Abstract
Background
Accelerated biological aging might contribute to the lower life expectancy of individuals
with mental disorders. The aim of this study was to characterize telomere length,
a biological hallmark of aging, in individuals with mental disorders.
Methods
The UK Biobank is a multicenter community-based observational study that recruited
>500,000 middle-aged and older adults. Average leukocyte telomere length (telomere
repeat copy number/single-copy gene ratio) was measured using quantitative polymerase
chain reaction. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) were calculated for individuals of European
ancestry. We estimated differences in telomere length between individuals with anxiety
disorder, depression, or bipolar disorder and people without mental disorders and
examined associations with psychotropic medication use, age, and PRSs for these 3
disorders.
Results
The analyses included up to 308,725 participants. Individuals with depression had
shorter telomeres than people without mental disorders (β = −0.011, 95% CI, −0.019
to −0.004, Bonferroni-corrected p = .027). Associations between bipolar disorder and telomere length differed by lithium
use. There was limited evidence that individuals with an anxiety disorder had shorter
telomeres. There was no evidence that associations between age and telomere length
differed between individuals with and without these disorders. PRSs for depression,
but not anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder, were associated with shorter telomeres
(β = −0.006, 95% CI, −0.010 to −0.003, Bonferroni-corrected p = .001).
Conclusions
Differences in telomere length were observed primarily for individuals with depression
or bipolar disorder and in individuals with a higher PRS for depression. There was
no evidence that the association between age and telomere length differed between
individuals with and without an anxiety disorder, depression, or bipolar disorder.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 06, 2022
Accepted:
August 26,
2022
Received in revised form:
August 3,
2022
Received:
June 13,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
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