Salih Ahmed M, Galazzo Ilaria Boscolo, Menegaz Gloria, Altmann André
William Harvey Research Institute, NIHR Barts Biomedical Research Centre, Queen Mary University of London UK.
Department of Population Health Sciences University of Leicester UK.
J Am Heart Assoc. 2024 Feb 6;13(3):e032708. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.123.032708. Epub 2024 Jan 31.
Existing research demonstrates the association of shorter leukocyte telomere length with increased risk of age-related health outcomes including cardiovascular diseases. However, the direct causality of these relationships has not been definitively established. Cardiovascular aging at an organ level may be captured using image-derived phenotypes of cardiac anatomy and function.
In the current study, we use 2-sample Mendelian randomization to assess the causal link between leukocyte telomere length and 54 cardiac magnetic resonance imaging measures representing structure and function across the 4 cardiac chambers. Genetically predicted shorter leukocyte telomere length was causally linked to smaller ventricular cavity sizes including left ventricular end-systolic volume, left ventricular end-diastolic volume, lower left ventricular mass, and pulmonary artery. The association with left ventricular mass ( =0.217, P=0.016) remained significant after multiple testing adjustment, whereas other associations were attenuated.
Our findings support a causal role for shorter leukocyte telomere length and faster cardiac aging, with the most prominent relationship with left ventricular mass.
现有研究表明，较短的白细胞端粒长度与包括心血管疾病在内的与年龄相关的健康结局风险增加有关。然而，这些关系的直接因果关系尚未明确确立。可以使用心脏解剖结构和功能的图像衍生表型来捕捉器官水平的心血管衰老。
在本研究中，我们使用两样本孟德尔随机化来评估白细胞端粒长度与代表四个心腔结构和功能的54项心脏磁共振成像测量之间的因果关系。遗传预测的较短白细胞端粒长度与较小的心室腔大小存在因果关系，包括左心室收缩末期容积、左心室舒张末期容积、较低的左心室质量和肺动脉。经过多次检验校正后，与左心室质量的关联（β=0.217，P=0.016）仍然显著，而其他关联减弱。
我们的研究结果支持较短的白细胞端粒长度与更快的心脏衰老之间存在因果关系，其中与左心室质量的关系最为显著。
