Leukocyte telomere length: Effects of schizophrenia, age, and gender

Abstract

a b s t r a c tBackground: Schizophrenia is linked with early medical comorbidity and mortality. These observations indicate possible "accelerated biological aging" in schizophrenia, although prior findings are mixed, and few such studies have examined the role of gender. One putative marker of biological aging is leukocyte telomere length (LTL), which typically shortens with age. Methods: We assessed LTL in phenotypically well characterized 134 individuals with schizophrenia (60 women and 74 men) and 123 healthy comparison subjects (HCs) (66 women and 57 men), aged 26 to 65 years. Results: Overall, LTL was inversely associated with age (t(249) ¼ -6.2, p < 0.001), and a gender effect on the rate of LTL decrease with age was found (t(249) ¼ 2.20, p ¼ 0.029), with men declining more rapidly than women. No significant overall effect of diagnosis on the rate of decline was detected. However, at the average sample age (48 years), there was a significant gender effect in both schizophrenia and HC groups (t(249) ¼ 2.48, p ¼ 0.014), with women having longer LTL than men, and a significant gender X diagnosis effect (t(249) ¼ 2.43, p ¼ 0.016) -at the average sample age, women with schizophrenia had shorter LTL than HC women. Discussion: Gender, not the diagnosis of schizophrenia, was the major factor involved with LTL shortening across the age range studied. We discuss the constraints of a cross-sectional design and other methodological issues, and indicate future directions. Understanding the impact of schizophrenia on biological aging will require separate evaluations in men and women.Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Association between leucocyte telomere length and cardiovascular disease in a large general population in the United States

“…In our results, an inverse association between LTL and CVD risk was found in the female population. In our study, the LTL of females was approximately the same length as that of males, while other studies have suggested that the LTL of females is longer than that of males 49,50 . One explanation may be oestrogen 51 .…”

Systemic Biomarkers of Accelerated Aging in Schizophrenia: A Critical Review and Future Directions

“…Two studies investigated an age × group interaction. Wolkowitz et al 47 failed to observe a significant effect. Yu et al 42 found that TL seemed to decrease with age in HCs but not in persons with chronic schizophrenia, with small effect sizes, despite also finding that poor responders to treatment exhibited shorter TL.…”

“…Five reports found that TL and telomerase activity were decreased in schizophrenia, 29,34,36,42,49 3 observed no difference in TL between schizophrenia and HC groups, 31,32,51 and one reported increased TL in schizophrenia. 33 Wolkowitz et al 47 found a group × gender interaction, such that HC women had longer TL than women with schizophrenia. Two articles reported effect sizes, which were small in magnitude, 32,47 with one study finding longer TL in schizophrenia and the other reporting shorter TL in women with schizophrenia.…”

“…33 Wolkowitz et al 47 found a group × gender interaction, such that HC women had longer TL than women with schizophrenia. Two articles reported effect sizes, which were small in magnitude, 32,47 with one study finding longer TL in schizophrenia and the other reporting shorter TL in women with schizophrenia. Age Relationships None of the TL studies reported differential age relationships between schizophrenia and HC groups.…”

“…Five reports found no relationship between age and TL 29,31,32,51 or telomerase activity, 36 while 4 observed negative correlations between age and TL in both schizophrenia and comparison groups. 33,34,47,49 None of these studies statistically examined group differences in age-relationships. Two studies investigated an age × group interaction.…”