ArticlePloS one2023
Characteristics of salivary telomere length shortening in preterm infants.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Religiosity, Telomere Length and Preterm Birth Among Mexican and African American Women in Texas.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- Diagnosis and management of adult telomere biology disorders.Haematologica · 2026Review
- Associations between maternal adversity and health and children's telomere length.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- The Association Between Longer Maternal Leukocyte Telomere Length in the Immediate Postpartum Period and Preterm Birth in a Predominately Latina Cohort of Mothers.Maternal and child health journal · 2025Article
- Telomere length across the spectrum of metabolic health: an analysis from the LIPIDOGEN2015 study.Archives of medical science : AMS · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo examine the association between gestational age, telomere length (TL) and rate of shortening in newborns. STUDY
designGenomic DNA was isolated from buccal samples of 39 term infants at birth and one year and 32 preterm infants at birth, term-adjusted age (40 weeks post-conception) and age one-year corrected for gestational duration. Telomere length was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Demographic and clinical data were collected during clinic or research visits and from hospital records. Socioeconomic status was estimated using the deprivation category (DEPCAT) scores derived from the Carstairs score of the subject's postal code.
resultsAt birth, preterm infants had longer telomeres than infants born at term. However, there was no difference in telomere length between preterm infants and term infants at one year of age, implying that the rate of telomere shortening was greater in pre-term than term infants. Interestingly, TL at age 40 weeks post-conception in preterm infants was significantly longer than term infant TL at birth, suggesting that time since conception is not the only factor that affects rate of shortening. Several factors, including sex, fetal growth restriction, maternal age, maternal booking body mass index (BMI), mother education level and DEPCAT score, also differed between the preterm and term groups.
conclusionsPreterm infants have longer telomeres than term infants at birth. In the studied cohort, the rate of telomere shortening was greater in the premature group compared with the term infants. This finding agrees with previous studies using cord blood, suggesting that the longer TL in premature infants detected at birth do not persist and demonstrating that use of saliva DNA is acceptable for studies of telomere dynamics in infants. However, that the TL at age 40 weeks post-conception in preterm is longer than term infants at birth suggests that biological factors other than time since conception also affect rate of shortening.
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