title: Association of relative telomere length with cardiovascular disease in a large chronic kidney disease cohort: the GCKD study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 10-15% of the general population and affected individuals are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Since telomere length is considered to be involved in biological aging, we tested whether relative telomere length (RTL) might be a marker for these two diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  The German Chronic Kidney Disease (GCKD) study is an ongoing prospective cohort study including patients with CKD of moderate severity. RTL was measured by qPCR in 4955 out of 5217 GCKD patients at baseline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RTL was distributed in the cohort with a mean ± SD of 0.95 ± 0.19. CVD was present in 1266 patients. Each decrease of RTL by 0.1 unit was associated with a higher probability for prevalent CVD: OR = 1.06, 95% CI 1.02-1.11, p = 0.007 (adjusted for age, sex, eGFR, BMI, ln-CRP, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and lipids). Similar findings were observed for history of specific CVD entities, such as coronary artery disease (OR = 1.05, p = 0.025), myocardial infarction (OR = 1.08, p = 0.013) and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (OR = 1.06, p = 0.032). The strongest associations were found for interventions at the carotid arteries (OR = 1.25, p = 0.001) as well as aortic aneurysms (OR = 1.22, p = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the presence of CKD there is a significant association between shorter RTL and CVD manifestations. RTL appears to be a marker reflecting changes in homeostasis associated with CKD that may contribute to the excess CVD risk.
authors: Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Raschenberger
authors: Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Kollerits
authors: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Stephanie
authors: S
authors: Titze
authors: Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Köttgen
authors: Chair of Medical Informatics, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Bärthlein
authors: Institute of Human Genetics, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Arif B
authors: AB
authors: Ekici
authors: Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors: Lukas
authors: L
authors: Forer
authors: Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors: Sebastian
authors: S
authors: Schönherr
authors: Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors: Hansi
authors: H
authors: Weissensteiner
authors: Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors: Margot
authors: M
authors: Haun
authors: Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Wanner
authors: Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Kai-Uwe
authors: KU
authors: Eckardt
authors: Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria. Electronic address: Florian.Kronenberg@i-med.ac.at.
authors: Florian
authors: F
authors: Kronenberg
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016615:Telomere / Q000648:ultrastructure*
keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Chronic kidney disease; High-risk population; Telomere length