Whisman Mark A, Robustelli Briana L, Sbarra David A
University of Colorado Boulder, USA.
University of Colorado Boulder, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2016 May;157:60-7. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.03.029. Epub 2016 Mar 22.
Marital disruption (i.e., marital separation, divorce) is associated with a wide range of poor mental and physical health outcomes, including increased risk for all-cause mortality. One biological intermediary that may help explain the association between marital disruption and poor health is accelerated cellular aging.
This study examines the association between marital disruption and salivary telomere length in a United States probability sample of adults ≥50 years of age.
Participants were 3526 individuals who participated in the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Telomere length assays were performed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) on DNA extracted from saliva samples. Health and lifestyle factors, traumatic and stressful life events, and neuroticism were assessed via self-report. Linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between predictor variables and salivary telomere length.
Based on their marital status data in the 2006 wave, people who were separated or divorced had shorter salivary telomeres than people who were continuously married or had never been married, and the association between marital disruption and salivary telomere length was not moderated by gender or neuroticism. Furthermore, the association between marital disruption and salivary telomere length remained statistically significant after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic variables, neuroticism, cigarette use, body mass, traumatic life events, and other stressful life events. Additionally, results revealed that currently married adults with a history of divorce evidenced shorter salivary telomeres than people who were continuously married or never married.
Accelerated cellular aging, as indexed by telomere shortening, may be one pathway through which marital disruption is associated with morbidity and mortality.
婚姻关系破裂（即分居、离婚）与一系列身心健康问题相关，包括全因死亡率上升。细胞衰老加速可能是解释婚姻关系破裂与健康状况不佳之间关联的一个生物学中介因素。
本研究在美国≥50岁成年人的概率样本中，考察婚姻关系破裂与唾液端粒长度之间的关联。
参与者为3526名参加2008年健康与退休研究的个体。使用定量实时聚合酶链反应（qPCR）对从唾液样本中提取的DNA进行端粒长度测定。通过自我报告评估健康和生活方式因素、创伤性和应激性生活事件以及神经质。进行线性回归分析以检验预测变量与唾液端粒长度之间的关联。
根据他们在2006年调查中的婚姻状况数据，分居或离婚的人的唾液端粒比持续婚姻或从未结婚的人短，婚姻关系破裂与唾液端粒长度之间的关联不受性别或神经质的影响。此外，在调整了人口统计学和社会经济变量、神经质、吸烟、体重、创伤性生活事件和其他应激性生活事件后，婚姻关系破裂与唾液端粒长度之间的关联仍具有统计学意义。此外，结果显示，有离婚史的现任已婚成年人的唾液端粒比持续婚姻或从未结婚的人短。
以端粒缩短为指标的细胞衰老加速可能是婚姻关系破裂与发病和死亡相关的一条途径。
