Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31165156›Full record

ArticleAge and ageing2019

Sex differences in the association between salivary telomere length and multimorbidity within the US Health & Retirement Study.

Claire L Niedzwiedz, Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi, Jill P Pell, Daniel J Smith

Open access · hybridAbstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Age and ageing, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 25% 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

10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Molecular Morbidity Score-Can MicroRNAs Assess the Burden of Disease?International journal of molecular sciences · 2024
    Review
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  5. Article
  6. Multimorbidity.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2022
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  7. The Prevalence and Burden of Non-AIDS Comorbidities Among Women Living With or at Risk for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in the United States.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2021
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. 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

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Claire L NiedzwiedzInstitute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, 1 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow.
Srinivasa Vittal KatikireddiMedical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow.
Jill P PellInstitute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, 1 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow.
Daniel J SmithInstitute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, 1 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow.
University of Glasgow · GBChief Scientist Office · GB

Funding

HRS Yrs29-34: Y33 SSA CoFundingU01AG009740 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI Jessica Faul, KENNETH M LANGA · 1990 to 2026
$555.8M
Chief Scientist Office SCAF/15/02Chief Scientist Office SPHSU13Chief Scientist Office SPHSU15Medical Research Council MC_PC_17217Medical Research Council MC_UU_12017/13Medical Research Council MC_UU_12017/15Medical Research Council MR/R024774/1NIA NIH HHS U01 AG009740
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTelomere length is associated with several physical and mental health conditions, but whether it is a marker of multimorbidity is unclear. We investigated associations between telomere length and multimorbidity by sex.

methodsData from adults (N = 5,495) aged ≥50 years were taken from the US Health and Retirement Study (2008-14). Telomere length was measured in 2008 from salivary samples. The cross-sectional associations between telomere length and eight chronic health conditions were explored using logistic regression, adjusting for confounders and stratified by sex. Logistic, ordinal and multinomial regression models were calculated to explore relationships between telomere length and multimorbidity (using a binary variable and a sum of the number of health conditions) and the type of multimorbidity (no multimorbidity, physical multimorbidity, or multimorbidity including psychiatric problems). Using multilevel logistic regression, prospective relationships between telomere length and incident multimorbidity were also explored.

resultsIn cross-sectional analyses, longer telomeres were associated with reduced likelihood of lung disease and psychiatric problems among men, but not women. Longer telomeres were associated with lower risk of multimorbidity that included psychiatric problems among men (OR=0.521, 95% CI: 0.284 to 0.957), but not women (OR=1.188, 95% CI: 0.771 to 1.831). Prospective analyses suggested little association between telomere length and the onset of multimorbidity in men (OR=1.378, 95% CI: 0.931 to 2.038) nor women (OR=1.224, 95% CI: 0.825 to 1.815).

conclusionsAlthough telomere length does not appear to be a biomarker of overall multimorbidity, further exploration of the relationships is merited particularly for multimorbidity including psychiatric conditions among men.

Indexed as

Mental HealthRetirementAgedAged, 80 and overBiomarkersCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansLung DiseasesMaleMental DisordersMiddle AgedMultimorbidityProspective StudiesSalivaSex FactorsBiomarkersBiomarkersEpidemiologyMultimorbiditiesOlder peopleRisk FactorsTelomeres

Identifiers

PMID31165156
PMCPMC6984958
OpenAlexW2969640170

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.