Table 3.

Telomere length yearly change rate in base pairs.

Study design	TL method	Number of study samples	Number of subjects	TL yearly change rate (bp/year)
				Median	Range	Interquartile range
Cross-sectional	Any TL method	87	20,042	−23	−170 to 46	−42 to −15
	Southern blot (TRF)	65	12,690	−24	−100 to 38	−38 to −19
	qPCR (aTL)	8	5,564	−12	−46 to 30	−24 to −3
	qFISH	10	1,718	−30	−170 to 46	−53 to −16
	Flow FISH	4	70	−71	−81 to 3	−77 to −50
Longitudinal	Southern blot (TRF) & qPCR (aTL)	32	6,068	−38	−2900 to 740	−65 to −19
	Southern blot (TRF)	23	2,220	−27	−2900 to 740	−40 to −14
	qPCR (aTL)	9	3,848	−67	−150 to 44	−75 to −58

TRF, terminal restriction fragment; qPCR, quantitative polymerase chain reaction; qFISH, quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization; aTL, absolute telomere length