Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30884304›Full record

ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2019

Cumulative lifetime stress exposure and leukocyte telomere length attrition: The unique role of stressor duration and exposure timing.

Stefanie E Mayer, Aric A Prather, Eli Puterman, Jue Lin, Justine Arenander, Michael Coccia, Grant S Shields, George M Slavich, Elissa S Epel

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
38citing papers in PubMed
6.7field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

38 citing papers in PubMed, 72 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Review
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  6. The association of depressive symptoms and telomere length among Mexican-origin youth: How it varies by family environment.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2025
    Article
  7. Maternal childhood adversity accelerates epigenetic aging of children.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025
    Article
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  13. Review
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  19. Effects of Chronic Burden Across Multiple Domains and Experiences of Daily Stressors on Negative Affect.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2022
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Stefanie E MayerDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA. Electronic address: Stefanie.Mayer@ucsf.edu.
Aric A PratherDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Eli PutermanSchool of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Jue LinDepartment of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Justine ArenanderDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Michael CocciaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Grant S ShieldsCenter for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
George M SlavichCousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Elissa S EpelDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
University of California, San Francisco · USUniversity of British Columbia · CAUniversity of California, Davis · USUniversity of California, Los Angeles · US

Funding

Stress, diet quality, and biological aging across the lifespanR24AG048024 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI EPEL, ELISSA S., MENDES, WENDY BERRY · 2014 to 2025
$6.2M
Chronic and Acute Psychosocial Stress and Impaired Cell AgingR01AG030424 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI EPEL, ELISSA S. · 2010 to 2014
$3.5M
Neural, Inflammatory, and Genomic Mechanisms Underlying Risk for Depression in AdolescenceK08MH103443 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI SLAVICH, GEORGE MICHAEL · 2015 to 2018
$772k
Understanding and Reversing the Effects of Early Life Adversity on Midlife Health: Improving Daily Psychological Stress Responses using an Ecological Momentary InterventionR00AG062778 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI MAYER, STEFANIE EVA · 2021 to 2023
$747k
Understanding and Reversing the Effects of Early Life Adversity on Midlife Health: Improving Daily Psychological Stress Responses using an Ecological Momentary InterventionK99AG062778 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI MAYER, STEFANIE EVA · 2019 to 2020
$311k
NIA NIH HHS K99 AG062778NIA NIH HHS R00 AG062778NIA NIH HHS R01 AG030424NIA NIH HHS R24 AG048024NIMH NIH HHS K08 MH103443
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundStress exposure occurring across the lifespan increases risk for disease, potentially involving telomere length shortening. Stress exposure during childhood and adulthood has been cross-sectionally linked with shorter telomere length. However, few longitudinal studies have examined telomere length attrition over time, and none have investigated how stressor duration (acute life events vs. chronic difficulties), timing (childhood vs. adulthood), and perceived severity may be uniquely related to telomere length shortening.

methodsTo address these issues, we administered a standardized instrument for assessing cumulative lifetime stress exposure (Stress and Adversity Inventory; STRAIN) to 175 mothers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder or neurotypical children and measured their leukocyte telomere length (LTL) at baseline and 2 years later.

resultsGreater count of lifetime stressors was associated with shorter LTL at baseline and greater LTL attrition over time. When separating lifetime stressors into acute life events and chronic difficulties, only greater count of chronic difficulties significantly predicted shorter baseline LTL and greater LTL attrition. Similarly, when examining timing of stressor exposure, only greater count of chronic childhood difficulties (age < 18) significantly predicted shorter baseline LTL and greater LTL attrition over the 2-year period in mid-life. Importantly, these results were robust while controlling for stressors occurring during the interim 2-year period. Post-hoc analyses suggested that chronic difficulties occurring during earlier childhood (0-12 years) were associated with greater LTL attrition. Cumulative stressor severity predicted LTL attrition in a parallel manner, but was less consistently associated with baseline LTL.

conclusionsThese data are the first to examine the effects of different aspects of cumulative lifetime stress exposure on LTL attrition over time, suggesting that accumulated chronic difficulties during childhood may play a unique role in shaping telomere shortening in midlife.

Indexed as

AdultAdverse Childhood ExperiencesAgingFemaleHumansLeukocytesLife Change EventsLongitudinal StudiesMiddle AgedMothersStress, PsychologicalTelomereTelomere ShorteningAdulthood stress exposureChildhood adversityChronic stressCumulative stressSTRAINStressor severityTelomere length

Identifiers

PMID30884304
PMCPMC6518420
OpenAlexW2918905074

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.