Childhood Telomere Length Research Articles

The Impact of Foods, Nutrients, or Dietary Patterns on Telomere Length in Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review.

Environmental factors such as diet can affect telomere length (TL) dynamics. However, the role that children’s and adolescents’ diets play in maintaining TL is not well understood. Thus, we conducted a systematic review to examine the association between the intake of nutrients, foods, food groups, and/or dietary patterns and TL in childhood and adolescence. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched MEDLINE via PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases and additional registers and methods. The five selected studies were cross-sectional and conducted in children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years. The main results suggest that a higher consumption of fish, nuts and seeds, fruits and vegetables, green leafy and cruciferous vegetables, olives, legumes, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and an antioxidant-rich diet might positively affect TL. On the contrary, a higher intake of dairy products, simple sugar, sugar-sweetened beverages, cereals, especially white bread, and a diet high in glycaemic load were factors associated with TL shortening. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review examining the impact of dietary intake factors on TL in childhood and adolescence. Although limited, these results are consistent with previous studies in different adult populations. Further research is needed to ascertain potential nutritional determinants of TL in childhood and adolescence.

Prenatal exposure to maternal psychological distress and telomere length in childhood.

Telomere length (TL) is a biological marker of cellular aging, and shorter TL in adulthood is associated with increased morbidity and mortality risk. It is likely that these differences in TL are established long before adulthood, and there is growing evidence that TL can reflect prenatal experiences. Although maternal prenatal distress predicts newborn TL, it is unknown whether the relation between prenatal exposure to maternal distress and child TL persists through childhood. The purpose of the current longitudinal, prospective study is to examine the relation between prenatal exposure to maternal distress (perceived stress, depressive symptoms, pregnancy-related anxiety) and TL in childhood. Participants included 102 children (54 girls) and their mothers. Mothers' distress was assessed five times during pregnancy, at 12weeks postpartum, and at the time of child telomere measurement between 6 and 16 years of age. Maternal distress during pregnancy predicted shorter offspring TL in childhood, even after accounting for postnatal exposure to maternal distress and other covariates. These findings indicate that maternal mental health predicts offspring TL biology later in childhood than previously observed. This study bolsters claims that telomere biology is subject to fetal programming and highlights the importance of supporting maternal mental health during pregnancy.

275-OR: Maternal Vitamin D Levels during Pregnancy Is Associated with Childhood Telomere Length: Analysis from a Longitudinal Mother-Child Cohort

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a biomarker of biological aging, and has been associated with metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Insufficient maternal vitamin D (25(OH)D) has also been associated with increased disease risk for many diseases and adverse later life outcomes. The association between maternal and cord blood total 25(OH)D and LTL was examined in mother-child pairs from the HAPO Hong Kong Field Centre, including 815 offspring at age (mean±SD) 6.96 ± 0.44 years. LTL was measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction and serum 25(OH)D2, 25(OH)D3 and 3-epi-25(OH)D3 were measured in maternal blood (at gestation 24-32 weeks) and cord blood by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Children LTL at follow-up was significantly shorter in boys compared to girls (p<0.001) at age 7. Childhood LTL was positively associated with insulin sensitivity according to the Matsuda index after sex and age adjustment (β±SE=0.038±0.017, p=0.022). Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the relationship between 25(OH)D levels and LTL, with covariate adjustments for child age, sex, body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), exercise, gestational age, mode of delivery, and maternal age, SBP, parity, smoking, current parental DM status and pre-pregnancy BMI. Childhood LTL positively correlated with total maternal 25(OH)D concentrations (β±SE=0.003±0.001, p=0.001), maternal D3 (β±SE=0.003±0.001, p=0.002) and maternal D3 epimer (β±SE=0.138±0.042, p<0.001), and similar associations were noted for cord D3 epimer (β±SE=0.101±0.045, p=0.024) and cord total 25(OH)D (β±SE=0.1±0.05, p=0.048), even after covariates adjustments. Our findings suggest 25(OH)D, D3 and D3 epimer both in utero and at birth may impact on childhood LTLs, highlighting a potential link between maternal vitamin D and biological aging. Disclosure K. Wong: None. B. E. Metzger: None. W. Lowe: None. W. H. Tam: None. R. C. Ma: Other Relationship; Self; AstraZeneca, Medtronic, Research Support; Self; AstraZeneca, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc., Novo Nordisk, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi-Aventis, Tricida, Inc. F. Cheng: None. D. Mao: None. C. K. P. Lim: Stock/Shareholder; Self; GemVCare Ltd. R. Wang: None. C. H. Tam: None. M. A. Joglekar: None. A. A. Hardikar: None. A. Jenkins: Advisory Panel; Self; Abbott Diabetes, Sanofi-Aventis, Other Relationship; Self; Amgen Inc., Research Support; Self; Abbott, International Diabetes Federation, JDRF, Medtronic, Mylan N. V.

The metabolic syndrome in pregnancy and its association with child telomere length.

