Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Telomere length and cardiovascular risk in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy: the LIFE study

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 25, pages 711–718 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Short telomeres are associated with aging and age-related diseases. Our aim was to determine whether short leukocyte telomere length is associated with risk factors and cardiovascular diseases in a high-risk hypertensive population. We measured leukocyte telomere lengths at recruitment in 1271 subjects with hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) participating in the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) study. At baseline, short mean telomere length was associated with coronary artery disease in males (odds ratio (OR) 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39–0.95), and transient ischemic attack in females (OR 0.62 95% CI 0.39–0.99). Proportion of short telomeres (shorter than 5 kb) was associated with Framingham risk score (r=0.07, P<0.05), cerebrovascular disease (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.01–1.15) and type 2 diabetes in men (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.02–1.11). During follow-up, proportion of short telomeres was associated with combined cardiovascular mortality, stroke or angina pectoris (hazard ratio 1.04, 95% CI 1.01–1.07). Telomere length was not associated with smoking, body mass index, pulse pressure or self-reported use of alcohol. Our data suggest that reduced leukocyte telomere length is associated with cardiovascular risk factors and diseases as well as type 2 diabetes, and is a predictor of cardiovascular disease in elderly patients with hypertension and LVH.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Blackburn EH . Switching and signaling at the telomere. Cell 2001; 106: 661–667.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Blasco MA . Telomeres and human disease: ageing, cancer, and beyond. Nat Rev Genet 2005; 6: 611–622.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Benetos A, Okuda K, Lajemi M, Kimura M, Thomas F, Skurnick J et al. Telomere length as an indicator of biological aging: the gender effect and relation with pulse pressure and pulse wave velocity. Hypertension 2001; 37: 381–385.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Jeanclos E, Schork NJ, Kyvik KO, Kimura M, Skurnick JH, Aviv A . Telomere length inversely correlates with pulse pressure and is highly familial. Hypertension 2000; 36: 195–200.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Martin-Ruiz CM, Gussekloo J, van Heemst D, von Zglinicki T, Westendorp RGJ . Telomere length in white blood cells is not associated with morbidity or mortality in the oldest old: a population-based study. Aging Cell 2005; 4: 287–290.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Schönland SO, Lopez C, Widmann T, Zimmer J, Beryl E, Goony JJ et al. Premature telomere loss in rheumatoid arthritis is genetically determined and involves both myeloid and lymphoid cell lineages. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2003; 100: 13471–13476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Samani NJ, Boultby R, Butler R, Thompson JR, Goodall AH . Telomere shortening in atherosclerosis. Lancet 2001; 358: 472–473.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Fitzpatrick AL, Kronmal RA, Gardner JP, Psaty BM, Jenny NS, Tracy RP et al. Leukocyte telomere length and cardiovascular disease in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Am J Epidemiol 2007; 165: 14–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Yang Z, Huang X, Jiang H, Zhang Y, Liu H, Qin C et al. Short telomeres and prognosis of hypertension in a Chinese population. Hypertension 2009; 53: 639–645.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Fyhrquist F, Tiitu A . Saijonmaa O, Forsblom C, Groop PH, on behalf of the FinnDiane Study Group. Telomere length and progression of diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 1 diabetes. J Intern Med 2010; 267: 278–286.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Dahlöf B, Devereux R, Kjeldsen SE, Julius S, Beevers G, de Faire U et al. Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the Losartan Intervention For Endpoint reduction in hypertension study (LIFE): a randomised trial against atenolol. Lancet 2002; 359: 995–1003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hemann MT, Strong MA, Hao LY, Greider CW . The shortest telomere, not average telomere length, is critical for cell viability and chromosome stability. Cell 2001; 107: 67–77.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Zou Y, Sfeir A, Gryaznov SM, Shay JW, Wright WE . Does a sentinel or a subset of short telomeres determine replicative senescence? Mol Biol Cell 2004; 15: 3709–3718.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Minamino T, Miyauchi M, Yoshida T, Ishida Y, Yoshida H, Komuro I . Endothelial cell senescence in human atherosclerosis. Role of telomere in endothelial dysfunction. Circulation 2002; 105: 1541–1544.