Relation of long-term patterns in caregiving activity and depressive symptoms to telomere length in older women.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Research links psychological stress to accelerated cellular aging. Here we examined whether long-term patterns of depression and caregiving burden, forms of chronic psychological stress, were associated with shorter telomere length, a biomarker of cellular aging.

Methods

The study included 1250 healthy older women (mean: 68.0; range: 60-81 years) in the Nurses' Health Study. Long-term patterns in depressive symptoms and caregiving activity (separated into care of children/grandchildren vs. ill or disabled family members/others) incorporated questionnaire data between 1992 and 2000; relative leukocyte telomere lengths (LTLs) were measured in 2000-2001. Least-squares means LTL z-scores were calculated across categories of depression patterns and caregiving intensity

SUBMITTER: Chang SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5878722 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature