Associations of smoking indicators and cotinine levels with telomere length: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The influence of smoking exposure on telomere length with a focus on the impact of race has rarely been discussed. We performed a cross sectional analysis into the associations of smoking indicators with leukocyte telomere length (LTL) by race among 5864 nationally representative sample of US adults (≥20 years). Data from 1999 to 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was used for the analysis.

Race-specific associations between health-related quality of life and cellular aging among adults in the United States: evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Purpose: Poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) could lead to higher morbidity and mortality through telomere attrition or accelerated cellular aging. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis to examine the relationship between four dimensions of HRQOL and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) among a nationally representative sample of 3547 US adults (≥20 years) using the data from the 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Method: We used HRQOL survey information collected on individuals' self-rated general health, recent physical health, recent mental health, and recent activity limitation.