ArticleMolecular psychiatry2014
Internalizing disorders and leukocyte telomere erosion: a prospective study of depression, generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 99 papers, 4 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.
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Who cites it
99 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 158 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the association between depression and telomere length: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Carnosine/histidine-containing dipeptide supplementation improves depression and quality of life: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Nutrition reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Adverse Childhood Experiences and Telomere Length a Look Into the Heterogeneity of Findings-A Narrative Review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- Depression and telomere length: A meta-analysis.Journal of affective disorders · 2016Pooled it
- Perinatal complications and aging indicators by midlife.Pediatrics · 2014Trial
- Association between telomere length and psychiatric disorders: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Molecular markers, mechanisms and metrics of biological aging: a scoping review.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
- Telomere Length and Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Children from the Prospective Birth Cohort INfancia y Medio Ambiente (INMA) Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Post-traumatic stress disorder in older adults: a global collaboration on setting the future research agenda.The lancet. Healthy longevity · 2025Review
- Telomere Dynamics in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Critical Synthesis.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Associations among temperament characteristics and telomere length and attrition rate in early childhood.Developmental psychology · 2024Article
- Trauma-Based Sexually Dimorphic Changes in the Connectome and Its Association with Central Sensitization Syndromes-A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Association between telomere length and neuropsychological function at 4-5 years in children from the INMA project: a cross-sectional study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Article
- Geroscience-Centric Perspective for Geriatric Psychiatry: Integrating Aging Biology With Geriatric Mental Health Research.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2024Review
- Telomere Length Associations With Clinical Diagnosis, Age, and Polygenic Risk Scores for Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and Bipolar Disorder.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2023Article
- Associations of depression and anxiety and adolescent telomere length.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Major depression and the biological hallmarks of aging.Ageing research reviews · 2023Review
- Article
- Antidepressant medication use and prostate cancer recurrence in men with depressive disorders.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2022Article
- 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
39 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
There is evidence that persistent psychiatric disorders lead to age-related disease and premature mortality. Telomere length has emerged as a promising biomarker in studies that test the hypothesis that internalizing psychiatric disorders are associated with accumulating cellular damage. We tested the association between the persistence of internalizing disorders (depression, generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder) and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in the prospective longitudinal Dunedin Study (n=1037). Analyses showed that the persistence of internalizing disorders across repeated assessments from ages 11 to 38 years predicted shorter LTL at age 38 years in a dose-response manner, specifically in men (β=-0.137, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.232, -0.042, P=0.005). This association was not accounted for by alternative explanatory factors, including childhood maltreatment, tobacco smoking, substance dependence, psychiatric medication use, poor physical health or low socioeconomic status. Additional analyses using DNA from blood collected at two time points (ages 26 and 38 years) showed that LTL erosion was accelerated among men who were diagnosed with internalizing disorder in the interim (β=-0.111, 95% CI: -0.184, -0.037, P=0.003). No significant associations were found among women in any analysis, highlighting potential sex differences in internalizing-related telomere biology. These findings point to a potential mechanism linking internalizing disorders to accelerated biological aging in the first half of the life course, particularly in men. Because internalizing disorders are treatable, the findings suggest the hypothesis that treating psychiatric disorders in the first half of the life course may reduce the population burden of age-related disease and extend health expectancy.
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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.