IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0221690.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decline in telomere length by age and effect modification by gender, allostatic load and comorbidities in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002)

Author

Listed:
  • Saruna Ghimire
  • Carl V Hill
  • Francisco S Sy
  • Rachelle Rodriguez

Abstract

Background: This study aims to assess the decline in telomere length (TL) with age and evaluate effect modification by gender, chronic stress, and comorbidity in a representative sample of the US population. Methods: Cross-sectional data on 7826 adults with a TL measurement, were included from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, years 1999–2002. The population rate of decline in TL across 10-year age categories was estimated using crude and adjusted regression. Results: In an adjusted model, the population rate of decline in TL with age was consistent and linear for only three age categories: 20–29 (β = -0.0172, 95% CI: -0.0342, -0.0002), 50–59 (β = -0.0182, 95% CI: -0.0311, -0.0054) and 70–79 (β = -0.0170, 95% CI: -0.0329, -0.0011) years. The population rate of decline in TL with age was significantly greater for males and those with high allostatic load and a history of comorbidities. When the population rate of decline in TL was analyzed by gender in 10-year age bins, a fairly consistent yet statistically non-significant decline for males was observed; however, a trough in the rate was observed for females in the age categories 20–29 years (β = -0.0284, 95% CI: -0.0464, -0.0103) and 50–59 years (β = -0.0211, 95% CI: -0.0391, -0.0032). To further elucidate the gender difference observed in the primary analyses, secondary analyses were conducted with reproductive and hormonal status; a significant inverse association was found between TL and parity, menopause, and age at menopause. Conclusions: TL was shorter with increasing age and this decline was modified by gender, chronic stress and comorbidities; individuals with chronic morbidity and/or chronic stress and females in their twenties and fifties experienced greater decline. Female reproductive factors, i.e., parity and menopause, were associated with TL.

Suggested Citation

  • Saruna Ghimire & Carl V Hill & Francisco S Sy & Rachelle Rodriguez, 2019. "Decline in telomere length by age and effect modification by gender, allostatic load and comorbidities in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0221690
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221690
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0221690
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0221690&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0221690?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Needham, Belinda L. & Adler, Nancy & Gregorich, Steven & Rehkopf, David & Lin, Jue & Blackburn, Elizabeth H. & Epel, Elissa S., 2013. "Socioeconomic status, health behavior, and leukocyte telomere length in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999–2002," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1-8.
    2. Molloy, Gerard John & Stamatakis, Emmanuel & Randall, Gemma & Hamer, Mark, 2009. "Marital status, gender and cardiovascular mortality: Behavioural, psychological distress and metabolic explanations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 223-228, July.
    3. Scafato, Emanuele & Galluzzo, Lucia & Gandin, Claudia & Ghirini, Silvia & Baldereschi, Marzia & Capurso, Antonio & Maggi, Stefania & Farchi, Gino & for the ILSA Working Group, 2008. "Marital and cohabitation status as predictors of mortality: A 10-year follow-up of an Italian elderly cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1456-1464, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Castellari, Elena & Tiboldo, Giulia & Moro, Daniele & Bimbo, Francesco, 2021. "La Dolce Vita in times of harshness: Prevalence of health-related behaviors during the great recession in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    2. Puthiery Va & Wan-Shui Yang & Sarah Nechuta & Wong-Ho Chow & Hui Cai & Gong Yang & Shan Gao & Yu-Tang Gao & Wei Zheng & Xiao-Ou Shu & Yong-Bing Xiang, 2011. "Marital Status and Mortality among Middle Age and Elderly Men and Women in Urban Shanghai," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-10, November.
    3. Kilpi, Fanny & Konttinen, Hanna & Silventoinen, Karri & Martikainen, Pekka, 2015. "Living arrangements as determinants of myocardial infarction incidence and survival: A prospective register study of over 300,000 Finnish men and women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 93-100.
    4. Jon Anson, 2010. "Beyond Material Explanations: Family Solidarity and Mortality, a Small Area‐level Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 27-45, March.
    5. Hill, Terrence D. & Ellison, Christopher G. & Burdette, Amy M. & Taylor, John & Friedman, Katherine L., 2016. "Dimensions of religious involvement and leukocyte telomere length," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 168-175.
    6. Hamidreza Shabanikiya & Hesam Seyedin & Hamid Haghani & Abbasali Ebrahimian, 2014. "Behavior of crossing flood on foot, associated risk factors and estimating a predictive model," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 73(2), pages 1119-1126, September.
    7. Susan Averett & Laura Argys & Julia Sorkin, 2013. "In sickness and in health: an examination of relationship status and health using data from the Canadian National Public Health Survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 599-633, December.
    8. Carroll, Judith E. & Price, Jonah Eliezer & Brown, Joni & Bamishigbin, Olajide & Shalowitz, Madeleine U. & Ramey, Sharon & Dunkel Schetter, Christine, 2022. "Lifetime discrimination in low to middle income mothers and cellular aging: A prospective analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    9. Donrovich, Robyn & Drefahl, Sven & Koupil, Ilona, 2014. "Early life conditions, partnership histories, and mortality risk for Swedish men and women born 1915–1929," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 60-67.
    10. Chris Muris & Pedro Raposo & Sotiris Vandoros, 2020. "A dynamic ordered logit model with fixed effects," Papers 2008.05517, arXiv.org.
    11. Molloy, Gerard John & Stamatakis, Emmanuel & Randall, Gemma & Hamer, Mark, 2009. "Marital status, gender and cardiovascular mortality: Behavioural, psychological distress and metabolic explanations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 223-228, July.
    12. Siegfried Geyer & Sveja Eberhard & Bernhard Magnus W Schmidt & Jelena Epping & Juliane Tetzlaff, 2018. "Morbidity compression in myocardial infarction 2006 to 2015 in terms of changing rates and age at occurrence: A longitudinal study using claims data from Germany," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, August.
    13. Das, Aniruddha, 2019. "Loneliness does (not) have cardiometabolic effects: A longitudinal study of older adults in two countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 104-112.
    14. Choi, Hye Jung & LeBlanc, Marissa & Moger, Tron Anders & Valberg, Morten & Aamodt, Geir & Page, Christian M. & Tell, Grethe S. & Næss, Øyvind, 2022. "Stroke survival and the impact of geographic proximity to family members: A population-based cohort study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    15. Labeena Wajahat & Raisa Uddin & Andrew Lai & Luisa Pombo & Noel Barengo, 2018. "Is Being Single a Risk Factor for Previously Undetected Abnormal Glucose Tolerance?," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(6), pages 1-35, June.
    16. Kawachi, Ichiro & Subramanian, S.V., 2018. "Social epidemiology for the 21st century," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 240-245.
    17. Markéta Pechholdová & Gabriela Šamanová, 2013. "Mortality by marital status in a rapidly changing society: Evidence from the Czech Republic," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(12), pages 307-322.
    18. Daehwan Kim & Dong-hwa Lee, 2023. "Does private health insurance prevent the onset of critical illness and disability in a universal public insurance system?," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(1), pages 177-193, January.
    19. Kaori Fujishiro & Belinda L Needham & Paul A Landsbergis & Teresa Seeman & Nancy Swords Jenny & Ana V Diez Roux, 2018. "Selected occupational characteristics and change in leukocyte telomere length over 10 years: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, September.
    20. Shor, Eran & Roelfs, David J. & Bugyi, Paul & Schwartz, Joseph E., 2012. "Meta-analysis of marital dissolution and mortality: Reevaluating the intersection of gender and age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 46-59.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0221690. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.