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Objective: We tested the hypothesis that short telomere length is associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, and early death., Methods and Results: We measured leukocyte telomere length in 2 prospective studies of 19 838 Danish general population participants from the Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen General Population Study. Participants were followed for up to 19 years for incident myocardial infarction (n=929), ischemic heart disease (n=2038), and death (n=4342). Follow-up was 100% complete. Telomere length decreased linearly with increasing age in women and men in both studies (P=7×10(-74) to P=3×10(-125)). Multifactorially adjusted hazard ratios were 1.10 (95% CI 1.01-1.19) for myocardial infarction, 1.06 (1.00-1.11) for ischemic heart disease, and 1.09 (1.05-1.13) for early death per 1000-base pair decrease in telomere length. The multifactorially adjusted hazard ratios for the shortest versus the longest decile of telomere length were 1.49 (1.07-2.07) for myocardial infarction, 1.24 (1.01-1.53) for ischemic heart disease, and 1.25 (1.07-1.46) for early death., Conclusion: Short telomere length is associated with only modestly increased risk of myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, and early death.

Objective: Cysteinyl leukotrienes are involved in inflammation and possibly in early carotid atherosclerosis. We tested the hypothesis that the -444 A/C and -1072 G/A polymorphisms of the leukotriene C(4) synthase associate with risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease., Methods and Results: We genotyped 10 592 individuals from the Danish general population, the Copenhagen City Heart Study. During 24 years of follow-up, 557 individuals developed ischemic cerebrovascular disease. The allele frequency was 0.07 for -1072 A and 0.29 for -444 C. Cumulative incidence for ischemic cerebrovascular disease was higher for -1072 AA versus GG genotype (log-rank: P=0.002), and lower for -444 CC versus AA genotype (log-rank: P=0.008). Combined genotypes showed corresponding cumulative incidence differences (log-rank: P=0.003). Multifactorially adjusted hazard ratios for ischemic cerebrovascular disease were 2.8(1.4 to 5.7) for -1072 AA versus GG genotype, 0.6(0.4 to 0.9) for -444 CC versus AA genotype, 2.5(1.2 to 5.4) for combined AA-AA versus GG-AA genotype, and 0.6(0.4 to 0.9) for combined GG-CC versus GG-AA genotype. Genotype did not associate with risk of deep venous thrombosis or severe carotid atherosclerosis, or with levels of platelets and coagulation factors., Conclusions: Leukotriene C(4) synthase -1072 AA genotype predict increased risk, whereas -444 CC genotype predict decreased risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease.