Longer leukocyte telomere length associated with better cardiac function and lower risk of incident HF: JAMA

There is an association between LTL and a lower risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. There needs to be more clarity on the extent to which LTL variation is associated with intermediary cardiovascular phenotypes.

The main research question is whether LDL is associated with cardiovascular structure and function changes.

This background was researched in this study of 40 459 UK Biobank participants. Researchers measured LTL using a quantitative PCR method. Cardiovascular imaging traits and heart failure were the primary outcomes measured.

The key results of the study are:

• The study had 19 529 men of mean age 55 years, constituting 48%.
• Longer LTL was associated with a pattern of positive cardiac remodelling (higher left ventricular mass, larger global ventricular size and volume, and higher ventricular and atrial stroke volumes) and a lower risk of incident HF.
• There was a potential causal association between LTL and left ventricular mass, global ventricular volume, and left ventricular stroke volume.

Concluding further, they said, We found an association of longer LTL with a larger heart wand better cardiac function in middle age.

The findings of this study explain the reduced incidence of heart failure.

They said, “To our knowledge, this is the first and largest study to investigate the potential causal association between LTL and a comprehensive set of cardiac structure and function, robustly measured with CMR.”

The study’s strengths include the largest sample size and application of MR for potential causal inference analysis using data from recent extensive genome-wide association studies.

Further reading:

Aung N, Wang Q, van Duijvenboden S, et al. Association of Longer Leukocyte Telomere Length With Cardiac Size, Function, and Heart Failure. JAMA Cardiol. Published online July 26, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2023.2167