College of Nursing, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
Biol Res Nurs. 2012 Apr;14(2):124-32. doi: 10.1177/1099800411406433. Epub 2011 May 17.
Chronological age is used as a marker for age-associated changes in cognitive function. However, there is great interindividual variability in cognitive ability among people of the same age. Physiological age rather than chronological age should be more closely associated with age-related cognitive changes because these changes are not universal and are likely dependent on several factors in addition to the number of years lived. Cognitive function is associated with successful self-management, and a biological marker that reflects physiological age and is associated with cognitive function could be used to identify risk for failure to self-manage. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between telomere length, a known biomarker of age; blood pressure; cognitive assessments; and adherence to antihypertensive medication among community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults. The authors administered a battery of cognitive assessments to 42 participants (M = 69 years of age), collected blood samples, and isolated peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes for genomic DNA. The authors determined relative telomere length using Cawthon's method for real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and measured medication adherence using an electronic medication monitoring system (MEMS by Aardex) over 8 weeks. Findings indicate that telomere length was inversely associated with systolic blood pressure (r = -.38, p < .01) and diastolic blood pressure (r = -.42, p < .01) but not with cognitive assessments or adherence. The authors discuss the nonsignificant findings between telomere length and cognitive assessments including the potential modifying role of gender.
生理年龄与认知相关变化的关系更为密切，而不是实际年龄，因为这些变化并非普遍存在，并且可能除了生存年限之外还依赖于其他几个因素。认知功能与成功的自我管理能力相关，而能够反映生理年龄并与认知功能相关的生物学标志物，可用于识别自我管理失败的风险。本研究旨在调查端粒长度（已知的年龄生物标志物）、血压、认知评估以及社区中年和老年人对降压药物的依从性之间的关联。研究人员对 42 名参与者（平均年龄 69 岁）进行了一系列认知评估，采集了血液样本，并分离了外周血单核细胞用于基因组 DNA。研究人员使用实时定量聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）的 Cawthon 法来确定相对端粒长度，并使用电子药物监测系统（Aardex 的 MEMS）在 8 周内测量药物的依从性。研究结果表明，端粒长度与收缩压（r = -.38，p <.01）和舒张压（r = -.42，p <.01）呈负相关，但与认知评估或依从性无关。研究人员讨论了端粒长度与认知评估之间无显著关联的原因，包括性别可能起调节作用。
