Whisman Mark A, Richardson Emily D
From the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience (Whisman, Richardson), University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.
Psychosom Med. 2017 Feb/Mar;79(2):234-242. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000383.
To examine the association between depressive symptoms and salivary telomere length in a probability sample of middle-aged and older adults, and to evaluate age and sex as potential moderators of this association and test whether this association was incremental to potential confounds.
Participants were 3,609 individuals from the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Telomere length assays were performed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction on DNA extracted from saliva samples. Depressive symptoms were assessed via interview, and health and lifestyle factors, traumatic life events, and neuroticism were assessed via self-report. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between predictor variables and salivary telomere length.
After adjusting for demographics, depressive symptoms were negatively associated with salivary telomere length (b = -.003; p = .014). Furthermore, this association was moderated by sex (b = .005; p = .011), such that depressive symptoms were significantly and negatively associated with salivary telomere length for men (b = - .006; p < .001) but not for women (b = - .001; p = .644). The negative association between depressive symptoms and salivary telomere length in men remained statistically significant after additionally adjusting for cigarette smoking, body mass index, chronic health conditions, childhood and lifetime exposure to traumatic life events, and neuroticism.
Higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with shorter salivary telomeres in men, and this association was incremental to several potential confounds. Shortened telomeres may help account for the association between depression and poor physical health and mortality.
在一个中老年概率样本中检验抑郁症状与唾液端粒长度之间的关联，并评估年龄和性别作为该关联的潜在调节因素，以及检验该关联是否独立于潜在混杂因素。
参与者为来自2008年健康与退休研究浪潮中的3609名个体。使用定量实时聚合酶链反应对从唾液样本中提取的DNA进行端粒长度测定。通过访谈评估抑郁症状，通过自我报告评估健康和生活方式因素、创伤性生活事件及神经质。进行回归分析以检验预测变量与唾液端粒长度之间的关联。
在调整人口统计学因素后，抑郁症状与唾液端粒长度呈负相关（b = -0.003；p = 0.014）。此外，该关联存在性别差异（b = 0.005；p = 0.011），即抑郁症状与男性唾液端粒长度显著负相关（b = -0.006；p < 0.001），而与女性无关（b = -0.001；p = 0.644）。在进一步调整吸烟、体重指数、慢性健康状况、童年及一生暴露于创伤性生活事件和神经质后，男性抑郁症状与唾液端粒长度之间的负相关在统计学上仍显著。
较高水平的抑郁症状与男性较短的唾液端粒相关，且该关联独立于几个潜在混杂因素。端粒缩短可能有助于解释抑郁症与身体健康不佳及死亡率之间的关联。
