Coming up short: Comparing venous blood, dried blood spots & saliva samples for measuring telomere length in health equity research.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Telomere length (TL) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from fresh venous blood is increasingly used to estimate molecular impacts of accumulated social adversity on population health. Sometimes, TL extracted from saliva or dried blood spots (DBS) are substituted as less invasive and more scalable specimen collection methods; yet, are they interchangeable with fresh blood? Studies find TL is correlated across tissues, but have not addressed the critical question for social epidemiological applications: Do different specimen types show the same association between TL and social constructs?

Methods

We integrate expertise in social epidemiology, molecular biology, and the statistical impact of measurement error on parameter estimates. Recruiting a diverse s

SUBMITTER: Geronimus AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8372921 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature