SynthesisPloS one2013
Telomere length and physical performance at older ages: an individual participant meta-analysis.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between telomere length, frailty and death in older adults.GeroScience · 2021Pooled it
- A Natural Product Telomerase Activator Lengthens Telomeres in Humans: A Randomized, Double Blind, and Placebo Controlled Study.Rejuvenation research · 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
- Aging Processes Are Affected by Energy Balance: Focused on the Effects of Nutrition and Physical Activity on Telomere Length.Current nutrition reports · 2024Review
- Telomere Length and Risk of Incident Fracture and Arthroplasty: Findings From UK Biobank.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2022Article
- Development and Psychometric Evaluation of Family Caregivers' Hardiness Scale: A Sequential-Exploratory Mixed-Method Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Regular, Intense Exercise Training as a Healthy Aging Lifestyle Strategy: Preventing DNA Damage, Telomere Shortening and Adverse DNA Methylation Changes Over a Lifetime.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Review
- AI-Based Prediction and Prevention of Psychological and Behavioral Changes in Ex-COVID-19 Patients.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Review
- Article
- Controlling for baseline telomere length biases estimates of the rate of telomere attrition.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
- Smoking does not accelerate leucocyte telomere attrition: a meta-analysis of 18 longitudinal cohorts.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
- Brain age and other bodily 'ages': implications for neuropsychiatry.Molecular psychiatry · 2019Review
- Article
- Adiposity, Telomere Length, and Telomere Attrition in Midlife: the 1946 British Birth Cohort.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2018Article
- The epigenetic clock and telomere length are independently associated with chronological age and mortality.International journal of epidemiology · 2018Article
- The role of epigenetics in renal ageing.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2017Review
- Biological Age Predictors.EBioMedicine · 2017Review
- Associations between Global DNA Methylation and Telomere Length in Healthy Adolescents.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Associations of Leukocyte Telomere Length With Aerobic and Muscular Fitness in Young Adults.American journal of epidemiology · 2017Article
- Resistance training and redox homeostasis: Correlation with age-associated genomic changes.Redox biology · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTelomeres are involved in cellular ageing and shorten with increasing age. If telomere length is a valuable biomarker of ageing, then telomere shortening should be associated with worse physical performance, an ageing trait, but evidence for such an association is lacking. The purpose of this study was to examine whether change in telomere length is associated with physical performance.
methodsUsing data from four UK adult cohorts (ages 53-80 years at baseline), we undertook cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. We analysed each study separately and then used meta-analytic methods to pool the results. Physical performance was measured using walking and chair rise speed, standing balance time and grip strength. Telomere length was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in whole blood at baseline and follow-up (time 1, time 2).
resultsTotal sample sizes in meta-analyses ranged from 1,217 to 3,707. There was little evidence that telomere length was associated with walking speed, balance or grip strength, though weak associations were seen with chair rise speed and grip strength at baseline (p = 0.02 and 0.01 respectively). Faster chair rise speed at follow-up, was associated with a smaller decline in telomere length between time 1 and time 2 (standardised coefficient per SD increase 0.061, 95% CI 0.006, 0.115, p = 0.03) but this was consistent with chance (p =0.08) after further adjustment.
conclusionsWhereas shortening of leukocyte telomeres might be an important measure of cellular ageing, there is little evidence that it is a strong biomarker for physical performance.
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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.