Genetic polymorphisms affecting telomere length and their association with cardiovascular disease in the Heinz-Nixdorf-Recall study.

Short telomeres are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). We aimed to investigate, if genetically determined telomere-length effects CVD-risk in the Heinz-Nixdorf-Recall study (HNRS) population. We selected 14 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with telomere-length (p<10-8) from the literature and after exclusion 9 SNPs were included in the analyses.