Table 1.
Characteristics of studies included in the reviewa.
| Reference and study name or recruitment method | Number of participants males females | Age males females | Telomere length males female | Method to measure telomere length | Cell type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published studies from searches | |||||
| Adams et al. (2007) | 108 | 50 (−) | 5.55 kb (1.25) | Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| NewcastleThousand Families Study, UK | 172 | 50 (−) | 4.69 kb (1.02) | ||
| Aubert et al. (2012) | 405 | 43.6 (29.9) | 7.97 kb (1.59) | Flow-FISH | Granulocytes |
| Healthy controls No details of how recruited, Canada | 403 | 43.6 (30.0) | 8.09 kb (1.52) | ||
| Aubert et al. (2012) | 421 | 43.6 (29.9) | 6.95 kb (2.07) | Flow-FISH | Lymphocytes |
| Healthy controls No details of how recruited, Canada | 414 | 43.6 (30.0) | 7.26 kb (2.04) | ||
| Bekaert et al. (2007) | 1218 | 46.1 (5.9) | 7.79 kb (0.71) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Asklepios study cohort, Belgium | 1291 | 45.9 (6.0) | 7.96 kb (0.73) | ||
| Bischoff et al. (2006) | 260 | 80.5 (7.4) | 7.54 kb (1.15) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| The Danish 1905 Cohort Study Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins The Longitudinal Danish Centenarian Study | 552 | 81.8 (7.8) | 7.73 kb (1.25) | ||
| Cawthon et al. (2003) | 72 | 73.8 (8.0) | 1.04 T/S (0.15) | Real-time PCR | Whole blood |
| Utah residents who gave blood, USA | 71 | 71.8 (6.8) | 1.09 T/S (0.16) | ||
| Chen et al. (2009) (Blacks) | 62 | 39.0 (4.1) | 7.55 kb (0.70) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole Blood |
| Bogalusa Heart Study, USA | 128 | 37.0 (5.3) | 7.60 kb (0.81) | ||
| Chen et al. (2009) (Whites) | 208 | 38.5 (4.5) | 7.05 kb (0.70) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Bogalusa Heart Study, USA | 264 | 37.5 (4.8) | 7.11 kb (0.74) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Cherkas et al. (2008) | 247 | 48.1 (13.9) | 6.61 kb (0.67) | ||
| (Data used from larger Mangino et al., 2009 publication) UK Adult Twin Registry, UK | 3009 | 48.7 (13.0) | 7.01 kb (0.68) | ||
| Cronkhite et al. (2008) | 99 | 55.7 (16.0) | 5.83 kb (0.66) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| No details of how recruited, USA | 102 | 55.8 (15.8) | 5.97 kb (0.48) | ||
| Diez Roux et al. (2009) | 467 | 65.4 (9.6) | 0.82 T/S (0.17) | Real-time PCR | Whole blood |
| Multi-ethnic study of Atherosclerosis, USA | 514 | 65.1 (9.9) | 0.87 T/S(0.18) | ||
| Halaschek-Wiener et al. (2008) | 69 | 78.1 (19.1) | 6.49 kb (0.96) | Flow-FISH | Granulocytes |
| Population based lists, Canada | 131 | 78.4 (18.0) | 6.61 kb (0.83) | ||
| Halaschek-Wiener et al. (2008) | 69 | 78.1 (19.1) | 4.95 kb (1.20) | Flow-FISH | Lymphocytes |
| Population based lists, Canada | 131 | 78.4 (18.0) | 5.26 kb (1.34) | ||
| Hunt et al. (2008) blacks | 216 | 52.3 (10.7) | 6.95 kb (0.64) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Family Heart Study, USA | 409 | 53.8 (11.0) | 7.16 kb (0.63) | ||
| Hunt et al. (2008) whites | 1170 | 56.6 (13.4) | 6.70 kb (0.65) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Family Heart Study, USA | 1433 | 57.4 (13.1) | 6.86 kb (0.67) | ||
| Jang et al. (2008) | 334 | 59.2 (6.2) | 2.22 T/S (1.05) | Real-time PCR | Lymphocytes |
| Primary Care/GP register, Korea | 152 | 58.7 (7.2) | 2.03 T/S (1.20) | ||
| Kaplan et al. (2009) blacks | 74 | 73.0 (5.6) | 6.31 kb (0.69) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Cardiovascular Health Study, USA | 140 | 72.3 (5.0) | 6.62 kb (0.66) | ||
| Kaplan et al. (2009) whites | 613 | 75.6 (5.5) | 6.19 kb (0.56) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Cardiovascular Health Study, USA | 842 | 74.9 (4.9) | 6.38 kb (0.62) | ||
| Kimura et al. (2007) | 56 | 55.7 (25.5) | 6.02 kb (0.99) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Individuals Campania region, Italy | 106 | 76.7 (25.9) | 5.57 kb (1.03) | ||
| Maeda et al. (2009) | 89 | 44.6 (10.2) | 8.77 kb (1.78) | TRF Southern Blot | PBMC |
| No details of how recruited, Japan | 58 | 43.8 (11.0) | 9.54 kb (1.96) | ||
| Martin-Ruiz et al. (2005) | 184 | 89.9 (3.2) | 4.44 kb (0.92) | Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| The Leiden 85-plus study, The Netherlands | 495 | 89.8 (2.9) | 4.26 kb (0.90) | ||
