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Needham BL, Salerno S, Roberts E, Boss J, Allgood KL, Mukherjee B. Do black/white differences in telomere length depend on socioeconomic status? BIODEMOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL BIOLOGY 2019; 65:287-312. [PMID: 33243026 PMCID: PMC7703670 DOI: 10.1080/19485565.2020.1765734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Social and economic disadvantage are hypothesized to increase the risk of disease and death via accelerated biological aging. Given that US blacks are socially and economically disadvantaged relative to whites, health disparities scholars expected that blacks would have shorter telomere length-a biomarker of cell aging-than whites. Yet the majority of studies have found that blacks have longer telomere length than whites. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 3,761; 28.3% non-Hispanic black, 71.7% non-Hispanic white), we found that leukocyte telomere length was 4.00% (95% CI: 1.12%, 6.87%) longer among blacks compared to whites in the full sample, but differences were greatest among those with lower SES (5.66%; 95% CI: 0.10%, 10.32%), intermediate among those with middle SES (4.14%; 95% CI: 0.05%, 8.24%), and smallest among those with higher SES (2.33%; 95% CI: -3.02%, 7.67%). These results challenge purely genetic explanations for race differences in telomere length and point to a potential social-environmental cause of longer telomere length in US blacks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Belinda L. Needham
- Department of Epidemiology and Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan
| | | | | | | | - Kristi L. Allgood
- Department of Epidemiology and Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan
| | - Bhramar Mukherjee
- Department of Biostatistics, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan
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Grau-Perez M, Zhao J, Pierce B, Francesconi KA, Goessler W, Zhu Y, An Q, Umans J, Best L, Cole SA, Navas-Acien A, Tellez-Plaza M. Urinary metals and leukocyte telomere length in American Indian communities: The Strong Heart and the Strong Heart Family Study. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2019; 246:311-318. [PMID: 30557805 PMCID: PMC6363843 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.12.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2018] [Revised: 12/02/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION While several mechanisms may explain metal-related health effects, the exact cellular processes are not fully understood. We evaluated the association between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and urine arsenic (ΣAs), cadmium (Cd) and tungsten (W) exposure in the Strong Heart Study (SHS, N = 1702) and in the Strong Heart Family Study (SHFS, N = 1793). METHODS Urine metal concentrations were measured using ICP-MS. Arsenic exposure was assessed as the sum of inorganic arsenic, monomethylarsonate and dimethylarsinate levels (ΣAs). LTL was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS In the SHS, median levels were 1.09 for LTL, and 8.8, 1.01 and 0.11 μg/g creatinine for ΣAs, Cd, and W, respectively. In the SHFS, median levels were 1.01 for LTL, and 4.3, 0.44, and 0.10 μg/g creatinine. Among SHS participants, increased urine ΣAs, Cd, and W was associated with shorter LTL. The adjusted geometric mean ratio (95% confidence interval) of LTL per an increase equal to the difference between the percentiles 90th and 10th in metal distributions was 0.85 (0.79, 0.92) for ΣAs, 0.91 (0.84, 1.00) for Cd and 0.93 (0.88, 0.98) for W. We observed no significant associations among SHFS participants. The findings also suggest that the association between arsenic and LTL might be differential depending on the exposure levels or age. CONCLUSIONS Additional research is needed to confirm the association between metal exposures and telomere length.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Grau-Perez
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA; Area of Cardiometabolic and Renal Risk, Biomedical Research Institute Hospital Clinic of Valencia (INCLIVA), Valencia, Spain.
| | - Jinying Zhao
- Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; Public Health Research, Division of Community Health Promotion, Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Brandon Pierce
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | | | - Yun Zhu
- Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Qiang An
- Public Health Research, Division of Community Health Promotion, Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Jason Umans
- Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Washington DC, USA; MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, MD, USA
| | - Lyle Best
- Department of Epidemiology, Missouri Breaks Industries Research Inc., Timber Lake, SD, USA
| | - Shelley A Cole
- Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Ana Navas-Acien
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA; Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Maria Tellez-Plaza
- Area of Cardiometabolic and Renal Risk, Biomedical Research Institute Hospital Clinic of Valencia (INCLIVA), Valencia, Spain; Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Chronic Diseases Epidemiology, National Center for Epidemiology, Carlos III Health Institutes, Madrid, Spain
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Weber KA, Heaphy CM, Joshu CE, Lu J, Rohrmann S, Bienstock JL, Agurs-Collins T, Meeker AK, Platz EA. Racial differences in maternal and umbilical cord blood leukocyte telomere length and their correlations. Cancer Causes Control 2018; 29:759-767. [PMID: 29980985 DOI: 10.1007/s10552-018-1054-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Accepted: 06/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Telomere length at birth sets the baseline for telomere shortening and may influence adult disease risk like cancer. Telomere length is heritable, but may also be a marker of exposures in utero, including those influencing racial differences in risk. We examined racial differences in telomere length in maternal and umbilical cord blood from male neonates, and maternal-neonate correlations to generate hypotheses. METHODS Black and white pregnant women were recruited in 2006-2007 and followed to postpartum. Data came from questionnaires and medical records. Relative telomere length was measured by qPCR in leukocyte DNA. We estimated mean telomere length in mothers and neonates (n = 55 pairs) using linear regression and maternal-cord blood Spearman correlations, overall and by race. RESULTS Black mothers had shorter age- and plate-adjusted telomere length (2.49, 95% CI 2.11-2.86) than whites (2.92, 95% CI 2.63-3.22; p = 0.1) and black neonates had shorter telomere length (2.58, 95% CI 2.16-3.01) than whites (3.13, 95% CI 2.79-3.47; p = 0.1), though not statistically significant. Differences were attenuated after further adjustment for maternal factors. Maternal-cord blood correlations were moderate (r = 0.53, p < 0.0001), and did not differ by race. CONCLUSION Telomere length may differ by race at birth due to both inherited and racial differences in maternal factors. This study was for hypothesis generation and results should be followed up in larger studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kari A Weber
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - Christopher M Heaphy
- Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, 401 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Corinne E Joshu
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, 401 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Jiayun Lu
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - Sabine Rohrmann
- Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology; Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Hirschengraben 84, 8001, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jessica L Bienstock
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Tanya Agurs-Collins
- Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Alan K Meeker
- Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Department of Urology and the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, 401 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Platz
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
- Department of Urology and the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
- Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, 401 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
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