Annual ambient black carbon associated with shorter telomeres in elderly men: Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study.
Environ Health Perspect
; 118(11): 1564-70, 2010 Nov.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21465749
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Telomere length reflects biological age and is inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Ambient air pollution is associated with CVD, but its effect on telomere length is unknown.OBJECTIVE:
We investigated whether ambient black carbon (BC), a marker for traffic-related particles, is associated with telomere length in the Normative Aging Study (NAS).METHODS:
Among 165 never-smoking men from the NAS, leukocyte telomere length (LTL) was measured repeatedly approximately every 3 years from 1999 through 2006 using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). BC concentration at their residences during the year before each LTL measurement was estimated based on a spatiotemporal model calibrated with BC measurements from 82 locations within the study area.RESULTS:
The median [interquartile range (IQR)] annual moving-average BC concentration was 0.32 (0.20-0.45) microg/m3. LTL, expressed as population-standardized ratio of telomere repeat to single-copy gene copy numbers, had a geometric mean (geometric SD) of 1.25 (1.42). We used linear mixed-effects models including random subject intercepts and adjusted for several potential confounders. We used inverse probability of response weighting to adjust for potential selection bias due to loss to follow-up. An IQR increase in annual BC (0.25 microg/m3) was associated with a 7.6% decrease (95% confidence interval, -12.8 to -2.1) in LTL. We found evidence of effect modification, with a stronger association among subjects > or = 75 years of age compared with younger participants (p = 0.050) and statin medications appearing protective of the effects of BC on LTL (p = 0.050).CONCLUSIONS:
Telomere attrition, linked to biological aging, may be associated with long-term exposures to airborne particles, particularly those rich in BC, which are primarily related to automobile traffic.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Veteranos
/
Telómero
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Contaminantes Atmosféricos
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Contaminación del Aire
/
Hollín
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
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Screening_studies
Límite:
Aged
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Aged80
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Environ Health Perspect
Año:
2010
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos