Telomere Length and Frailty: The Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

Abstract

Objectives: Telomere length is associated with aging-related pathologies. Although the association between telomere length and frailty has been studied previously, only a few studies assessing longitudinal changes in telomere length and frailty exist.

Design: Longitudinal cohort study.

Setting and participants: A subpopulation of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study consisting of 1078 older adults aged 67 to 79 years born in Helsinki, Finland, between 1934 and 1944.

Measures: Relative leukocyte telomere length (LTL) was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction at the average ages of 61 and 71 years, and at the latter the participants were assessed for frailty according to Fried criteria.

Results: The mean ± SD relative LTLs were 1.40 ± 0.29 (average age 61 years) and 0.86 ± 0.30 (average age 71 years) for the cohort. A trend of shorter mean relative LTL across frailty groups was observed at 61 years (P = .016) and at 71 years (P = .057). Relative LTL at age 61 years was significantly associated with frailty: per 1-unit increase in relative LTL, the corresponding relative risk ratio (RRR) of frailty was 0.28 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.08-0.97), adjusting for several confounders. Also, LTL at age 71 years was associated with frailty (RRR 0.18, 95% CI 0.04-0.81) after adjustment for sex, age, and adult socioeconomic status, but further adjustment attenuated the association. No associations between telomere shortening and frailty were observed during the 10-year follow-up.

Conclusions: Shorter relative LTL was associated with frailty in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, but telomere shortening was not, suggesting that short LTL may be a biomarker of frailty.

Keywords: Biomarker; frailty; telomere.