title: No shorter telomeres in subjects with a family history of cardiovascular disease in the Asklepios study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Shorter telomere length is associated with the occurrence of cardiovascular events, but the question of causality is complicated by the intertwined effects of inheritance, aging, and lifestyle factors on both telomere length and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Some studies indicated that healthy offspring of coronary artery disease patients exhibited shorter telomeres than subjects without a family history. Importantly, this result would imply that inheritance of shorter telomeres is a primary abnormality associated with an increased risk of CVD, the so-called Telomere Hypothesis of CVD. Therefore, we aimed at further validating the latter results in the large, population-representative Asklepios Study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length was measured using telomere restriction fragment analysis in the young to middle-aged (≈ 35-55 years old) Asklepios study population, free from overt CVD, and could be successfully combined with data from the Asklepios Family History Database for 2136 subjects. No shorter telomere length could be found in healthy subjects with a family history of CVD compared with those without.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings cast serious doubt on the hypothesis that telomere length is shorter in families with an increased risk of CVD and do not support the Telomere Hypothesis of CVD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical Modelling, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Tim.DeMeyer@UGent.be
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: De Meyer
authors.forename: Caroline M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Van Daele
authors.forename: Marc L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: De Buyzere
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Denil
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Bacquer
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Segers
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cooman
authors.forename: Guy G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: De Backer
authors.forename: Thierry C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Gillebert
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bekaert
authors.forename: Ernst R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Rietzschel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree; D015995:Prevalence; D016615:Telomere / Q000648:ultrastructure*