Short Telomeres and Heart Disease
January 13, 2007 by Lei
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Chromomsomes are in every cell of our body. At their ends are telomeres which are DNA whose physical structure helps keep chromosomes from fusing together and degrading. Telomeres, however, get shorter as our cells divide to make new cells so the longer a person is alive, the shorter the average length of the telomeres on their chromosomes. At a certain point, cells with abnormally short telomeres die.
A recent study of men aged 45 to 64 years old found that those with shorter telomeres in their white blood cells (leukocytes) have a higher risk of developing heart disease. The researchers also found that statin treatment seemed to block the negative effect of short telomere length on risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).
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For every 10 years in age, telomere length decreased by 9%.
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Patients in the lower two tertiles of telomere length had a 50% higher odds of developing CHD.
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Patients on placebo in the lower two tertiles of telomere length had almost double the risk of having CHD.
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Patients on pravastatin did not experience the same increase in risk with shorter telomeres.
Telomere degradation has previously been linked to aging and cancer.
Washington Post, January 12, 2007
The Lancet 2007; 369:107-114 (registration required)
Tags: chromosomes, telomeres, coronary heart disease, heart, heart disease, diseases, illness, health, statins
