ReviewHuman genetics2015
Telomere length and common disease: study design and analytical challenges.
Review in Human genetics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 3 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 84 citations in OpenAlex.
- Are pregnancy and parity associated with telomere length? A systematic review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Pooled it
- Telomere length and chronological age across the human lifespan: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 414 study samples including 743,019 individuals.Ageing research reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Telomere Length and Pediatric Obesity: A Review.Genes · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Social Interactions and Cell Aging Dynamics in Postpartum Women.Biological research for nursing · 2026Article
- Improved Step-by-Step qPCR Method for Absolute Telomere Length Measurement.Methods and protocols · 2026Article
- Assessing the Role of Chronic Stress in Aging Among Individuals Experiencing Homelessness: A Pilot Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Health Outcomes in Childhood Cancer Survivors with Congenital Anomalies in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025Article
- Effect of Ethnicity on the Relationship Between Telomere Length and Metabolic Markers in Kuwait.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Article
- Valproic Acid and Lamotrigine Differentially Modulate the Telomere Length in Epilepsy Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The Association between Leucocyte Telomere Length and Survival Outcomes in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2024Article
- Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Shortens the cfDNA Telomere Length in Breast Cancer Patients.International journal of breast cancer · 2024Article
- Deficit Accumulation Index and Biological Markers of Aging in Survivors of Childhood Cancer.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Predicted leukocyte telomere length and risk of myeloid neoplasms.Human molecular genetics · 2023Article
- Age-related telomere attrition in the human putamen.Aging cell · 2023Article
- Leukocyte Telomere Length Variability as a Potential Biomarker in Patients with PolyQ Diseases.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Stress and telomere shortening: Insights from cellular mechanisms.Ageing research reviews · 2022Review
- Telomeres susceptibility to environmental arsenic exposure: Shortening or lengthening?Frontiers in public health · 2022Review
- Genetically determined telomere length and multiple myeloma risk and outcome.Blood cancer journal · 2021Article
- Telomere Length and Male Fertility.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Telomeres, the repetitive sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes, help to maintain genomic integrity and are of key importance to human health. The aim here is to give an overview of the evidence for the importance of telomere length (TL) to the risk of common disease, considering the strengths and weaknesses of different epidemiological study designs. Methods for measuring TL are described, all of which are subject to considerable measurement error. TL declines with age and varies in relation to factors such as smoking and obesity. It is also highly heritable (estimated heritability of ~40 to 50%), and genome-wide studies have identified a number of associated genetic variants. Epidemiological studies have shown shorter TL to be associated with risk of a number of common diseases, including cardiovascular disease and some cancers. The relationship with cancer appears complex, in that longer telomeres are associated with higher risk of some cancers. Prospective studies of the relationship between TL and disease, where TL is measured before diagnosis, have numerous advantages over retrospective studies, since they avoid the problems of reverse causality and differences in sample handling, but they are still subject to potential confounding. Studies of the genetic predictors of TL in relation to disease risk avoid these drawbacks, although they are not without limitations. Telomere biology is of major importance to the risk of common disease, but the complexities of the relationship are only now beginning to be understood.
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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.