Leukocyte telomere length and mortality in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002.

ABSTRACT:

Background

This study examined the association between leukocyte telomere length--a marker of cell aging--and mortality in a nationally representative sample of US adults ages 50-84 years. We also examined moderating effects of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and education.

Methods

Data were from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002 (n = 3,091). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the risk of all-cause and cause- specific mortality adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, smoking, body mass index, and chronic conditions.

Results

Eight hundred and seventy deaths occurred over an average of 9.5 years of follow-up. In the full sample, a decrease of 1 kilobase pair in telomere length at baseline was marginally associated wi

SUBMITTER: Needham BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4679150 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature