ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2018
Prospective association between major depressive disorder and leukocyte telomere length over two years.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Role of telomere length and telomerase activity in accelerated cellular aging and major depressive disorder: a systematic review.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the association between depression and telomere length: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Psychoneuroimmunology of Mood Disorders.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Review
- The duration of lithium use and biological ageing: telomere length, frailty, metabolomic age and all-cause mortality.GeroScience · 2024Observational
- Atypical Brain Aging and Its Association With Working Memory Performance in Major Depressive Disorder.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2024Article
- Telomere Length Associations With Clinical Diagnosis, Age, and Polygenic Risk Scores for Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and Bipolar Disorder.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2023Article
- Depression, religiosity, and telomere length in the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health (SSSH).International journal of mental health and addiction · 2022Article
- Investigating the Role of Leukocyte Telomere Length in Treatment-Resistant Depression and in Response to Electroconvulsive Therapy.Journal of personalized medicine · 2021Article
- Telomere shortening in late-life depression: A potential marker of depression severity.Brain and behavior · 2021Article
- Depressive Symptoms Predict Change in Telomere Length and Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number Across Adolescence.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2020Article
- At the forefront of psychoneuroimmunology in pregnancy: Implications for racial disparities in birth outcomes: PART 2: Biological mechanisms.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2020Review
- Accelerated aging in serious mental disorders.Current opinion in psychiatry · 2019Review
- Accelerating research on biological aging and mental health: Current challenges and future directions.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2019Review
- The relation of telomere length at midlife to subsequent 20-year depression trajectories among women.Depression and anxiety · 2019Article
- Review
- Antidepressant and Antiaging Effects of Açaí (Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2019Article
- Early Senescence and Leukocyte Telomere Shortening in SCHIZOPHRENIA: A Role for Cytomegalovirus Infection?Brain sciences · 2018Review
- Depressive symptoms and shorter survival in lung cancer: the role of leukocyte telomere length.Psychology & healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundReduced leukocyte telomere length (LTL) has been found to be associated with multiple common age-related diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. A link has also been suggested between shortened LTL and major depressive disorder (MDD), suggesting that MDD may be a disease of accelerated aging. This prospective, longitudinal study examined the association between depression diagnosis at baseline and change in LTL over two years in a well-characterized sample of N = 117 adults with or without MDD at baseline, using rigorous entry criteria.
methodsParticipants aged 18-70 were assessed with validated instruments by trained, doctoral-level clinician raters at baseline and at two-year follow-up, and blood samples were obtained at both visits. LTL was assayed under identical methods using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The effect of an MDD diagnosis at baseline on change in LTL over two years was examined via hierarchical mixed models, which included potential confounders.
resultsIndividuals with MDD at baseline had greater LTL shortening over two years than individuals without MDD (p = 0.03), even after controlling for differences in age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). In the sub-sample of individuals with MDD diagnoses at baseline, no significant associations between LTL change and symptom severity or duration were found.
conclusionA baseline diagnosis of MDD prospectively predicted LTL shortening over two years. Our results provide further support for MDD as a disease associated with accelerated aging in a well-characterized sample using validated, clinician-rated measures.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.