SynthesisAgeing research reviews2023
Telomere length and chronological age across the human lifespan: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 414 study samples including 743,019 individuals.
Synthesis in Ageing research reviews, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The relationship between physical activity and telomere length in women: A systematic review.Mechanisms of ageing and development · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of long-term caloric restriction on telomere length in healthy adults: CALERIE™ 2 trial analysis.Aging cell · 2024Trial
- Quantile regression of the relationship between demographic factors and leukocyte telomere length, measured by Southern blot and qPCR.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Flavonoid intake and telomere length attrition among middle-aged women: a cross-sectional analysis of the Nurses' Health Study.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Multimodal Ageing Biomarkers and Plasma Proteomic Signatures Associated With All-Cause Mortality.Aging cell · 2026Article
- Physiological Age and Homeostatic Dysregulation Following Child Maltreatment in Youth.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Maternal biological ageing and telomere attrition across parity, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.Biogerontology · 2026Review
- Embracing non-linearity in human ageing.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Psychological Distress and Biological Stress Markers After Spinal Cord Injury: A Longitudinal Multi-Omics Pilot Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Relationship Between Occupational Characteristics and Telomere Length in Female Nurses Aged 20-39 Years: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Telomere length dynamics do not predict subclinical atherosclerosis progression over a six-year period.GeroScience · 2026Article
- DNA methylation-based estimator of blood telomere length (DNAmTL) outperforms qPCR-based telomere length in reflecting clinical and sociodemographic factors in people with HIV infection.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Article
- Cancer and aging: complex associations and therapeutic targets.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- Aging and increased cancer risk: exploring the potential of LE8 score to mitigate risk.npj aging · 2026Article
- Donor leukocyte telomere length emerges as a prognostic factor for transplantation outcomes.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Article
- Telomere shortening correlates with immune dysregulation and severity in pulmonary tuberculosis.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- Effects of intergenerational parent-child separation on early eruption of permanent molar and telomere length: a cross-sectional study among Chinese children aged 3-6 years.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- Sex-specific nonlinear DNA methylation aging trajectories reveal biomarkers of cancer risk and inflammation.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Of Barriers and Loops-How Evolution Limits Most Cancer Risks to Older Ages.Cancer discovery · 2026Review
- Molecular pathways linking chronic psychological stress to accelerated aging: mechanisms and interventions.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Telomere attrition is a proposed hallmark of aging. To evaluate the association of telomere length (TL) with chronological age across the human lifespan, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 414 study samples comprising 743,019 individuals aged 0-112 years. We examined both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, and evaluated the impact of various biological and methodological factors including sex, health status, tissue types, DNA extraction procedures, and TL measurement methods. The pooled corrected correlation between TL and age from cross-sectional samples was -0.19 (95%CI: -0.22 to -0.15), which weakened with increased chronological age (β = 0.003, p < 0.001). Z-score change rates of TL across the lifespan showed a gradual decrease in shortening rate until around age 50 and remained at a relatively stable rate towards the elderly period. A greater attrition rate was observed in longitudinal than cross-sectional evaluations. For TL measured in base pairs, the median change rate of TL was -23 bp/year in cross-sectional samples and -38 bp/year in longitudinal samples. Methodological factors including TL measurement methods and tissue types impacted the TL-age correlation, while sex or disease status did not. This meta-analysis revealed the non-linear shortening trend of TL across the human lifespan and provides a reference value for future studies. Results also highlight the importance of methodological considerations when using TL as an aging biomarker.
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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.