Thread by @NonHumanMedia1

Race/ethnicity and telomere length in the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis 🧵1/8 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

"..telomere loss and cellular senescence may have implications for the functionality of tissues of special relevance to particular disease processes such as immune response and infection, atherosclerosis, and osteoporosis and osteoarthritis."

"Telomere length did not differ between blacks, whites and Hispanics in a small sample of newborns (Okuda et al., 2002). Our results suggest that race differences in telomere length may emerge and grow with age."

"...the strong differences in the associations of age with telomere length by race/ethnicity (and consequent changing race differences in telomere length with age) suggest that environmental factors are likely to play an important role in race/ethnic differences."

"These environmental factors may include factors that increase the turnover of leukocytes (such as inflammation) as well as factors that increase oxidative stress. Both behavioral and psychosocial factors have been linked to inflammation and oxidative stress."

"Long-term exposures to these factors over the lifecourse may contribute to stronger associations of age with telomere length in blacks than in whites, and shorter telomeres in blacks than in whites at older ages."

"These differences were not explained by BMI and behavioral risks factors. The complexities of interpreting results of race/ethnic comparisons of biological parameters have been noted (Kaufman & Cooper, 2008)."

"If these differences are confirmed in other samples, understanding the reasons for differential rates of aging (and its biological consequences) could have implications for understanding disparities by race/ethnicity in multiple health outcomes."