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      Telomere length in epidemiology: a biomarker of aging, age-related disease, both, or neither?

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          Abstract

          Telomeres are nucleoprotein caps flanking DNA. They are shortened by cell division and oxidative stress and are lengthened by the enzyme telomerase and DNA exchange during mitosis. Short telomeres induce cellular senescence. As an indicator of oxidative stress and senescence (2 processes thought to be fundamental to aging), telomere length is hypothesized to be a biomarker of aging. This hypothesis has been tested for more than a decade with epidemiologic study methods. In cross-sectional studies, researchers have investigated whether leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with demographic, behavioral, and health variables. In prospective studies, baseline LTL has been used to predict mortality and occasionally other adverse health outcomes. Conflicting data have generated heated debate about the value of LTL as a biomarker of overall aging. In this review, we address the epidemiologic data on LTL and demonstrate that shorter LTL is associated with older age, male gender, Caucasian race, and possibly atherosclerosis; associations with other markers of health are equivocal. We discuss the reasons for discrepancy across studies, including a detailed review of methods for measuring telomere length as they apply to epidemiology. Finally, we conclude with questions about LTL as a biomarker of aging and how epidemiology can be used to answer these questions.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Epidemiol Rev
          Epidemiologic reviews
          Oxford University Press (OUP)
          1478-6729
          0193-936X
          2013
          : 35
          Article
          mxs008
          10.1093/epirev/mxs008
          4707879
          23302541
          84840b50-eb55-4448-9685-53792b66bc2d
          © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
          History

          aging,biomarker,oxidative stress,senescence,telomere
          aging, biomarker, oxidative stress, senescence, telomere

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