Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23302541›Full record

ReviewEpidemiologic reviews2013

Telomere length in epidemiology: a biomarker of aging, age-related disease, both, or neither?

Jason L Sanders, Anne B Newman

Registry-linked trialAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Epidemiologic reviews, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06357663 (Effect of Subtle Energy Transmission and Tao Calligraphy Mindfulness Practice on Telomere Length in Peripheral Blood Leukocytes A Follow-up Pilot Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 289 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
289citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT06357663 naterminatednot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

Effect of Subtle Energy Transmission and Tao Calligraphy Mindfulness Practice on Telomere Length in Peripheral Blood Leukocytes A Follow-up Pilot Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorSha Research FoundationRan2023 to 2025Enrolled12ConditionsTelomere Length, Quality of LifeArmsMindfulness practice with Calligraphy
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

289 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Trial
  8. Association of nutraceutical supplements with longer telomere length.International journal of molecular medicine · 2019
    Trial
  9. Trial
  10. Observational
  11. Early-life dentine-based elemental biodynamics and cord blood telomere length.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

229 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Jason L Sanders
Anne B Newman

Funding

Epidemiology of lens aging in older womenF30AG038093 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI SANDERS, JASON LEIGH · 2010 to 2013
$141k
NIA NIH HHS 1F30-AG038093NIA NIH HHS F30 AG038093
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Telomeres are nucleoprotein caps flanking DNA. They are shortened by cell division and oxidative stress and are lengthened by the enzyme telomerase and DNA exchange during mitosis. Short telomeres induce cellular senescence. As an indicator of oxidative stress and senescence (2 processes thought to be fundamental to aging), telomere length is hypothesized to be a biomarker of aging. This hypothesis has been tested for more than a decade with epidemiologic study methods. In cross-sectional studies, researchers have investigated whether leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with demographic, behavioral, and health variables. In prospective studies, baseline LTL has been used to predict mortality and occasionally other adverse health outcomes. Conflicting data have generated heated debate about the value of LTL as a biomarker of overall aging. In this review, we address the epidemiologic data on LTL and demonstrate that shorter LTL is associated with older age, male gender, Caucasian race, and possibly atherosclerosis; associations with other markers of health are equivocal. We discuss the reasons for discrepancy across studies, including a detailed review of methods for measuring telomere length as they apply to epidemiology. Finally, we conclude with questions about LTL as a biomarker of aging and how epidemiology can be used to answer these questions.

Indexed as

Oxidative StressAgingAnimalsAtherosclerosisBiomarkersGenetic MarkersHumansLeukocytesMiceSex FactorsTelomereWhite PeopleBiomarkersGenetic Markersagingbiomarkeroxidative stresssenescencetelomere

Identifiers

PMID23302541
PMCPMC4707879

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

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.