Abstract
BackgroundThere is evidence that paternal age may influence offspring telomere length, but the joint effects of father's and mother's age are unclear. We evaluated whether parental ages, individually and jointly, were associated with offspring telomere length and shortening.MethodsWe included 2305 British birth cohort participants with measured leukocyte telomere length (LTL) at age 53, among whom 941 had a second measurement at age 60–64. Linear regressions were performed to assess the associations of father's and mother's age at birth and the parental age gap, i.e. the difference between maternal and paternal age with LTL and LTL change.ResultsA one year increase in father's age corresponded to a 0.26% (95% CI: 0.04–0.47%) increase in offspring LTL at age 53 in the sex-adjusted model. No association was observed for mother's age. Associations of father's or mother's age with offspring LTL at age 53 went to opposite directions when both parental ages were included together. For the difference in parental age, every year that fathers were older than mothers corresponded to a 0.94% (95% CI, 0.38–1.50%) increase in LTL at age 53 after adjustment for potential confounders. Neither parental ages nor the difference in parental ages were correlated with LTL change.ConclusionThere was a joint effect of parental ages on offspring telomere length, further denoting a complex role of reproductive age in offspring health and ageing.
Highlights
Telomeres are the terminal part of the chromosomes containing tandem repeats of DNA sequences which maintain genomic stability (Blackburn, 2001)
Paternal age has been suggested as a determinant of adult telomere length, with approximately 15 to 20 base pairs longer leukocyte telomere length in the offspring for each year of paternal age at conception (Aviv and Susser, 2013)
It has been suggested that this association between paternal age and offspring telomere length may be biologically driven by elongation of sperm telomere length observed in older compared to younger men (Eisenberg, 2011)
Summary
Telomeres are the terminal part of the chromosomes containing tandem repeats of DNA sequences which maintain genomic stability (Blackburn, 2001). Since parental age may be correlated, associations between mother's age and telomere length may be influenced by father's age and vice versa. There is evidence that paternal age may influence offspring telomere length, but the joint effects of father's and mother's age are unclear. Linear regressions were performed to assess the associations of father's and mother's age at birth and the parental age gap, i.e. the difference between maternal and paternal age with LTL and LTL change. Associations of father's or mother's age with offspring LTL at age 53 went to opposite directions when both parental ages were included together. For the difference in parental age, every year that fathers were older than mothers corresponded to a 0.94% (95% CI, 0.38–1.50%) increase in LTL at age 53 after adjustment for potential confounders. Conclusion: There was a joint effect of parental ages on offspring telomere length, further denoting a complex role of reproductive age in offspring health and ageing
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