University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, United States.
Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, United States.
Neurotoxicology. 2018 Mar;65:22-27. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2018.01.005. Epub 2018 Jan 31.
To examine the association between telomere length and neurodevelopment in children.
We examined the relationship between relative telomere length (rTL) and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 9 and 30 months, and 5 years of age in children enrolled in the Seychelles Child Development Study Nutrition Cohort 1 (NC1). Relative telomere length was measured in cord blood and in child blood at age five. Multivariable linear regression examined associations between neurodevelopmental outcomes and rTL adjusting for relevant covariates.
Mean rTL was 1.18 at birth and 0.71 at age five. Increased cord blood rTL was associated with better scores on two neurodevelopmental tests, the psychomotor developmental index (β = 4.01; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.17, 7.85) at age 30 months, and the Woodcock Johnson test of achievement letter-word score (β = 2.88; CI = 1.21-4.56) at age five. The Woodcock Johnson test of achievement letter-word score remained statistically significant after two outliers were excluded (β = 2.83; CI = 0.69, 4.97); the psychomotor developmental index did not (β = 3.62; CI = -1.28, 8.52). None of the neurodevelopmental outcomes at age five were associated with five-year rTL.
Although increased cord blood rTL was associated with better test scores for a few neurodevelopmental outcomes, this study found little consistent evidence of an association between rTL and neurodevelopment. Future studies with a larger sample size, longer follow-up, and other relevant biological markers (e.g. oxidative stress) are needed to clarify the role of rTL in neurodevelopment and its relevance as a potential surrogate measure for oxidative stress in the field of developmental neurotoxicity.
研究端粒长度与儿童神经发育的关系。
我们研究了塞舌尔儿童发展研究营养队列 1（NC1）中儿童脐带血和 5 岁时的相对端粒长度（rTL）与神经发育结局之间的关系。多变量线性回归分析了 rTL 与神经发育结局之间的关联，调整了相关协变量。
出生时 rTL 的平均值为 1.18，5 岁时为 0.71。脐带血 rTL 增加与两项神经发育测试的得分较高有关，即 30 个月时的精神运动发育指数（β=4.01；95%置信区间（CI）=0.17，7.85），以及 5 岁时的 Woodcock-Johnson 测试的成就字母-单词得分（β=2.88；CI=1.21-4.56）。在排除两个异常值后，Woodcock-Johnson 测试的成就字母-单词得分仍然具有统计学意义（β=2.83；CI=0.69，4.97）；精神运动发育指数则不然（β=3.62；CI=−1.28，8.52）。在 5 岁时，没有任何神经发育结果与 rTL 相关。
尽管脐带血 rTL 增加与一些神经发育结果的测试得分较高有关，但本研究几乎没有发现 rTL 与神经发育之间存在一致关联的证据。未来的研究需要更大的样本量、更长的随访时间和其他相关生物标志物（如氧化应激），以阐明 rTL 在神经发育中的作用及其作为发育神经毒性领域中氧化应激潜在替代测量指标的相关性。
