ArticleRoyal Society open science2019
Smoking does not accelerate leucocyte telomere attrition: a meta-analysis of 18 longitudinal cohorts.
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Article in Royal Society open science, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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19citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy and newborn telomere length (TL): a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Pooled it
- Telomere Length in Celiac Disease in a Population-Based Cohort: A HUNT Study.Clinical and translational gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Impact of smoking and alcohol consumption on telomere length: A univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization study.Medicine · 2025Article
- Involvement of Inheritance in Determining Telomere Length beyond Environmental and Lifestyle Factors.Aging and disease · 2023Review
- Demographic and health predictors of telomere length during adolescence.Developmental psychobiology · 2022Article
- A Time-Varying Effect Model (TVEM) of the Complex Association of Tobacco Use and Smoke Exposure on Mean Telomere Length: Differences between Racial and Ethnic Groups Assessed in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Modifiable traits, healthy behaviours, and leukocyte telomere length: a population-based study in UK Biobank.The lancet. Healthy longevity · 2022Article
- Impact of prenatal tobacco smoking on infant telomere length trajectory and ADHD symptoms at 18 months: a longitudinal cohort study.BMC medicine · 2022Article
- Shortened Infant Telomere Length Is Associated with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Children at Age Two Years: A Birth Cohort Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Idiopathic early ovarian aging: is there a relation with premenopausal accelerated biological aging in young women with diminished response to ART?Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2021Article
- Short Telomeres and a T-Cell Shortfall in COVID-19: The Aging Effect.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2021Article
- Measurement of Telomere Length for Longitudinal Analysis: Implications of Assay Precision.American journal of epidemiology · 2021Article
- Short Leukocyte Telomeres, But Not Telomere Attrition Rates, Predict Memory Decline in the 20-Year Longitudinal Betula Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2021Article
- Review
- Telomere Length but Not Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number Is Altered in Both Young and Old COPD.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
- No sex differences in adult telomere length across vertebrates: a meta-analysis.Royal Society open science · 2020Article
- Article
- Age-Dependent Assessment of Genes Involved in Cellular Senescence, Telomere, and Mitochondrial Pathways in Human Lung Tissue of Smokers, COPD, and IPF: Associations With SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 ACE2-TMPRSS2-Furin-DPP4 Axis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2020Article
- Controlling for baseline telomere length biases estimates of the rate of telomere attrition.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
31 authors at 20 institutions in 10 countries.
Melissa BatesonCentre for Behaviour and Evolution and Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-0861-0191
Abraham AvivCenter of Human Development and Aging, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7441-0227
Laila BendixPain Center South, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Odense, Odense, Denmark.
Athanase BenetosDepartment of Geriatric Medicine, CHRU de Nancy, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France.
Yoav Ben-ShlomoSchool of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Bristol, UK.
Stig E BojesenDepartment of Clinical Biochemistry, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, 2730 Herlev, Denmark.
Cyrus CooperMRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK.
Rachel CooperMRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, University College London, 33 Bedford Place, London WC1B 5JU, UK.
Ian J DearyCentre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK.
Sara HäggDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden.
Sarah E HarrisCentre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK.
Jeremy D KarkHebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Florian KronenbergDivision of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck 6020, Austria.
Diana KuhMRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, University College London, 33 Bedford Place, London WC1B 5JU, UK.
Carlos LabatINSERM U1116, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France.
Carmen M Martin-RuizCentre for Behaviour and Evolution and Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK.
Craig MeyerDepartment of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA.
Børge G NordestgaardDepartment of Clinical Biochemistry, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, 2730 Herlev, Denmark.
Brenda W J H PenninxDepartment of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Oldenaller 1, 1081 HJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Gillian V PepperCentre for Behaviour and Evolution and Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK.
Dóra RévészDepartment of Epidemiology, GROW School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
M Abdullah SaidDepartment of Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen 9700 RB, The Netherlands.
John M StarrCentre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK.
Holly SyddallMRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK.
William Murray ThomsonSir John Walsh Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
Pim van der HarstDepartment of Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen 9700 RB, The Netherlands.
Mary WhooleyDepartment of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA.
Thomas von ZglinickiInstitute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Peter WilleitDepartment of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck 6020, Austria.
Yiqiang ZhanDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden.
Daniel NettleCentre for Behaviour and Evolution and Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-9089-2599
Newcastle University · GBCopenhagen University Hospital · DKInnsbruck Medical University · ATKarolinska Institutet · SEMRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing · GBSouthampton General Hospital · GBUniversity Medical Center Groningen · NLUniversity of California, San Francisco · USAlzheimer Scotland · GBAmsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam · NLHebrew University of Jerusalem · ILInserm · FRInstitute of Genetics and Cancer · GBMaastricht University · NLNear East University · CYOdense University Hospital · DKRutgers, The State University of New Jersey · USUniversité de Lorraine · FRUniversity of Bristol · GBUniversity of Edinburgh · GB
Funding
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/F019394/1Medical Research Council G0400491Medical Research Council G0500997Medical Research Council G0601333Medical Research Council G0700704Medical Research Council MC_U147585819Medical Research Council MC_U147585824Medical Research Council MC_U147585827Medical Research Council MC_UP_A620_1014Medical Research Council MC_UP_A620_1015Medical Research Council MC_UU_12011/1Medical Research Council MC_UU_12011/2Medical Research Council MR/J50001X/1Medical Research Council MR/K00381XMedical Research Council MR/K026992/1National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research NC/K000802/1
Abstract
Smoking is associated with shorter leucocyte telomere length (LTL), a biomarker of increased morbidity and reduced longevity. This association is widely interpreted as evidence that smoking causes accelerated LTL attrition in adulthood, but the evidence for this is inconsistent. We analysed the association between smoking and LTL dynamics in 18 longitudinal cohorts. The dataset included data from 12 579 adults (4678 current smokers and 7901 non-smokers) over a mean follow-up interval of 8.6 years. Meta-analysis confirmed a cross-sectional difference in LTL between smokers and non-smokers, with mean LTL 84.61 bp shorter in smokers (95% CI: 22.62 to 146.61). However, LTL attrition was only 0.51 bp yr
Indexed as
biological agelongitudinalsmokingtelomere attritiontelomere length
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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.