SynthesisThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences2016
Meta-analysis of Telomere Length in Alzheimer's Disease.
Synthesis in The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 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
113 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 241 citations in OpenAlex.
- Shorter Telomeres and Faster Telomere Attrition in Individuals With Five Syndromic Forms of Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR · 2025Pooled it
- Infection and telomere length: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Which Risk Factors Causally Influence Dementia? A Systematic Review of Mendelian Randomization Studies.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2018Pooled it
- Telomere dynamics are influenced by sleep, sleep variability and circadian rhythms in older adults with or without alzheimer's risk.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Trial
- Telomere Length Change in a Multidomain Lifestyle Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline: A Randomized Clinical Trial.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2021Trial
- Baseline Telomere Length and Effects of a Multidomain Lifestyle Intervention on Cognition: The FINGER Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2017Trial
- Telomere Length and Cognitive Function Among Middle-Aged and Older Participants From Communities Underrepresented in Aging Research: A Preliminary Study.Journal of aging and health · 2026Article
- Feasibility of identifying factors related to Alzheimer's disease and related dementia in real-world data.JAMIA open · 2026Review
- Synaptic aging and neurodegeneration: the role of synaptic vesicle dynamics and neurotransmitter imbalance.Biogerontology · 2026Review
- Shared molecular mechanisms in aging and neurodegenerative diseases: from mechanistic insights to therapeutic strategies.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- The Impact of Neurotoxin Proteins Trafficked by Primary Cilia and Extracellular Vesicles in Neurodegenerative Diseases.Biology · 2025Review
- Telomere Biology, Erosion, and Age-Related Conditions: Insights from Down Syndrome and Other Telomere-Associated Disorders.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- The Neuroprotective Potential of Vitamin DNutrients · 2025Review
- Exploring causal relationships between epigenetic age acceleration and Alzheimer's disease: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Article
- Brain Region-Specific Epigenomic Reorganization and Altered Cell States in Alzheimer's Disease.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Telomere-driven senescence accelerates tau pathology, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in a tauopathy mouse model.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2025Article
- Telomere Length, Brain Imaging-Derived Phenotypes, and Alzheimer's Disease: Mendelian Randomization Analysis.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Integrative effects of Telomere Length, Epigenetic Age, and Mitochondrial DNA abundance in Alzheimer's Disease.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Autophagy and Cellular Senescence in Alzheimer's Disease: Key Drivers of Neurodegeneration.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Review
53 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
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a common and severe neurodegenerative disorder. Human telomeres are fundamental for the maintenance of genomic stability and play prominent roles in both cellular senescence and organismal aging. Regulation of telomere length (TL) is the result of the complex interplay between environmental and genetic factors. Alterations in TL are increasingly being studied as a possible risk factor for AD, and published studies on TL in AD show discrepant results, highlighting the need for a meta-analysis.
methodsIn the current study, we carried out a meta-analysis of published studies of TL in AD patients and healthy controls. PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases (from inception to September 2015) were used to identify relevant articles reporting TL in humans with AD, from which we retrieved data such as sample size, experimental methods, and mean TL for cases and controls. A random-effects model was used for meta-analytical procedures.
resultsThe meta-analysis included 13 primary studies and demonstrated a significant difference in TL between 860 AD patients and 2,022 controls, with a standardized mean difference of -0.984 (confidence interval: -1.433 to -0.535; p value: <.001).
conclusionsOur results show a consistent evidence of shorter telomeres in AD patients and highlight the importance of the analysis of epigenomic markers associated with neurodegeneration and with the risk for common and severe neurological diseases, such as AD.
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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.