Measurement and initial characterization of leukocyte telomere length in 474,074 participants in UK Biobank

V Codd; M Denniff; C Swinfield; S C Warner; M Papakonstantinou; S Sheth; D E Nanus; C A Budgeon; C Musicha; V Bountziouka; Q Wang; R Bramley; E Allara; S Kaptoge; S Stoma; T Jiang; A S Butterworth; A M Wood; E Di Angelantonio; J R Thompson; J N Danesh; C P Nelson; N J Samani

doi:10.1038/s43587-021-00166-9

Measurement and initial characterization of leukocyte telomere length in 474,074 participants in UK Biobank

Nat Aging. 2022 Feb;2(2):170-179. doi: 10.1038/s43587-021-00166-9. Epub 2022 Feb 17.

Authors

V Codd^{1

2}, M Denniff³, C Swinfield³, S C Warner³, M Papakonstantinou³, S Sheth³, D E Nanus³, C A Budgeon^{3

4

5}, C Musicha^{3

4}, V Bountziouka^{3

4}, Q Wang^{3

4}, R Bramley^{3

4}, E Allara^{6

7}, S Kaptoge^{6

7

8}, S Stoma³, T Jiang⁶, A S Butterworth^{6

7

8

9}, A M Wood^{6

7

8

9

10

11}, E Di Angelantonio^{6

7

8

9

12}, J R Thompson¹³, J N Danesh^{6

7

8

9

14}, C P Nelson^{3

4}, N J Samani^{15

16}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK. vc15@leicester.ac.uk.
² NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK. vc15@leicester.ac.uk.
³ Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
⁴ NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK.
⁵ School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
⁶ British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁷ National Institute for Health Research Blood and Transplant Research Unit in Donor Health and Genomics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁸ British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁹ Health Data Research UK Cambridge, Wellcome Genome Campus and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁰ Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹¹ The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK.
¹² Health Data Science Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy.
¹³ Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Human Genetics, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
¹⁵ Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK. njs@leicester.ac.uk.
¹⁶ NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK. njs@leicester.ac.uk.

PMID: 37117760
DOI: 10.1038/s43587-021-00166-9

Abstract

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a proposed marker of biological age. Here we report the measurement and initial characterization of LTL in 474,074 participants in UK Biobank. We confirm that older age and male sex associate with shorter LTL, with women on average ~7 years younger in 'biological age' than men. Compared to white Europeans, LTL is markedly longer in African and Chinese ancestries. Older paternal age at birth is associated with longer individual LTL. Higher white cell count is associated with shorter LTL, but proportions of white cell subtypes show weaker associations. Age, ethnicity, sex and white cell count explain ~5.5% of LTL variance. Using paired samples from 1,351 participants taken ~5 years apart, we estimate the within-individual variability in LTL and provide a correction factor for this. This resource provides opportunities to investigate determinants and biomedical consequences of variation in LTL.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biological Specimen Banks*
Ethnicity*
Female
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Leukocytes
Male
Telomere / genetics
United Kingdom

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding