SynthesisScientific reports2016
The association between telomere length and cancer risk in population studies.
Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 91 papers, 4 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
91 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Association between Telomere Length and Head and Neck Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Biological aging in childhood and adolescence following experiences of threat and deprivation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychological bulletin · 2020Pooled it
- Association between shortened telomere length and rheumatoid arthritis : A meta-analysis.Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2018Pooled it
- Leukocyte Telomere Length and Long-Term Clinical Outcomes in Women with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Leukocyte telomere attrition following radiotherapy in prostate cancer: a prospective study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Relative telomere length and senescence-associated inflammatory cytokines as blood-based prognostic markers in patients with advanced or resectable gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma.British journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Telomere Length Abnormality: Investigating Approaches and Correlations with Cancer, Bone Marrow Failure and Hematological Malignancies.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Three-Dimensional Organization of Telomeres: An Emerging Prognostic Biomarker in Multiple Myeloma.Cells · 2025Review
- From ageing clocks to human digital twins in personalising healthcare through biological age analysis.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Telomere length and skin cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis of melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.Oncology letters · 2025Article
- Evolutionarily conserved role of telomerase reverse transcriptase in programming the microenvironment via regulation of the cGAS-STING pathway.Nature cell biology · 2025Article
- Autophagy: The convergence point of aging and cancer.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2025Review
- Evaluating the Effect of Telomere Length on Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Risk Using Mendelian Randomization.International dental journal · 2025Article
- Prognosis value of circulating telomere repeat binding factor 2 and leukocyte telomere length in breast cancer mortality.Narra J · 2025Article
- Telomeres and telomerase in mesothelioma: Pathophysiology, biomarkers and emerging therapeutic strategies (Review).International journal of oncology · 2025Review
- A novel machine learning approach for tumor detection based on telomeric signatures.Biology methods & protocols · 2025Article
- Quantification of Telomere Length in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Using Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- NRF2 signaling pathway and telomere length in aging and age-related diseases.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2024Review
- Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity as Potential Biomarkers for Gastrointestinal Cancer.Cancers · 2024Review
31 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Telomeres are crucial in the maintenance of chromosome integrity and genomic stability. A series of epidemiological studies have examined the association between telomere length and the risk of cancers, but the findings remain conflicting. We performed literature review and meta-analysis to demonstrate the relationship between telomere length and cancer risk. A total of 23,379 cases and 68,792 controls from 51 publications with 62 population studies were included in this meta-analysis to assess the association between overall cancer or cancer-specific risk and telomere length. General association and dose-response relationship were evaluated based on two and three groups, respectively. The estimates of association were evaluated with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals by the random-effects or fixed-effects model based on heterogeneity test. We observed a non-significant association between short telomeres and overall risk of cancer. Convincing evidence was observed for the association of short telomeres with an increased risk of gastrointestinal tumor and head and neck cancer. Significant dose-response associations were also observed for gastrointestinal tumor and head and neck cancer. Our findings indicate that telomeres may play diverse roles in different cancers, and short telomeres may be risk factors for the tumors of digestive system.
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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.