ArticlePloS one2012
Is telomere length a biomarker for aging: cross-sectional evidence from the west of Scotland?
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Gender and telomere length: systematic review and meta-analysis.Experimental gerontology · 2014Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Telomere Length Change in a Multidomain Lifestyle Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline: A Randomized Clinical Trial.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2021Trial
- Baseline Telomere Length and Effects of a Multidomain Lifestyle Intervention on Cognition: The FINGER Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2017Trial
- Circulating cell-free DNA, telomere length and bilirubin in the Vienna Active Ageing Study: exploratory analysis of a randomized, controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2016Trial
- Longitudinal telomere length shortening and cognitive and physical decline in later life: The Lothian Birth Cohorts 1936 and 1921.Mechanisms of ageing and development · 2016Trial
- Assessment of candidate ocular biomarkers of ageing in a South African adult population: relationship with chronological age and systemic biomarkers.Mechanisms of ageing and developmentTrial
- Short and long telomeres increase risk of amnestic mild cognitive impairment.Mechanisms of ageing and developmentTrial
- Ignoring the planet: A critical blind spot for research on ageing.Journal of internal medicine · 2025Review
- Telomere length is an epigenetic trait - Implications for the use of telomerase-deficient organisms to model human disease.Disease models & mechanisms · 2024Article
- Telomere length as a predictive biomarker in osteoporosis (Review).Biomedical reports · 2023Review
- Hypothesis: functional age and onset of autosomal dominant genetic prion disease.Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften · 2023Article
- An evaluation of aging measures: from biomarkers to clocks.Biogerontology · 2023Review
- Antioxidant and Antiaging Properties of a Novel Synergistic Nutraceutical Complex: Readouts from an In Cellulo Study and an In Vivo Prospective, Randomized Trial.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Telomere Length as a Marker of Biological Age: State-of-the-Art, Open Issues, and Future Perspectives.Frontiers in genetics · 2020Review
- Sex differences in the association between salivary telomere length and multimorbidity within the US Health & Retirement Study.Age and ageing · 2019Article
- More miles on the clock: Neighbourhood stressors are associated with telomere length in a longitudinal study.PloS one · 2019Article
- Does Telomere Length Indicate Biological, Physical, and Cognitive Health Among Older Adults? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2018Article
- No association between donor telomere length and outcomes after allogeneic unrelated hematopoietic cell transplant in patients with acute leukemia.Bone marrow transplantation · 2018Article
- Comparison of telomere length measurement methods.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe search for biomarkers of aging (BoAs) has been largely unsuccessful to-date and there is widespread skepticism about the prospects of finding any that satisfy the criteria developed by the American Federation of Aging Research. This may be because the criteria are too strict or because a composite measure might be more appropriate. Telomere length has attracted a great deal of attention as a candidate BoA. We investigate whether it meets the criteria to be considered as a single biomarker of aging, and whether it makes a useful contribution to a composite measure. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsUsing data from a large population based study, we show that telomere length is associated with age, with several measures of physical and cognitive functioning that are related to normal aging, and with three measures of overall health. In the majority of cases, telomere length adds predictive power to that of age, although it was not nearly as good a predictor overall. We used principal components analysis to form two composites from the measures of functioning, one including telomere length and the other not including it. These composite BoAs were better predictors of the health outcomes than chronological age. There was little difference between the two composites.
conclusionsTelomere length does not satisfy the strict criteria for a BoA, but does add predictive power to that of chronological age. Equivocal results from previous studies might be due to lack of power or the choice of measures examined together with a focus on single biomarkers. Composite biomarkers of aging have the potential to outperform age and should be considered for future research in this area.
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