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Brouilette S, Singh RK, Thompson JR, Goodall AH, Samani NJ . White cell telomere length and risk of premature myocardial infarction. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2003; 23: 842–846.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Kimura M, von Hjelmborg I, Gardner JP, Bathum L, Brimacombe M, Lu X et al. Telomere length and mortality: a study of leukocytes in elderly Danish twins. Am J Epidemiol 2008; 167: 799–806.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Cawthon R, Smith K, O’Brien E, Sivatchenko A, Kerber R . Association between telomere length in blood and mortality in people aged 60 years or older. Lancet 2003; 361: 393–395.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. von Zglinicki T . Oxidative stress shortens telomeres. TRENDS Biochem Sci 2002; 27: 339–344.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Valdes AM, Andrew T, Gardner JP, Kimura M, Oelsner E, Cherkas LF et al. Obesity, cigarette smoking, and telomere length in women. Lancet 2005; 366: 662–664.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Cherkas LF, Aviv A, Valdes Am Hunkin JL, Gardner JP, Surdulescu GL, Kimura M et al. The effects of social status on biological aging as measured by white-blood-cell telomere length. Aging Cell 2006; 5: 361–365.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Aviv A, Chen W, Gardner JP, Kimura M, Brimacombe M, Cao X et al. Leukocyte telomere dynamics: longitudinal findings among young adults in the Bogalusa Heart Study. Am J Epidemiol 2009; 169: 323–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bekaert S, De Meyer T, Rietzschel ER, De Buyzere ML, De Bacquer D, Langlois M et al. Telomere length and cardiovascular risk factors in a middle-aged population free of overt cardiovascular disease. Aging Cell 2007; 6: 639–647.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Nordfjäll K, Eliasson M, Stegmayr B, Melander O, Nilsson P, Roos G . Telomere length is associated with obesity parameters but with a gender difference. Obesity 2008; 16: 2682–2689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Aviv A . The epidemiology of human telomeres: faults and promises. J Gerontol 2008; 63A: 979–983.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Andrew T, Aviv A, Falchi M, Surdulescu GL, Gardner JP, Lu X et al. Mapping genetic loci that determine leukocyte telomere length in a large sample of unselected sibling pairs. Am J Hum Genet 2006; 78: 480–486.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Cherkas LF, Hunkin JL, Kato BS, Richards JB, Gardner JP, Surdulescu GL et al. The association between physical activity in leisure and leukocyte telomeric length. Arch Intern Med 2008; 168: 154–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Epel ES, Blackburn EH, Lin J, Dhabhar FS, Adler NE, Morrow JD et al. Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004; 101: 17323–17324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Vasan RS, Demissie S, Kimura M, Cupples LA, White C, Gardner JP et al. Association of leukocyte telomere length with echocadiographic left ventricular mass. The Framingham Heart Study. Circulation 2009; 120: 1195–1202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Wilhelm and Else Stockmann Foundation, the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation and the Liv och Hälsa Foundation, Helsinki, Finland. The LIFE study was sponsored by Merck & Co, Inc.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Minerva Institute for Medical Research, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    F Fyhrquist & O Saijonmaa

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    F Fyhrquist, O Saijonmaa & K Kontula

  3. Department of Sociology, Population Research Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    K Silventoinen

  4. Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    R B Devereux

  5. Division of Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    U de Faire

  6. Department of Nephrology, Ullevaal University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    I Os

  7. Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Östra, Gothenburg, Sweden

    B Dahlöf

Authors
  1. F Fyhrquist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K Silventoinen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. O Saijonmaa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. K Kontula
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. R B Devereux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. U de Faire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. I Os
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. B Dahlöf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to F Fyhrquist.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fyhrquist, F., Silventoinen, K., Saijonmaa, O. et al. Telomere length and cardiovascular risk in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy: the LIFE study. J Hum Hypertens 25, 711–718 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2011.57

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2011.57

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links