title: Anxiety disorders and accelerated cellular ageing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anxiety disorders increase the risk of onset of several ageing-related somatic conditions, which might be the consequence of accelerated cellular ageing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between anxiety status and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) as an indicator of cellular ageing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data are from individuals with current (n = 1283) and remitted (n = 459) anxiety disorder, and controls (n = 582) with no psychiatric disorder from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. We determined DSM-IV anxiety diagnoses and clinical characteristics by structured psychiatric interviews and self-report questionnaires; LTL was assessed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and converted into base pairs (bp).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients in the current anxiety group (bp = 5431) had significantly shorter LTL compared with the control group (bp = 5506, P = 0.01) and the remitted anxiety group (bp = 5499, P = 0.03) in analyses adjusted for sociodemographics, health and lifestyle. The remitted anxiety group did not differ from the control group (P = 0.84), however, time since remission was positively related with LTL. Furthermore, anxiety severity scores were associated with LTL in the whole sample, in line with a dose-response association.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with current - but not remitted - anxiety disorder had shorter telomere length, suggesting a process of accelerated cellular ageing, which in part may be reversible after remission.
authors: Josine E. Verhoeven, MSc, Dóra Révész, MSc, Patricia van Oppen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Elissa S. Epel, PhD, Owen M. Wolkowitz, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA; Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Josine E
authors: JE
authors: Verhoeven
authors: Josine E. Verhoeven, MSc, Dóra Révész, MSc, Patricia van Oppen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Elissa S. Epel, PhD, Owen M. Wolkowitz, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA; Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Dóra
authors: D
authors: Révész
authors: Josine E. Verhoeven, MSc, Dóra Révész, MSc, Patricia van Oppen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Elissa S. Epel, PhD, Owen M. Wolkowitz, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA; Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Patricia
authors: P
authors: van Oppen
authors: Josine E. Verhoeven, MSc, Dóra Révész, MSc, Patricia van Oppen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Elissa S. Epel, PhD, Owen M. Wolkowitz, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA; Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Elissa S
authors: ES
authors: Epel
authors: Josine E. Verhoeven, MSc, Dóra Révész, MSc, Patricia van Oppen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Elissa S. Epel, PhD, Owen M. Wolkowitz, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA; Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Owen M
authors: OM
authors: Wolkowitz
authors: Josine E. Verhoeven, MSc, Dóra Révész, MSc, Patricia van Oppen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Elissa S. Epel, PhD, Owen M. Wolkowitz, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA; Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Brenda W J H
authors: BW
authors: Penninx
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016615:Telomere / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D055815:Young Adult