Short Telomere Length Linked to Increased Risk of Heart Disease, Early Death

Investigators at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) measured telomere length in leukocytes from the 19,838 Danish participants in the Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen General Population Study. Participants were followed for up to 19 years for incidents of myocardial infarction (929 cases), ischemic heart disease (2038 cases), and death (4342 cases).

Results published in the March 2012 online edition of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology revealed that telomere length decreased linearly with increasing age in women and men in both studies. Hazard ratios were calculated as being 1.10 for myocardial infarction, 1.06 for ischemic heart disease, and 1.09 for early death per 1000–base pair decrease in telomere length. The difference in risk between those with shortest telomere length and those with longest telomere length was 50% for heart attack and 25% for early death.

“The risk of heart attack or early death is present whether your telomeres are shortened due to lifestyle or due to high age,” said senior author Dr. Borge Nordestgaard, professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen. “That smoking and obesity increases the risk of heart disease has been known for a while. We have now shown, as has been speculated, that the increased risk is directly related to the shortening of the protective telomeres - so you can say that smoking and obesity ages the body on a cellular level, just as surely as the passing of time.”

“Future studies will have to reveal the actual molecular mechanism by which the short telomere length causes heart attacks,” said Dr. Nordestgaard. “Does one cause the other or is the telomere length and the coronary event both indicative of a third - yet unknown - mechanism?”

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