Unit of Viral Infection and Immunity, National Center for Microbiology (CNM), Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain.
Department of Critical Care, Hospital Universitario del Tajo, Aranjuez, Spain.
J Med Virol. 2023 Jan;95(1):e28368. doi: 10.1002/jmv.28368.
Increasing age is associated with severity and higher mortality of COVID-19. Telomere shortening is associated with higher risk of infections and may be used to identify those patients who are more likely to die. We evaluated the association between relative telomere length (RTL) and COVID-19 mortality. RTL was measured in patients hospitalized because of COVID-19. We used Kaplan-Meier method to analyze survival probabilities, and Cox regression to investigate the association between RTL and mortality (30 and 90 days). Six hundred and eight patients were included in the analysis (mean age =72.5 years, 41.1% women, and 53.8% Caucasic). During the study period, 75 people died from COVID-19 and 533 survived. Lower RTL was associated with a higher risk of death in women either at 30 (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] (aHR) = 3.33; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-10.00; p = 0.040) and at 90 days (aHR = 3.57; 95%CI = 1.23-11.11; p = 0.019). Lower RTL was associated with a higher risk of dying of COVID-19 in women. This finding suggests that RTL has an essential role in the prognosis of this subset of the population.
年龄增长与 COVID-19 的严重程度和死亡率升高有关。端粒缩短与感染风险增加有关，可能用于识别那些更有可能死亡的患者。我们评估了相对端粒长度（RTL）与 COVID-19 死亡率之间的关系。在因 COVID-19 住院的患者中测量 RTL。我们使用 Kaplan-Meier 方法分析生存概率，并使用 Cox 回归调查 RTL 与死亡率（30 天和 90 天）之间的关系。608 例患者纳入分析（平均年龄为 72.5 岁，41.1%为女性，53.8%为白种人）。在研究期间，75 人死于 COVID-19，533 人存活。女性 RTL 较低与 30 天（调整后的危险比[aHR]（aHR）=3.33；95%置信区间[CI]：1.05-10.00；p=0.040）和 90 天（aHR=3.57；95%CI：1.23-11.11；p=0.019）的死亡风险增加相关。较低的 RTL 与女性 COVID-19 死亡风险增加相关。这一发现表明，RTL 在该人群亚组的预后中具有重要作用。
