Rewak Marissa, Buka Stephen, Prescott Jennifer, De Vivo Immaculata, Loucks Eric B, Kawachi Ichiro, Non Amy L, Kubzansky Laura D
Harvard School of Public Health, United States.
Brown University, United States.
Biol Psychol. 2014 May;99:92-9. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.03.007. Epub 2014 Mar 29.
Recent work suggests that leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a marker of cellular aging, is sensitive to effects of social stress and may also provide early indication of premature aging. Using data from a birth cohort with LTL information at birth and in middle adulthood we examined a potential source of race-based health disparity by testing the hypothesis that Blacks would demonstrate a faster rate of telomere shortening than Whites. Linear regression analyses were conducted and adjusted for pack years, BMI, education and social factors, diet, exercise, marital status, and age. At birth black individuals had LTLs that were longer, on average, than their White counterparts (b=3.85, p<0.01). However, rate of shortening was greater for Blacks, who showed a larger difference in length between birth and adulthood (b=5.10, p=0.01) as compared with Whites, resulting in smaller racial differences in absolute adult LTL.
近期研究表明，白细胞端粒长度（LTL）作为细胞衰老的一个标志物，对社会压力的影响较为敏感，还可能为过早衰老提供早期迹象。我们利用一个出生队列的数据，该队列在出生时和中年时均有LTL信息，通过检验黑人端粒缩短速度比白人更快这一假设，研究了基于种族的健康差异的一个潜在来源。进行了线性回归分析，并对吸烟包年数、体重指数、教育程度和社会因素、饮食、运动、婚姻状况及年龄进行了调整。出生时，黑人个体的LTL平均比白人个体更长（b = 3.85，p < 0.01）。然而，黑人的端粒缩短速度更快，与白人相比，他们在出生时和成年时的长度差异更大（b = 5.10，p = 0.01），导致成年后LTL的绝对种族差异更小。
