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Leukocyte Telomere Length Is Unrelated to Cognitive Performance Among Non-Demented and Demented Persons: An Examination of Long Life Family Study Participants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2020

Adiba Ashrafi Open the ORCID record for Adiba Ashrafi [Opens in a new window] ,
Stephanie Cosentino ,
Min S. Kang ,
Joseph H. Lee ,
Nicole Schupf ,
Stacy L. Andersen ,
Kaare Christensen ,
Michael A. Province ,
Bharat Thyagarajan  and
Joseph M. Zmuda
...Show all authors
Adiba Ashrafi*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Stephanie Cosentino
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Min S. Kang
Affiliation:
Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Joseph H. Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Nicole Schupf
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Stacy L. Andersen
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
Kaare Christensen
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Michael A. Province
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, Washington University St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
Bharat Thyagarajan
Affiliation:
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Joseph M. Zmuda
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Lawrence S. Honig
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Adiba Ashrafi Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W 168th St., Rm 720 (7th floor), New York, NY10032, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Objective:

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a widely hypothesized biomarker of biological aging. Persons with shorter LTL may have a greater likelihood of developing dementia. We investigate whether LTL is associated with cognitive function, differently for individuals without cognitive impairment versus individuals with dementia or incipient dementia.

Method:

Enrolled subjects belong to the Long Life Family Study (LLFS), a multi-generational cohort study, where enrollment was predicated upon exceptional family longevity. Included subjects had valid cognitive and telomere data at baseline. Exclusion criteria were age ≤ 60 years, outlying LTL, and missing sociodemographic/clinical information. Analyses were performed using linear regression with generalized estimating equations, adjusting for sex, age, education, country, generation, and lymphocyte percentage.

Results:

Older age and male gender were associated with shorter LTL, and LTL was significantly longer in family members than spouse controls (p < 0.005). LTL was not associated with working or episodic memory, semantic processing, and information processing speed for 1613 cognitively unimpaired individuals as well as 597 individuals with dementia or incipient dementia (p < 0.005), who scored significantly lower on all cognitive domains (p < 0.005).

Conclusions:

Within this unique LLFS cohort, a group of families assembled on the basis of exceptional survival, LTL is unrelated to cognitive ability for individuals with and without cognitive impairment. LTL does not change in the context of degenerative disease for these individuals who are biologically younger than the general population.

Keywords

Telomere shorteningCognitive agingCognitive declineCognitive functionCognitive testsCognitionDementia and longevity
Type
Regular Research
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 26 , Issue 9 , October 2020 , pp. 906 - 917
Copyright
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2020

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