Leukocyte telomere length in patients with schizophrenia and related disorders: a meta-analysis of case-control studies.

Context: Telomere length may serve as a biomarker of cellular aging. The literature assessing telomere length in schizophrenia contains conflicting results.

Objective: To assess differences in leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in peripheral blood in patients with schizophrenia and related disorders and healthy controls and to explore the effect of potential confounding variables.