Psychiatric disorders, morbidity, and mortality: tracing mechanistic pathways to accelerated aging
Open accessAbstract
A meta-analysis published in this issue of Psychosomatic Medicine provides convincing evidence that certain psychiatric populations have shorter telomeres than nonpsychiatric controls, in accord with the strong evidence linking psychiatric disorders with premature mortality. After addressing the clinical significance of shorter telomeres, this editorial describes mechanistic pathways that lead to telomere shortening. Additionally, two other novel methods for measuring biological markers of accelerated aging are briefly discussed: DNA methylation and cellular senescence based on p16. These innovative approaches could be used to confirm and extend our understanding of psychiatric patients' increased health and mortality risks.
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Telomere attrition from distress-related psychopathology plausibly contributes to increased premature mortality among people with psychiatric conditions.
“it is plausible that telomere attrition as a function of distress-related psychopathology contributes to increased rates of premature mortality among individuals with psychiatric conditions.47”
From Telomere Length and Psychopathology: Specificity and Direction of Effects Within the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (2020) · cites this paper as [47]
Cardiac activity may be a biological factor linking mood and anxiety disorders with cardiovascular and metabolic risk and mortality.
“Cardiac activity therefore may be a biological factor that serves as a mechanism linking mood and anxiety disorders with cardiovascular and metabolic risk and mortality14,15.”
From Guidelines for wrist-worn consumer wearable assessment of heart rate in biobehavioral research (2020) · cites this paper as [14]
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- Authors
- Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., & Wilson, S. J.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (US)
- ORCID
- Wilson, Stephanie J.
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2016-09
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 772-775
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- 1534-7796
- PMC
- PMC5003738
- OpenAlex
- W2462194706
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA186720, K05CA172296, R01CA186251)
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (T32DE014320)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Keywords
- mental illness, accelerated aging, telomere shortening, premature mortality, morbidity, DNA methylation, cellular senescence, p16, mechanistic pathways
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Humans, Cellular Senescence, DNA Methylation, Telomere Shortening
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