ArticleJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2020
Depressive Symptoms Predict Change in Telomere Length and Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number Across Adolescence.
Article in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the association between depression and telomere length: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Circulating Cell-Free DNA in Psychiatric Disorders: Current Evidence, Inflammation-Based Stratification, and Future Perspectives.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Association of depressive and/or pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms in pregnancy with maternal and neonatal biologic aging.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Psychobiological mechanisms underlying the association between early life stress and depression in adolescence.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- The growing interdisciplinarity of developmental psychopathology: Implications for science and training.Development and psychopathology · 2024Article
- Associations among temperament characteristics and telomere length and attrition rate in early childhood.Developmental psychology · 2024Article
- Causal Relationship between Meat Intake and Biological Aging: Evidence from Mendelian Randomization Analysis.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Association of pregnancy complications and postpartum maternal leukocyte telomeres in two diverse cohorts: a nested case-control study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Examining the Biological Impacts of Parent-Child Relationship Dynamics on Preschool-Aged Children who have Experienced Adversity.Developmental psychobiology · 2024Observational
- Activation of cell-free mtDNA-TLR9 signaling mediates chronic stress-induced social behavior deficits.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- Strong associations of telomere length and mitochondrial copy number with suicidality and abuse history in adolescent depressed individuals.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- Associations of depression and anxiety and adolescent telomere length.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- The interaction of socioeconomic stress and race on telomere length in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Biomarkers of aging through the life course: A Recent Literature Update.Current opinion in epidemiology and public health · 2023Article
- An exploratory analysis of leukocyte telomere length among pregnant and non-pregnant people.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2022Article
- A Social Gradient of Cortical Thickness in Adolescence: Relationships With Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage, Family Socioeconomic Status, and Depressive Symptoms.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2022Article
- Hippocampal volume indexes neurobiological sensitivity to the effect of pollution burden on telomere length in adolescents.New directions for child and adolescent development · 2022Article
- Prenatal exposure to maternal psychological distress and telomere length in childhood.Developmental psychobiology · 2022Article
- Sex differences in myelin content of white matter tracts in adolescents with depression.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveSeveral studies have found associations between a diagnosis or symptoms of major depressive disorder and markers of cellular aging and dysfunction. These investigations, however, are predominantly cross-sectional and focus on adults. In the present study, we used a prospective longitudinal design to test the cross-sectional association between depressive symptoms in adolescents and telomere length (TL) as well as mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-cn).
methodA total of 121 adolescents (mean age = 11.38 years, SD = 1.03; 39% male adolescents and 61% female adolescents) were followed for approximately 2 years. At baseline and follow-up, participants provided saliva for DNA extraction, from which measures of TL and mtDNA-cn were obtained. Depressive symptoms were obtained via the Children's Depression Inventory.
resultsThere was no association between depressive symptoms and markers of cellular aging at baseline; however, depressive symptoms at baseline predicted higher rates of telomere erosion (β = -0.201, p = .016) and greater increases in mtDNA-cn (β = 0.190, p = .012) over the follow-up period. Markers of cellular aging at baseline did not predict subsequent changes in depressive symptoms. Furthermore, including the number of stressful life events did not alter these patterns of findings.
conclusionThese results indicate that depressive symptoms precede changes in cellular aging and dysfunction, rather than the reverse.
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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.