Edmond D Shenassa1, Lauren M Rossen2. 1. Maternal & Child Health Program, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, United States; Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, United States; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Brown University, United States; Department of Epidemiology, University of Maryland, Baltimore,United States. Electronic address: Shenassa@UMD.edu. 2. Office of Analysis and Epidemiology, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,United States.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Age-at-menopause and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) are both associated with biologic aging. Therefore, it would be reasonable to hypothesize that LTL may also serve as a marker for reproductive aging as shorter LTL may be associated with earlier age-at-menopause. METHODS: We analyzed data from 799 post-menopausal (ages 41-85) participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002), a nationally representative sample of U.S. women. RESULTS: Controlling for behavioral, socio-demographic, and health-related determinants of menopause, we found that among non-Hispanic white women, an increase of one standard deviation in LTL was associated with a 0.43 year higher reported age-at-menopause. Among Mexican-Americans, an increase of one standard deviation in LTL was associated with a 1.56 year earlier menopause. There was no significant association between LTL and age-at-menopause among non-Hispanic black women. CONCLUSIONS: Our main finding is evidence of a strong interaction by race/ethnicity in the association between LTL and age-at-menopause. This evidence does not support the hypothesis that shorter LTL is a predictor of earlier age-at-menopause, as the magnitude and direction of the associations between LTL and age-at-menopause varied across racial/ethnic groups.
OBJECTIVES: Age-at-menopause and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) are both associated with biologic aging. Therefore, it would be reasonable to hypothesize that LTL may also serve as a marker for reproductive aging as shorter LTL may be associated with earlier age-at-menopause. METHODS: We analyzed data from 799 post-menopausal (ages 41-85) participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002), a nationally representative sample of U.S. women. RESULTS: Controlling for behavioral, socio-demographic, and health-related determinants of menopause, we found that among non-Hispanic white women, an increase of one standard deviation in LTL was associated with a 0.43 year higher reported age-at-menopause. Among Mexican-Americans, an increase of one standard deviation in LTL was associated with a 1.56 year earlier menopause. There was no significant association between LTL and age-at-menopause among non-Hispanic black women. CONCLUSIONS: Our main finding is evidence of a strong interaction by race/ethnicity in the association between LTL and age-at-menopause. This evidence does not support the hypothesis that shorter LTL is a predictor of earlier age-at-menopause, as the magnitude and direction of the associations between LTL and age-at-menopause varied across racial/ethnic groups.
Authors: Jue Lin; Candyce H Kroenke; Elissa Epel; Heather A Kenna; Owen M Wolkowitz; Elizabeth Blackburn; Natalie L Rasgon Journal: Brain Res Date: 2010-10-18 Impact factor: 3.252
Authors: Lynda D Lisabeth; Alexa S Beiser; Devin L Brown; Joanne M Murabito; Margaret Kelly-Hayes; Philip A Wolf Journal: Stroke Date: 2009-02-20 Impact factor: 7.914
Authors: Se Li; Lynn Rosenberg; Lauren A Wise; Deborah A Boggs; Michael LaValley; Julie R Palmer Journal: Maturitas Date: 2013-05-01 Impact factor: 4.342
Authors: Igor Albizua; Benjamin L Rambo-Martin; Emily G Allen; Weiya He; Ashima S Amin; Stephanie L Sherman Journal: Am J Med Genet A Date: 2017-09-21 Impact factor: 2.802
Authors: Eva Hassler; Gunter Almer; Gernot Reishofer; Gunther Marsche; Harald Mangge; Hannes Deutschmann; Markus Herrmann; Stefan Leber; Felix Gunzer; Wilfried Renner Journal: Antioxidants (Basel) Date: 2021-11-28