SynthesisJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2021
Effect of physical activity and exercise on telomere length: Systematic review with meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Physical Activity on Telomere Length as a Biomarker for Aging: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2022Pooled it
- Reframing Telomere Biology in Exercise Science: From Descriptive Metrics to Redox-Metabolic Mechanisms for Precision Healthy Aging (2000-2025).Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Commentary: Extracurricular physical activity as an early biological investment.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Effect of physical activity on telomere length among middle-aged Indian adults: A cross-sectional study.Bioinformation · 2026Article
- The impact of childhood maltreatment and parental styles on telomere length: the modulatory role of A118G.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Exploring the mediating role of telomere length in the association between physical activity and bone mineral density.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Article
- Mediation role of telomere length in the relationship between physical activity and PhenoAge: A population-based study.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2025Article
- Is physical fitness associated with leucocyte telomere length in youth with type 1 diabetes?Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Aging Processes Are Affected by Energy Balance: Focused on the Effects of Nutrition and Physical Activity on Telomere Length.Current nutrition reports · 2024Review
- Article
- The multifaceted benefits of walking for healthy aging: from Blue Zones to molecular mechanisms.GeroScience · 2023Review
- Genetic and clinical determinants of telomere length.HGG advances · 2023Article
- Canonical and extra-telomeric functions of telomerase: Implications for healthy ageing conferred by endurance training.Aging cell · 2023Review
- The Association of Physical Activity Behaviors and Patterns With Aging Acceleration: Evidence From the UK Biobank.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2023Article
- Major depression and the biological hallmarks of aging.Ageing research reviews · 2023Review
- Exercise regulates shelterin genes and microRNAs implicated in ageing in Thoroughbred horses.Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2022Article
- Therapeutics That Can Potentially Replicate or Augment the Anti-Aging Effects of Physical Exercise.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Modifiable traits, healthy behaviours, and leukocyte telomere length: a population-based study in UK Biobank.The lancet. Healthy longevity · 2022Article
- Do the telomere ends justify the physical means?Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo compare a physically active lifestyle or structured exercise program to physically inactive lifestyle or control groups on telomere length (TL).
methodWe searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Open Gray databases up to March 31, 2020. We calculated standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of TL comparing physically active to physically inactive individuals and exercise intervention to control groups. Risk of bias was judged using the Risk of Bias Assessment tool for Non-randomized Studies (RoBANS) for physical activity (PA) studies and the Cochrane risk-of-bias (RoB2) for exercise intervention studies. Certainty of evidence was judged using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE).
resultsWe included 30 studies (24 assessing the effects of PA and 6 assessing the effects of exercise interventions) comprising 7418 individuals. Physically active individuals had longer telomeres (SMD = 0.70, 95% CI 0.12-1.28, very-low certainty), especially in middle-aged individuals (SMD = 0.90, 95% CI 0.08-1.72, very-low certainty) and when considering only athletes (SMD = 0.54, 95% CI 0.18-0.90, very-low certainty). Trim-and-fill analyses revealed that most of the pooled effects were overestimated. Exercise interventions did not yield any significant effect on TL.
conclusionThere is very-low certainty that physically active individuals have longer telomeres with a moderate effect, but this effect is probably overestimated.
Indexed as
Identifiers
34161613What 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.