SynthesisEnvironmental research2017
Cigarette smoking and telomere length: A systematic review of 84 studies and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Environmental research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 199 papers, 6 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
199 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Contribution of Biological Age-Predictive Biomarkers to Nutrition Research: A Systematic Review of the Current Evidence and Implications for Future Research and Clinical Practice.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Association between Childhood Exposure to Family Violence and Telomere Length: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Leukocyte telomere length in patients with schizophrenia and related disorders: a meta-analysis of case-control studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Leukocyte telomere length and obesity in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Effect of Cancer Treatments on Telomere Length: A Systematic Review of the Literature.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2018Pooled it
- Leukocyte telomere length and serum polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary habits, cardiovascular risk factors and features of myocardial infarction in elderly patients.BMC geriatrics · 2019Trial
- Telomere Length and Use of Immunosuppressive Medications in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2019Trial
- Biological aging acceleration associated with electronic cigarette use in the United States.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Article
- Accelerated aging in schizophrenia: integrating epigenetic clocks, telomere dynamics, senescence-associated secretory phenotype, and oxidative stress.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Review
- Health behaviours and telomere biology in severe mental disorders.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- The association between obesity and telomere shortening is mediated through total bilirubin.Cardiovascular diabetology. Endocrinology reports · 2026Article
- Impact of tobacco smoking on estimated telomere shortening and epigenetic age acceleration among human blood immune cell types.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Article
- Telomere length and clonal hematopoiesis interact to influence outcomes in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Blood advances · 2026Article
- Effect of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on outcome and relative telomere length in preterm infants.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Determinants of chromosome-specific telomere lengths among 2573 All of Us participants.Nature communications · 2026Article
- B and T cells in lung tissue are associated with smoking and forced vital capacity in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and familial pulmonary fibrosis.Respiratory research · 2026Article
- Article
- Leukocyte Telomere Length Variants Are Independently Associated with Survival of Patients with Colorectal Cancer.Cancers · 2026Article
- Biological aging, a mediator between smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: evidence from a hospital-based cohort study in China.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
139 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
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCigarette smoking is a risk factor for ageing-related disease, but its association with biological ageing, indicated by telomere length, is unclear.
methodsWe systematically reviewed evidence evaluating association between smoking status and telomere length. Searches were performed in MEDLINE (Ovid) and EMBASE (Ovid) databases, combining variation of keywords "smoking" and "telomere". Data was extracted for study characteristics and estimates for association between smoking and telomere length. Quality of studies was assessed with a risk of bias score, and publication bias was assessed with a funnel plot. I
resultsA total of 84 studies were included in the review, and 30 among them were included in our meta-analysis. Potential bias was addressed in half of included studies, and there was little evidence of small study bias. Telomere length was shorter among ever smokers compared to never smokers (summary standard mean difference [SMD]: -0.11 (95% CI -0.16 to -0.07)). Similarly, shorter telomere length was found among smokers compared to non-smokers, and among current smokers compared to never or former smokers. Dose-response meta-analysis suggested an inverse trend between pack-years of smoking and telomere length. However, heterogeneity among some analyses was observed.
conclusionShorter telomeres among ever smokers compared to those who never smoked may imply mechanisms linking tobacco smoke exposure to ageing-related disease.
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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.