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol |
| PubMed ID | 25381796 |
| PubMed Central ID | PMC4294941 |
| Grant List | N01HC85080 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States U01 HL080295 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States HHSN268200800007C / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States R01 HL080698 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC55222 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85086 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85081 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85079 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States HHSN268201200036C / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States R01 HL102214 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85086 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States R01 HL080295 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States R01 AA022222 / AA / NIAAA NIH HHS / United States HL102214 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85082 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States HHSN268200800007C / / PHS HHS / United States N01HC85082 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85083 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States HHSN268201200036C / / PHS HHS / United States HL080295 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85083 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85079 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States R01 AG023629 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States N01HC85080 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States AG023629 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R56 AG023629 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R01 HL80698-01 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01HC85081 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States N01 HC55222 / HC / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States |