Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e48318. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048318. Epub 2012 Oct 25.
Premature shortening of leukocyte telomere length has been proposed as a novel mechanism by which depression may confer increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Prior studies demonstrating associations of depression and depressive symptoms with shorter leukocyte telomere length were small, included selected psychiatric outpatients, were based on convenience samples, and/or adjusted for a limited number of possible confounding factors.
We examined the associations of depressive symptoms, probable depressive disorder, and specific depressive symptom clusters, as assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies--Depression (CES-D) scale, with leukocyte telomere length, measured by using a real-time PCR method, in 2,225 apparently healthy participants from the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey population-based study. The mean age was 48.2 ± 18.9 years; 49.9% of participants were female; and the mean CES-D score was 7.4 ± 7.9. The mean telomere length was 5,301 ± 587 base pairs. In an unadjusted model, depressive symptoms were significantly associated with longer leukocyte telomere length (B = 27.6 base pairs per standard deviation increase in CES-D, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.1-52.1, p = 0.027). This association was no longer significant after adjustment for age and sex (B = 9.5, 95% CI = -14.6-33.6, p = 0.44) or after further adjustment for body mass index, Framingham risk score and previous history of ischemic heart disease (all p's ≥ 0.37). Neither probable depressive disorder nor specific depressive symptom clusters were independently associated with leukocyte telomere length.
Concurrent depressive symptoms were not associated with leukocyte telomere length in a large, representative, population-based study.
有人提出，白细胞端粒长度的过早缩短是抑郁症增加不良心血管事件风险的一种新机制。先前的研究表明，抑郁症和抑郁症状与白细胞端粒长度缩短有关，但这些研究规模较小，纳入了特定的精神科门诊患者，基于方便抽样，并且/或者仅调整了少数几个可能的混杂因素。
我们通过实时聚合酶链反应方法检测白细胞端粒长度，在 2225 名来自 1995 年新斯科舍省健康调查的、看似健康的参与者中，研究了抑郁症状、可能的抑郁障碍以及基于流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CES-D）评估的特定抑郁症状群与白细胞端粒长度之间的关系。参与者的平均年龄为 48.2±18.9 岁，49.9%为女性，CES-D 评分的平均值为 7.4±7.9。端粒长度的平均值为 5301±587 个碱基对。在未经调整的模型中，抑郁症状与白细胞端粒长度呈显著正相关（CES-D 每增加一个标准差，白细胞端粒长度增加 27.6 个碱基对，95%置信区间[CI]为 3.1-52.1，p=0.027）。在校正年龄和性别后（B=9.5，95%CI为-14.6-33.6，p=0.44），该关联不再显著，进一步校正体重指数、弗雷明汉风险评分和既往缺血性心脏病史后（所有 p 值均≥0.37），该关联也不再显著。可能的抑郁障碍或特定的抑郁症状群与白细胞端粒长度均无独立相关性。
在一项大型、代表性的基于人群的研究中，并发的抑郁症状与白细胞端粒长度无关。
