ReviewAnnual review of clinical psychology2018
Stress, Telomeres, and Psychopathology: Toward a Deeper Understanding of a Triad of Early Aging.
Review in Annual review of clinical psychology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 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
92 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Maternal psychological stress during pregnancy and newborn telomere length: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Telomere length analysis from minimally-invasively collected samples: Methods development and meta-analysis of the validity of different sampling techniques: American Journal of Human Biology.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2021Pooled it
- Adverse Childhood Experiences and Telomere Length a Look Into the Heterogeneity of Findings-A Narrative Review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- Psychoeducational Program Increases Telomerase Activity in Bipolar Disorder: A Gender-Based Randomized Controlled Trial.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Trial
- Increasing autobiographical memory specificity: Using kindness meditation to impact features of memory retrieval.PloS one · 2023Trial
- Associations of childhood maltreatment types and timing with oxidative stress in formerly out-of-home placed young adults.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Article
- Aging is not a disease: an evolutionary and comparative biological reappraisal.Biogerontology · 2026Review
- Maternal adverse childhood experiences and prenatal stress: Intergenerational transmission and offspring mental health in the ECHO Cohort.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Biomarkers help us understand how cellular and systemic aging contribute to mortality: a study utilizing a machine-learning approach in the Health and Retirement Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Article
- Optimized primer and model improve precision of X chromosome telomere length determination in the Han population.iScience · 2026Article
- Epigenetic Clocks, Resilience, and Multi-Omics Ageing: A Review and the EpiAge-R Conceptual Framework.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Article
- A history of maternal separation drives systemic aging-associated signatures in middle-aged male rats.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Psychometric evaluation of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) in Ecuadorian adults: evidence from a bifactor model and measurement invariance.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Mediated roles of oxidative stress and kidney function to leukocyte telomere length and prognosis in chronic kidney disease.Renal failure · 2025Article
- Cumulative social advantage is associated with slower epigenetic aging and lower systemic inflammation.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- An American Story of a Health System Dilemma: The Slave Health Deficit and Post-Traumatic Slavery Stress Disorder (PTSSD).Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Remote Blood Collection for Telomere Length Measurement: Assessing the Impact of Sample Characteristics and Handling on DNA Quality and Assay Outcomes.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- Lifestyle, Early-life, and Genetic Health Risk Factors Underlying the Brain Age Gap: A Mega-Analysis Across 3,934 Individuals from the ENIGMA MDD Consortium.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
32 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
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Telomeres play an important part in aging and show relationships to lifetime adversity, particularly childhood adversity. Meta-analyses demonstrate reliable associations between psychopathology (primarily depression) and shorter telomere length, but the nature of this relationship has not been fully understood. Here, we review and evaluate the evidence for impaired telomere biology as a consequence of psychopathology or as a contributing factor, and the important mediating roles of chronic psychological stress and impaired allostasis. There is evidence for a triadic relationship among stress, telomere shortening, and psychiatric disorders that is positively reinforcing and unfolds across the life course and, possibly, across generations. We review the role of genetics and biobehavioral responses that may contribute to shorter telomere length, as well as the neurobiological impact of impaired levels of telomerase. These complex interrelationships are important to elucidate because they have implications for mental and physical comorbidity and, potentially, for the prevention and treatment of depression.
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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.