title: The association of relative telomere length with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease: results from the CAVASIC study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Short telomere length has been described to be associated with biological aging including atherosclerosis phenotypes. However, information in patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is sparse. We therefore aimed to investigate whether inter-individual differences in relative telomere length (RTL) are associated with symptomatic PAD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured RTL by a quantitative PCR method in the CAVASIC Study, a cohort of 241 male Caucasian patients diagnosed with intermittent claudication and 249 age- and diabetes-matched controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed significantly shorter mean RTL in patients than in controls (1.24 ± 0.19 vs. 1.32 ± 0.23, p < 0.001). Each shortening of RTL by one standard deviation significantly increased the odds for PAD by 44%: age-adjusted OR = 1.44 (95%CI 1.19-1.75, p < 0.001). This association remained significant after additional adjustment for log-C-reactive protein, glomerular filtration rate, HDL cholesterol, current smoking and log N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Excluding patients with prevalent cardiovascular disease revealed very similar results. When we compared the model fit of the various adjustment models including cardiac risk factors and/or NT-proBNP the addition of RTL significantly improved discrimination between patients and controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study in a male cohort of patients with intermittent claudication and age- and diabetes-matched controls indicates a significant association of shorter relative telomere length with PAD. Our results reinforce RTL as a marker for PAD that reflects the influence of genetic and environmental risk factors. Moreover, the association remains significant after excluding patients and controls free from prevalent cardiovascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Innsbruck Medical University, Schöpfstr. 41, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raschenberger
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kollerits
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hammerer-Lercher
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rantner
authors.forename: Marietta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stadler
authors.forename: Margot
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haun
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Klein-Weigel
authors.forename: Gustav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fraedrich
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kronenberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D007383:Intermittent Claudication / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058729:Peripheral Arterial Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers
keywords: Aging; Atherosclerosis; Cardiovascular disease; Chromosomal stability; Peripheral arterial disease; Telomere length