Thorax · Jul 19, 2017

Smoking, telomere length and lung function decline: a longitudinal population-based study

By Andujar P, Courbon D, Bizard E et al.

Telomere shortening is associated with COPD and impaired lung function in cross-sectional studies, but there is no longitudinal study. We used data from 448 participants recruited as part of the French follow-up of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. We found no relationship between telomere length at baseline and FEV₁ decline after 11 years of follow-up. However, heavy smoking was associated with an accelerated FEV₁ decline in individuals with short telomeres, but not in subjects with longer telomeres (p for interaction p=0.08). Our findings suggest that short telomere length in peripheral leucocytes might be a marker for increased susceptibility to the effect of smoking.

doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2017-210294Open accessPubMed 28724638Biomarkers