Telomere length loss due to smoking and metabolic traits.

Objectives: Human age-dependent telomere attrition and telomere shortening are associated with several age-associated diseases and poorer overall survival. The aim of this study was to determine longitudinal leucocyte telomere length dynamics and identify factors associated with temporal changes in telomere length.

Design And Methods: Leucocyte telomere length was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 8074 participants from the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-stage Disease (PREVEND) study, an ongoing community-based prospective cohort study initiated in 1997.

Association between anxiety but not depressive disorders and leukocyte telomere length after 2 years of follow-up in a population-based sample.

Background: Telomere length is considered an emerging marker of biological aging. Depression and anxiety are associated with excess mortality risk but the mechanisms remain obscure. Telomere length might be involved because it is associated with psychological distress and mortality.

Telomere length of circulating leukocyte subpopulations and buccal cells in patients with ischemic heart failure and their offspring.

Background: We aimed to find support for the hypothesis that telomere length (TL) is causally involved in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart failure (IHF). We measured TL in IHF patients and their high-risk offspring and determined whether mean leukocyte TL reflects TL in CD34+ progenitor. We additionally measured TL of offspring of patients and controls to examine heritability throughout different cell types.

Circulating leukocyte and carotid atherosclerotic plaque telomere length: interrelation, association with plaque characteristics, and restenosis after endarterectomy.

Objective: Shorter leukocyte telomeres are associated with atherosclerosis and predict future heart disease. The goal of the present study was to determine whether leukocyte telomere length is related to atherosclerotic plaque telomere length and whether it is associated with plaque characteristics or recurrence of disease.

Methods And Results: Telomere length was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in atherosclerotic plaques and leukocytes in patients with carotid atherosclerosis undergoing carotid endarterectomy (n=684) and of leukocytes in age- and gender-balanced subjects without clinical atherosclerosis (n=780).

Aging, telomeres and heart failure.

During normal aging, the heart undergoes functional, morphological and cellular changes. Although aging per se does not lead to the expression of heart failure, it is likely that age-associated changes lower the threshold for the manifestation of signs and symptoms of heart failure. In patients, the susceptibility, age of onset and pace of progression of heart failure are highly variable.