Telomere length: population epidemiology and concordance in Australian children aged 11–12 years and their parents

Abstract

ObjectivesTo (1) describe the epidemiology of child and adult telomere length, and (2) investigate parent–child telomere length concordance.DesignPopulation-based cross-sectional study within the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.SettingAssessment centres in seven major Australian cities and eight selected regional towns; February 2015 to March 2016.ParticipantsOf 1874 participating families, telomere data were available for analysis for 1206 children and 1343 parents, of whom 1143 were parent–child pairs. There were 589 boys and 617 girls; 175 fathers and 1168 mothers.Outcome measuresRelative telomere length (T/S ratio), calculated by comparing telomeric DNA (T) level with the single copy (S) beta-globin gene in venous blood-derived genomic DNA by quantitative real-time PCR.ResultsMean T/S ratio for all children, boys and girls was 1.09 (SD 0.56), 1.05 (SD 0.53) and 1.13 (SD 0.59), respectively. Mean T/S ratio for all parents, fathers and mothers was 0.81 (SD 0.37), 0.82 (SD 0.36) and 0.81 (SD 0.38), respectively. Parent–child T/S ratio concordance was moderate (correlation 0.24). In adjusted regression models, one unit higher parent T/S ratio was associated with 0.36 (estimated linear regression coefficient (β); 95% CI 0.28 to 0.45) higher child T/S ratio. Concordance was higher in the youngest parent-age tertile (β 0.49; 95% CI 0.34 to 0.64) compared with the middle (β 0.35; 95% CI 0.21 to 0.48) and oldest tertile (β 0.26; 95% CI 0.11 to 0.41; p-trend 0.04). Father–child concordance was 0.34 (95% CI 0.18 to 0.48), while mother–child was 0.22 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.28).ConclusionsWe provide telomere length population values for children aged 11–12 years and their mid-life parents. Relative telomere length was shorter in adults than children, as expected. There was modest evidence of parent–child concordance, which diminished with increasing parent age.

Telomere length and lung function in a population‐based cohort of children and mid‐life adults

“…14 Children had greater T/S ratios than adults (T/S ratio 1.09 vs 0.81, P < .001). Further details on telomere length epidemiology have been previously published, 17 showing that our cohort's telomere lengths were comparable to those of other populations of similar ages, size and structure. As expected, compared to children, adults had overall greater raw FEV 1 , FVC and MMEF 25-75 , but lower FEV 1 / FVC ratio.…”

“…The inter‐assay variability was 1.7% (SD 1.4, range 0.3‐6.2). Further details on the telomere procedure and assay are described in the online Supporting Information, and epidemiological findings have been published …”

Population health bio-phenotypes in 11–12 year old children and their midlife parents: Growing Up in Australia’s Child Health CheckPoint

“…Cross-generational concordance across all measures of leanness and adiposity is already evident by late childhood 9We report distinct age-specific and sex-specific metabolic profiles , with concentrations and sex differences generally greater in adults than children10. Relative telomere length is shorter in adults than children, and modest parent–child concordance diminishes with increasing parent age 11While most parents and children show adequate sleep duration, poor-quality (low-efficiency) sleep is common 12…”

Child Health CheckPoint: cohort summary and methodology of a physical health and biospecimen module for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

“…Frozen samples are stored in boxes of 96 aliquots, and aliquot picking is undertaken by hand (ie, not automated by robot). As of April 2019, completed biomarker analyses for all parents and children with relevant samples were serum metabolomics (http://www.nightingalehealth.com),22 39 40 urinary albumin-creatinine ratio,19 telomere length16 and genotyping; micronutrient and one-carbon pathway analyses were under way.…”