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Telomere length and cancer mortality in American Indians: the Strong Heart Study

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate whether leukocyte telomere length (LTL) predicts the risk for cancer mortality among American Indians participating in the Strong Heart Study (1989–1991). Participants (aged 45–74 years) were followed annually until December 2015 to collect information on morbidity/mortality. LTL was measured by qPCR using genomic DNA isolated from peripheral blood. The association between LTL and risk for cancer mortality was examined using a multivariable Cox proportional hazard model, adjusting for age, gender, education, study site, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, obesity, and low- and high-density lipoprotein. Of 1945 participants (mean age 56.10 ± 8.17 at baseline, 57% women) followed for an average 20.5 years, 220 died of cancer. Results showed that longer LTL at baseline significantly predicts an increased risk of cancer death among females (HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.08–2.30), but not males (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.49–1.12) (p for interaction 0.009). Specifically, compared with the women with the longest LTL (fourth quartile), those in the third, second, and first quartiles showed 53%, 41%, and 44% reduced risk for cancer death, respectively. The findings highlight the importance of sex-specific analysis in future telomere research.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all participants of Strong Heart Study (SHS), the Indian Health Service facilities, and participating tribal communities for their extraordinary cooperation and involvement, which has contributed to the success of SHS.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health–funded grants R01DK091369, U01HL65520, U01HL41642, U01HL41652, U01HL41654, and U01HL65521.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, College of Medicine, University of Florida, 2004 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA

    Pooja Subedi, Stefano Nembrini, Yun Zhu, Hao Peng & Jinying Zhao

  2. Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, University of Iowa Health Care, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 200 Hawkins Drive, 01066 JPP, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Qiang An

  3. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China

    Hao Peng

  4. College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 801 N.E. 13th Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    Fawn Yeh & Elisa T. Lee

  5. Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, 78245, USA

    Shelley A. Cole

  6. Stephenson Cancer Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 655 Research Parkway, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    Dorothy A. Rhoades

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  1. Pooja Subedi
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  2. Stefano Nembrini
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  9. Elisa T. Lee
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  10. Jinying Zhao
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Correspondence to Jinying Zhao.

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All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with ethical standards of Indian Health Service Institutional Review Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Subedi, P., Nembrini, S., An, Q. et al. Telomere length and cancer mortality in American Indians: the Strong Heart Study. GeroScience 41, 351–361 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-019-00080-4

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