Kang Jee In, Hwang Syung Shick, Choi Jong Rak, Lee Seung-Tae, Kim Jieun, Hwang In Sik, Kim Hae Won, Kim Chan-Hyung, Kim Se Joo
Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 Sep;83:72-78. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.05.024. Epub 2017 May 31.
Telomere shortening, a marker of cellular aging, has been considered to be linked with psychosocial stress as well as with chronic alcohol consumption, possibly mediated by oxidative stress and inflammatory response. Recent findings suggested that early life adversity on telomere dynamics may be related to impulsive choice. To further our understanding of the association of impulsive choice and childhood trauma on telomere length, we examined whether delayed discounting and childhood trauma or their interaction is related to leukocyte telomere length, while controlling for multiple potential confounding variables, in patients with alcohol dependence who are considered to have higher impulsive choice and shorter telomere length. We recruited 253 male patients with chronic alcohol dependence. All participants performed the delay discounting task, and the area under curve was used as a measure of delay discounting. Steeper delay discounting represents more impulsive choices. The modified Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale was used to measure childhood maltreatment. In addition, confounding factors, including socio-demographic characteristics, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, the Resilience Quotient, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory, were also assessed. Hierarchical regression analyses showed a significant main effect of delay discounting (β=0.161, t=2.640, p=0.009), and an interaction effect between delay discounting and childhood maltreatment on leukocyte telomere length (β=0.173, t=2.138, p=0.034). In subsequent analyses stratified by childhood maltreatment, patients with alcohol dependence and high childhood trauma showed a significant relationship between delay discounting and leukocyte telomere length (β=0.279, t=3.183, p=0.002), while those with low trauma showed no association between them. Our findings suggest that higher impulsive choice is associated with shorter telomere length, and childhood trauma may exert a moderating effect in the relationship between impulsive choice and telomere length.
端粒缩短是细胞衰老的一个标志，被认为与心理社会压力以及长期饮酒有关，可能由氧化应激和炎症反应介导。最近的研究结果表明，早年逆境对端粒动态的影响可能与冲动选择有关。为了进一步了解冲动选择和童年创伤与端粒长度之间的关联，我们在被认为具有较高冲动选择和较短端粒长度的酒精依赖患者中，控制多个潜在混杂变量，研究延迟折扣和童年创伤或它们的相互作用是否与白细胞端粒长度相关。我们招募了253名慢性酒精依赖男性患者。所有参与者都完成了延迟折扣任务，曲线下面积被用作延迟折扣的指标。延迟折扣越陡峭代表冲动选择越多。改良的亲子冲突策略量表用于测量童年期虐待情况。此外，还评估了包括社会人口学特征、酒精使用障碍识别测试、布斯-佩里攻击性问卷、心理弹性商数、贝克抑郁量表和贝克焦虑量表等混杂因素。分层回归分析显示延迟折扣有显著的主效应（β = 0.161，t = 2.640，p = 0.009），以及延迟折扣与童年期虐待对白细胞端粒长度的交互效应（β = 0.173，t = 2.138，p = 0.034）。在随后按童年期虐待分层的分析中，酒精依赖且童年创伤程度高的患者，延迟折扣与白细胞端粒长度之间存在显著关系（β = 0.279，t = 3.183，p = 0.002），而创伤程度低的患者则无此关联。我们的研究结果表明，较高的冲动选择与较短的端粒长度相关，童年创伤可能在冲动选择与端粒长度的关系中起调节作用。