The aim of this study was to determine whether presence of the metabolic syndrome in pregnancy associates with child telomere length or child anthropometry (weight, BMI) and BP, measured at 10years of age. The Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints study (SCOPE) was a multicentre, international prospective cohort of nulliparous pregnant women recruited from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK (N = 5628). The current analysis is a 10year follow-up of SCOPE pregnant women and their children, from the Australian cohort. Clinical data collected at 14-16weeks' gestation during the SCOPE study were used to diagnose the metabolic syndrome using IDF criteria. Telomere length, a biomarker of ageing, was assessed by quantitative PCR from children's saliva collected at 10years of age. In women who completed follow-up (n = 255), 20% had the metabolic syndrome in pregnancy. After adjusting for a range of confounders, children of mothers who had the metabolic syndrome in pregnancy had 14% shorter telomeres than children of mothers without the metabolic syndrome in pregnancy (mean difference -0.36 [95% CI -0.74, 0.01]). Height- and weight-for-age, and BMI z scores were similar in children of mothers who did and did not have the metabolic syndrome during pregnancy. Children of mothers who had the metabolic syndrome in pregnancy have shorter telomeres, a biomarker of accelerated ageing. These findings warrant further studies in larger cohorts of children, as well as investigations into whether telomere length measured in cord blood associates with telomere length in childhood.

Effects of water, sanitation, handwashing, and nutritional interventions on telomere length among children in a cluster-randomized controlled trial in rural Bangladesh.

Shorter childhood telomere length (TL) and more rapid TL attrition are widely regarded as manifestations of stress. However, the potential effects of health interventions on child TL are unknown. We hypothesized that a water, sanitation, handwashing (WSH), and nutritional intervention would slow TL attrition during the first two years of life. In a trial in rural Bangladesh, we randomized geographical clusters of pregnant women into individual water treatment, sanitation, handwashing, nutrition, combined WSH, combined nutrition plus WSH (N + WSH), or control arms. We conducted a substudy enrolling children from the control arm and the N + WSH intervention arm. Participants and outcome assessors were not masked; analyses were masked. Relative TL was measured at 1 and 2 years after intervention, and the change in relative TL was reported. Analysis was intention-to-treat. Between May 2012 and July 2013, in the overall trial, we randomized 720 geographical clusters of 5551 pregnant women to a control or an intervention arm. In this substudy, after 1 year of intervention, we assessed a total of 662 children (341 intervention and 321 control) and 713 children after 2 years of intervention (383 intervention and 330 control). Children in the intervention arm had significantly shorter relative TL compared with controls after 1 year of intervention (difference −163 base pairs (bp), p=0.001). Between years 1 and 2, TL increased in the intervention arm (+76 bp) and decreased in the controls (−23 bp) (p=0.050). After 2 years, there was no difference between the arms (p=0.305). Our unexpected finding of increased telomere attrition during the first year of life in the intervention group suggests that rapid telomere attrition during this critical period could reflect the improved growth in the intervention group, rather than accumulated stress. Funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. NCT01590095.

Paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria phenotype cells and leucocyte subset telomere length in childhood acquired aplastic anaemia

The significance of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH(pos) ) cells and leucocyte subset telomere lengths in paediatric aplastic anaemia (AA) is unknown. Among 22 children receiving immunosuppressive therapy (IST) for AA, 73% (16/22) were PNH(pos) , of whom 94% achieved at least a partial response (PR) to IST; 11/16 (69%) achieved complete response (CR). Only 2/6 (33%) PNH(neg) patients achieved PR. PNH(pos) patients were less likely to fail IST compared to PNH(neg) patients (odds ratio 0·033; 95% confidence interval 0·002-0·468; P=0·012). Children with AA had short granulocyte (P=7·8×10(-9) ), natural killer cell (P=6·0×10(-4) ), naïve T lymphocyte (P=0·002) and B lymphocyte (P=0·005) telomeres compared to age-matched normative data.

Telomere length and early severe social deprivation: linking early adversity and cellular aging.

Accelerated telomere length attrition has been associated with psychological stress and early adversity in adults; however, no studies have examined whether telomere length in childhood is associated with early experiences. The Bucharest Early Intervention Project is a unique randomized controlled trial of foster care placement compared with continued care in institutions. As a result of the study design, participants were exposed to a quantified range of time in institutional care, and represented an ideal population in which to examine the association between a specific early adversity, institutional care and telomere length. We examined the association between average relative telomere length, telomere repeat copy number to single gene copy number (T/S) ratio and exposure to institutional care quantified as the percent of time at baseline (mean age 22 months) and at 54 months of age that each child lived in the institution. A significant negative correlation between T/S ratio and percentage of time was observed. Children with greater exposure to institutional care had significantly shorter relative telomere length in middle childhood. Gender modified this main effect. The percentage of time in institutional care at baseline significantly predicted telomere length in females, whereas the percentage of institutional care at 54 months was strongly predictive of telomere length in males. This is the first study to demonstrate an association between telomere length and institutionalization, the first study to find an association between adversity and telomere length in children, and contributes to the growing literature linking telomere length and early adversity.