Depressive Symptoms and Salivary Telomere Length in a Probability Sample of Middle-Aged and Older Adults.

TitleDepressive Symptoms and Salivary Telomere Length in a Probability Sample of Middle-Aged and Older Adults.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsWhisman, MA, Richardson, ED
JournalPsychosom Med
Volume79
Issue2
Pagination234-242
Date Published2017 Feb/Mar
ISSN Number1534-7796
KeywordsAged, Anxiety Disorders, Body Mass Index, Chronic disease, depression, Female, Humans, Life Style, Male, Middle Aged, Neuroticism, Psychological Trauma, Saliva, Sex Factors, Smoking, Telomere Shortening
Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between depressive symptoms and salivary telomere length in a probability sample of middle-aged and older adults, and to evaluate age and sex as potential moderators of this association and test whether this association was incremental to potential confounds.

METHODS: Participants were 3,609 individuals from the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Telomere length assays were performed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction on DNA extracted from saliva samples. Depressive symptoms were assessed via interview, and health and lifestyle factors, traumatic life events, and neuroticism were assessed via self-report. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between predictor variables and salivary telomere length.

RESULTS: After adjusting for demographics, depressive symptoms were negatively associated with salivary telomere length (b = -.003; p = .014). Furthermore, this association was moderated by sex (b = .005; p = .011), such that depressive symptoms were significantly and negatively associated with salivary telomere length for men (b = - .006; p < .001) but not for women (b = - .001; p = .644). The negative association between depressive symptoms and salivary telomere length in men remained statistically significant after additionally adjusting for cigarette smoking, body mass index, chronic health conditions, childhood and lifetime exposure to traumatic life events, and neuroticism.

CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with shorter salivary telomeres in men, and this association was incremental to several potential confounds. Shortened telomeres may help account for the association between depression and poor physical health and mortality.

URLhttp://content.wkhealth.com/linkback/openurl?sid=WKPTLP:landingpage&an=00006842-900000000-98910
DOI10.1097/PSY.0000000000000383
User Guide Notes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28029664?dopt=Abstract

Short TitlePsychosomatic Medicine
Alternate JournalPsychosom Med
Citation Key8829
PubMed ID28029664
PubMed Central IDPMC5285466
Grant ListR03 AG045301 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
U01 AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States