{"title":"Association Analysis of Telomere Length and Vision in a Large Community-Based Survey.","authors":"Bing Zhang, Yune Zhao","doi":"10.1080/09286586.2024.2422349","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To investigate whether there is a direct, age-independent association between telomere length and visual acuity decline in a large community-based cohort study.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Participants older than 40 with linked leukocyte telomere length (LTL) were enrolled in NHANES. LTL was assayed using qPCR from the participants' blood samples. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the better-seeing eye was analyzed, with visual impairment (VI) defined as BCVA ≥ 20/40. LTL was grouped into quartiles, and its association with BCVA and VI was evaluated after adjusting for covariates.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the 4,480 enrolled participants, the weighted means of age, BCVA, and telomere length were 56.1 ± 11.9 years, 0.05 ± 0.08 logMAR, and 5,662 ± 36 base pairs, respectively. The proportion of VI was 2.6%. After adjusting for covariates including sex, ethnicity, education, family poverty income ratio, general health status, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and body mass index, BCVA was significantly worse in participants with shorter LTL, with a significant trend (<i>p</i> = 0.002). However, after further adjusting for age, the association between LTL and BCVA was no longer significant, without a trend (<i>p</i> = 0.640). No significant association or trend between LTL and VI was found in the stepwise logistic model.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>No age-independent association between LTL and BCVA was found. Our study indicates LTL may not serve as a biomarker for age-related visual acuity decline.</p>","PeriodicalId":19607,"journal":{"name":"Ophthalmic epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ophthalmic epidemiology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09286586.2024.2422349","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"OPHTHALMOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: To investigate whether there is a direct, age-independent association between telomere length and visual acuity decline in a large community-based cohort study.
Methods: Participants older than 40 with linked leukocyte telomere length (LTL) were enrolled in NHANES. LTL was assayed using qPCR from the participants' blood samples. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the better-seeing eye was analyzed, with visual impairment (VI) defined as BCVA ≥ 20/40. LTL was grouped into quartiles, and its association with BCVA and VI was evaluated after adjusting for covariates.
Results: Among the 4,480 enrolled participants, the weighted means of age, BCVA, and telomere length were 56.1 ± 11.9 years, 0.05 ± 0.08 logMAR, and 5,662 ± 36 base pairs, respectively. The proportion of VI was 2.6%. After adjusting for covariates including sex, ethnicity, education, family poverty income ratio, general health status, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and body mass index, BCVA was significantly worse in participants with shorter LTL, with a significant trend (p = 0.002). However, after further adjusting for age, the association between LTL and BCVA was no longer significant, without a trend (p = 0.640). No significant association or trend between LTL and VI was found in the stepwise logistic model.
Conclusions: No age-independent association between LTL and BCVA was found. Our study indicates LTL may not serve as a biomarker for age-related visual acuity decline.
期刊介绍:
Ophthalmic Epidemiology is dedicated to the publication of original research into eye and vision health in the fields of epidemiology, public health and the prevention of blindness. Ophthalmic Epidemiology publishes editorials, original research reports, systematic reviews and meta-analysis articles, brief communications and letters to the editor on all subjects related to ophthalmic epidemiology. A broad range of topics is suitable, such as: evaluating the risk of ocular diseases, general and specific study designs, screening program implementation and evaluation, eye health care access, delivery and outcomes, therapeutic efficacy or effectiveness, disease prognosis and quality of life, cost-benefit analysis, biostatistical theory and risk factor analysis. We are looking to expand our engagement with reports of international interest, including those regarding problems affecting developing countries, although reports from all over the world potentially are suitable. Clinical case reports, small case series (not enough for a cohort analysis) articles and animal research reports are not appropriate for this journal.