Clinical Associations of Leukocyte Telomere Length in a Cohort of Repatriated Prisoners of War

A cohort consisting of 127 American repatriated prisoners of war (RPWs) was studied in order to ascertain whether there were statistically significant correlations between Leukocyte Telomere Length (LTL) obtained from a commercially available LTL test and 47 clinical indicators of health, environmental stress and aging. Methods: Data was obtained from an annual examination of the RPW cohort. LTLs were determined by a commercial laboratory and compared to the results from common blood and urine tests, historical data related to incarceration length and solitary confinement, and qualitative health assessment tools. Analysis of descriptive statistical data, the construction of stepwise linear and logistic regression models and Fisher exact calculations were performed. Results: There is no apparent difference between the demographically homogenous RPW cohort s mean LTL (6.48 1.18 Kb) and the commercial laboratory s mean LTL [6.49 Kb (no SD available)] for its sample population of undisclosed demographics. Statistical analysis did not yield any significant correlations between LTL and the clinical data studied. Discussion: The negative statistical results of this study, coupled with the questionable quality of the commercial LTL data utilized, does not support our program s use of the publicly available LTL test studied in this work for monitoring repatriate health.
Prepared in collaboration with the United States Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Ft. Rucker, AL.