Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland.
Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Public Health Solutions, Chronic Disease Prevention Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2018 Aug;19(8):658-662. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2018.05.011. Epub 2018 Jun 28.
Telomere length is associated with aging-related pathologies. Although the association between telomere length and frailty has been studied previously, only a few studies assessing longitudinal changes in telomere length and frailty exist.
Longitudinal cohort study.
A subpopulation of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study consisting of 1078 older adults aged 67 to 79 years born in Helsinki, Finland, between 1934 and 1944.
Relative leukocyte telomere length (LTL) was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction at the average ages of 61 and 71 years, and at the latter the participants were assessed for frailty according to Fried criteria.
The mean ± SD relative LTLs were 1.40 ± 0.29 (average age 61 years) and 0.86 ± 0.30 (average age 71 years) for the cohort. A trend of shorter mean relative LTL across frailty groups was observed at 61 years (P = .016) and at 71 years (P = .057). Relative LTL at age 61 years was significantly associated with frailty: per 1-unit increase in relative LTL, the corresponding relative risk ratio (RRR) of frailty was 0.28 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.08-0.97), adjusting for several confounders. Also, LTL at age 71 years was associated with frailty (RRR 0.18, 95% CI 0.04-0.81) after adjustment for sex, age, and adult socioeconomic status, but further adjustment attenuated the association. No associations between telomere shortening and frailty were observed during the 10-year follow-up.
Shorter relative LTL was associated with frailty in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, but telomere shortening was not, suggesting that short LTL may be a biomarker of frailty.
端粒长度与与衰老相关的病理有关。尽管先前已经研究了端粒长度与虚弱之间的关系，但仅有少数研究评估了端粒长度和虚弱的纵向变化。
纵向队列研究。
赫尔辛基出生队列研究的一个亚人群，由 1934 年至 1944 年期间出生于芬兰赫尔辛基的 67 至 79 岁的 1078 名老年人组成。
使用定量实时聚合酶链反应测量相对白细胞端粒长度（LTL），平均年龄为 61 岁和 71 岁，并根据弗莱德标准评估后者的虚弱情况。
队列的平均相对 LTL 为 1.40±0.29（平均年龄 61 岁）和 0.86±0.30（平均年龄 71 岁）。在 61 岁时（P=0.016）和 71 岁时（P=0.057），观察到虚弱组的平均相对 LTL 呈下降趋势。61 岁时，相对 LTL 与虚弱显著相关：相对 LTL 每增加 1 个单位，虚弱的相对风险比（RRR）为 0.28（95%置信区间 [CI] 0.08-0.97），调整了多个混杂因素。此外，调整性别、年龄和成年社会经济地位后，71 岁时的 LTL 与虚弱相关（RRR 0.18，95%CI 0.04-0.81），但进一步调整后该关联减弱。在 10 年的随访期间，未观察到端粒缩短与虚弱之间存在关联。
在横断面和纵向分析中，相对较短的 LTL 与虚弱相关，但端粒缩短与虚弱无关，这表明短 LTL 可能是虚弱的生物标志物。
