The Impact of Concussion, Sport, and Time in Season on Saliva Telomere Length in Healthy Athletes

Abstract

To date, sport-related concussion diagnosis and management is primarily based on subjective clinical tests in the absence of validated biomarkers. A major obstacle to clinical validation and application is a lack of studies exploring potential biomarkers in non-injured populations. This cross-sectional study examined the associations between saliva telomere length (TL) and multiple confounding variables in a healthy university athlete population. One hundred eighty-three (108 male and 75 female) uninjured varsity athletes were recruited to the study and provided saliva samples at either pre- or mid-season, for TL analysis. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the associations between saliva TL and history of concussion, sport contact type, time in season (pre vs. mid-season collection), age, and sex. Results showed no significant associations between TL and history of concussion, age, or sport contact type. However, TL from samples collected mid-season were longer than those collected pre-season [β = 231.4, 95% CI (61.9, 401.0), p = 0.008], and males had longer TL than females [β = 284.8, 95% CI (111.5, 458.2), p = 0.001] when adjusting for all other variables in the model. These findings population suggest that multiple variables may influence TL. Future studies should consider these confounders when evaluating saliva TL as a plausible fluid biomarker for SRC.

Telomere Length Associates With Symptom Severity After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Older Adults

“…Machan and colleagues found no significant associations between TL and history of concussion, age, or sport contact type in a cohort of varsity athletes ( n = 183; 16–27 years of age) across multiple sports. 16 Symons and colleagues found that Australian football players ( n = 95; mean, 23 years) had shorter salivary TL compared to control athletes ( n = 49; mean, 23 years), but history of concussion was not associated with salivary TL. 17 In a juvenile concussive rodent model, shorter TL is associated with history of mTBI, and rats with shorter TL performed worse on a battery of behavioral tests (e.g., cognition, memory, anxiety-like, and depressive-like symptoms) in the acute/subacute period after concussion.…”

Promising applications of human-derived saliva biomarker testing in clinical diagnostics

“…Matthew et al investigated telomere length in saliva samples of healthy athletes. 60 They showed that samples collected pre-season had shorter telomeres than those collected mid-season. Also, males had longer telomeres than females.…”