| Nawrot et al. (2004) | 119 | 42.9 (15.7) | 6.78 kb (0.70) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Family Based Cohort, Belgium of the Flemish Study on Environment, Genes and Health Outcomes | 152 | 41.7 (17.3) | 6.94 kb (0.67) | ||
| Nordfjall et al. (2005) | 65 | 57.9 (15.3) | 0.70 T/S (0.29) | Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| No details of how recruited, Sweden Healthy individuals in 49 unrelated families | 69 | 53.4 (15.0) | 0.75 T/S (0.26) | ||
| Nordfjall et al. (2009) | |||||
| NSHDS cohort study, Sweden | |||||
| Time 1 | 722 568 |
47.1 (5.6) 44.4 (7.0) |
0.70 T/S (0.21) 0.69 T/S (0.23) |
Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| Time 2 | 361 284 |
57.1 (5.6) 54.4 (6.9) |
0.59 T/S (0.16) 0.64 T/S (0.20) |
Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| Nordfjall et al. (2008a) | 197 | 47.1 (14.5) | 0.62 T/S (0.14) | Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| MONICA cohort study, Sweden | 335 | 43.8 (13.0) | 0.70 T/S (0.19) | ||
| Nordfjall et al. (2008b) | 514 | 55.3 (11.7) | 0.63 T/S (0.19) | Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| MDCC/Monica cohorts, Sweden | 475 | 49.3 (13.6) | 0.69 T/S (0.19) | ||
| Ren et al. (2009) | 53 | 44.7 (27.6) | 11.7 kb (1.4) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole blood |
| Healthy individuals with ancestors living in region for ≥3 generations, Tibet | 52 | 37.2 (24.7) | 11.7 kb (1.4) | ||
| Unryn et al. (2005) | 51 | 54.2 (14.5) | 7.02 kb (0.80) | TRF Southern Blot | PBMC |
| Random digit telephone dialling, Canada | 74 | 58.4 (12.0) | 7.09 kb (0.57) | ||
| Van der Harst et al. (2007) | 145 38 |
66.1 (8.5) 66.7 (10.3) |
1.09 T/S 0.32 1.14 T/S 0.41 |
Real-time PCR | Whole blood |
| University Genetic Database Healthy non-blood related relatives of patients with Crohn’s disease, Netherlands | |||||
| Woo et al. (2008) | 976 | 72.8 (5.0) | 8.81 kb (1.62) | Real-time PCR | Whole Blood |
| Health Survey recruited from community centres for elderly and housing estates, China | 1030 | 72.0 (5.2) | 9.35 kb (2.26) | ||
| Additional datasets | |||||
| HALCyon cohorts | |||||
| The Hertfordshire Ageing Study (Syddall et al., 2010), UK | |||||
| Wave 1 | 388 269 |
67.5 (2.4) 67.5 (2.2) |
5.32 kb (1.54) 5.10 kb (1.69) |
Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| Wave 2 | 165 112 |
76.7 (2.4) 76.3 (2.1) |
3.86 kb (1.20) 4.00 kb (1.55) |
Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| Lothian birth cohort 1921 (Deary et al., 2004) | |||||
| Wave 1 | 210 287 |
79.1 (0.6) 79.1 (0.6) |
4.23 kb (0.44) 3.98 kb (0.36) |
Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| Wave 3 | 72 74 |
86.6 (0.4) 86.6 (0.4) |
4.43 kb (0.43) 4.00 kb (0.60) |
Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| (Harris et al., 2006 published but used larger Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 dataset) | |||||
| NSHD birth cohort 1946 (Kuh et al., 2011) | |||||
| Age 53 | 1324 1336 |
53.5 (0.2) 53.5 (0.2) |
5.87 kb (1.94) 5.42 kb (1.89) |
Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| Age 60–64 | 501 557 |
63.3 (1.2) 63.4 (1.1) |
4.19 kb (1.28) 4.37 kb (1.33) |
Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| Der et al. (2012) | |||||
| The West of Scotland, UK Twenty-07 study | |||||
| 1970s cohort | 362 412 |
36.6 (0.4) 36.6 (0.4) |
0.85 T/S (0.22) 0.87 T/S (0.20) |
Real-time PCR | Whole Blood |
| 1950s cohort | 379 469 |
56.9 (0.9) 56.9 (0.7) |
0.77 T/S (0.18) 0.79 T/S (0.19) |
Real-time PCR | Whole Blood |
| 1930s cohort | 235 309 |
75.9 (0.6) 76.0 (0.6) |
0.68 T/S (0.19) 0.71 T/S (0.18) |
Real-time PCR | Whole Blood |
| Huzen et al (2011) | 4027 | 50.4 (12.9) | 1.05 T/S (0.33) | Real-time PCR | Whole Blood |
| The PREVEND Study, Netherlands | 4027 | 48.1 (12.3) | 1.08 T/S (0.34) | ||
| Mangino et al. (2012) blacks | 108 | 52.2 (8.8) | 7.05 kb (0.78) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole Blood |
| HyperGEN, USA | 116 | 54.5 (9.1) | 7.07 kb (0.64) | ||
| Mangino et al. (2012) whites | 612 | 51.9 (14.2) | 6.68 kb (0.60) | TRF Southern Blot | Whole Blood |
| HyperGEN, USA | 628 | 53.4 (13.1) | 6.80 kb (0.61) | ||
| Martin-Ruiz et al. (2011) | 295 | 85.5 (0.5) | 3.32 kb (1.14) | Real-time PCR | PBMC |
| Newcastle 85+ study, UK | 456 | 85.5 (0.4) | 3.05 kb (1.06) |
a
Age and telomere lengths are presented as mean (standard deviation).