ArticleInternational journal of cancer2011
Shortened telomeres in individuals with abuse in alcohol consumption.
Article in International journal of cancer, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03018236 (The Effect of N-acetylcysteine), which is not on this map. Cited by 78 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on Treatment of Alcohol and Cocaine Use Disorders: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.
Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 163 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dietary inflammatory index (DII) and telomere length: a systematic review.Biogerontology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Inflammatory cytokines and alcohol use disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis.Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Effect of Alcohol on Telomere Length: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Evidence and a Pilot Study during Pregnancy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of Nutrition on Telomere Health: Systematic Review of Observational Cohort Studies and Randomized Clinical Trials.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2020Pooled it
- Body mass index is negatively associated with telomere length: a collaborative cross-sectional meta-analysis of 87 observational studies.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2018Pooled it
- Trial
- Telomere Length in Celiac Disease in a Population-Based Cohort: A HUNT Study.Clinical and translational gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Early-life dentine-based elemental biodynamics and cord blood telomere length.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Alcohol Consumption and DNA Methylation in a Mediterranean Cohort: A Focus on Oxidative Stress and Aging Biomarkers.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Associations of maternal neighborhood and trauma-related stressors with mitochondrial DNA copy number and telomere length in maternal and cord blood.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Biological age construction for prediction of mortality in the Chinese population.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Article
- Prenatal and early life exposure to fine particulate matter and telomere length in early childhood.International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2025Article
- Association between monocyte to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and telomere length: based on NHANES 1999-2002.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2024Article
- Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and leukocyte telomere length: A Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in genetics · 2023Article
- Leukocyte telomere length is not shortened in methamphetamine dependence or methamphetamine-induced psychosis but is increased following traumatic events.The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry · 2022Article
- Alcohol-Induced Oxidative Stress and the Role of Antioxidants in Alcohol Use Disorder: A Systematic Review.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Alcohol abuse leads to earlier onset of aging-related diseases, including cancer at multiple sites. Shorter telomere length (TL) in peripheral blood leucocytes (PBLs), a marker of biological aging, has been associated with alcohol-related cancer risks. Whether alcohol abusers exhibit accelerated biological aging, as reflected in PBL-TL, has never been examined. To investigated the effect of alcohol abuse on PBL-TL and its interaction with alcohol metabolic genotypes, we examined 200 drunk-driving traffic offenders diagnosed as alcohol abusers as per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM-IV-TR] and enrolled in a probation program, and 257 social drinkers (controls). We assessed alcohol intake using self-reported drink-units/day and conventional alcohol abuse biomarkers (serum γ-glutamyltrasferase [GGT] and mean corpuscular volume of erythrocytes [MCV]). We used multivariable models to compute TL geometric means (GM) adjusted for age, smoking, BMI, diet, job at elevated risk of accident, genotoxic exposures. TL was nearly halved in alcohol abusers compared with controls (GMs 0.42 vs. 0.87 relative T/S ratio; p<0.0001) and decreased in relation with increasing drink-units/day (p-trend=0.003). Individuals drinking >4 drink-units/day had substantially shorter TL than those drinking ≤4 drink-units/day (GMs 0.48 vs. 0.61 T/S, p=0.002). Carriers of the common ADH1B*1/*1 (rs1229984) genotype were more likely to be abusers (p=0.008), reported higher drink-units/day (p=0.0003), and exhibited shorter TL (p<0.0001). The rs698 ADH1C and rs671 ALDH2 polymorphisms were not associated with TL. The decrease in PBL-TL modulated by the alcohol metabolic genotype ADH1B*1/*1 may represent a novel mechanism potentially related to alcohol carcinogenesis in alcohol abusers.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.