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Short telomere length, lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 46,396 individuals.
- Source :
-
Thorax [Thorax] 2013 May; Vol. 68 (5), pp. 429-35. Date of Electronic Publication: 2012 Dec 25. - Publication Year :
- 2013
-
Abstract
- Background: A previous case-control study of 100 individuals found that short telomere length was associated with a 28-fold increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).<br />Objectives: To test the hypothesis that short telomere length is associated with reduced lung function and an increased risk of COPD.<br />Methods: Observational study of 46 396 individuals from the Danish general population.<br />Measurements: Leucocyte telomere length and spirometry were measured. COPD was defined using either fixed forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio <0.70 as suggested by the Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) or FEV₁/FVC below the lower limit of normal (LLN).<br />Results: Telomere length decreased significantly with increasing age (p<10(-300)). FEV₁, FVC and FEV1/FVC decreased with decreasing telomere length quartiles (p trend: 5 × 10(-51), 5 × 10(-35) and 6 × 10(-137), respectively), but the associations attenuated after age and multivariable adjustment. The risk of COPD increased with decreasing telomere length quartile (p trend: p=7 × 10(-92) for GOLD; p=8 × 10(-44) for FEV₁/FVC below LLN), but associations also attenuated after adjustment. Unadjusted and multivariable adjusted OR for shortest versus longest telomere length quartiles were 2.06 (95% CI 1.91 to 2.22) and 1.15 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.25) for GOLD and 1.73 (95% CI 1.60 to 1.88) and 1.19 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.30) for FEV₁/FVC below LLN, respectively. Per 1000 base pairs decrease in telomere length, the multivariable adjusted OR was 1.07 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.10) for GOLD and 1.07 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.11) for FEV₁/FVC below LLN.<br />Conclusions: Short telomere length is associated with decreased lung function and with increased risk of COPD, but the associations are markedly attenuated after adjustment. Our data support a modest correlation between telomere length and the lung function indices examined.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Aged
Denmark epidemiology
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prevalence
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive epidemiology
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive physiopathology
Retrospective Studies
DNA analysis
Forced Expiratory Volume genetics
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive genetics
Telomere
Vital Capacity genetics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1468-3296
- Volume :
- 68
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Thorax
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 23268483
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-202544