Do symptoms of depression predict telomere length? Evidence from the west of Scotland twenty-07 study
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Psychological factors such as the stress of caregiving are emerging as predictors of telomere length, an index of biological aging. However, although lifetime major depressive disorder is associated with shorter telomeres, less is known about depressive symptoms. Depression and depressive symptoms are associated with a range of morbidities and mortality, but the extent to which they predict biological aging is unclear. The present study examined participants in the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study across three age cohorts and four waves of data collection from 1992/1993 to 2007/2008. METHODS: Participants were 37, 57, and 76 years old at final data collection. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at each time point. Telomere length was assessed from 1063 blood samples collected at the final wave in 2007/2008 for respondents who also had depression data. RESULTS: Average depression symptoms (β= -.12, p = .047) and their change over time (β = -.12, p = .031) were negatively associated with telomere length, but only in the youngest cohort. Depressive symptoms were not cross sectionally associated with telomere length in 2007 to 2008 (β= -.03, p = .45). In the youngest cohort only, depressive symptoms assessed in 1995 to 1997 and 2000 to 2004 were associated with shorter telomere length (β = .14 [p = .046] and β = .18 [p = .012], respectively), but not 1992 to 1993 or 2007 to 2008; associations in the middle- and older-aged cohorts were nonsignificant. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms are longitudinally associated with shorter telomere length, but only in younger adults.
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Altered stress reactivity appears to play an important role in the development of psychiatric disorders as well as cardiovascular disease.
“Altered stress reactivity appears to play an important role in the development of psychiatric disorders (Ehlert et al., 2001) as well as cardiovascular disease (Phillips et al., 2013; Lovallo, 2011; Treiber et al., 2003).”
From More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science (2018) · cites this paper as Phillips et al., 2013
Phillips et al. is cited for the cardiovascular-disease part of the sentence. The Discussion addresses chronic stress, depressive symptoms, and telomere length, while a separate passage mentions patients who already have coronary heart disease; neither says that altered stress reactivity contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease. Searches for stress reactivity and cardiovascular disease found no supporting passage in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Phillips, A. C., Robertson, T., Carroll, D., Der, G., Shiels, P. G., McGlynn, L., & Benzeval, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Phillips, Anna C.
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2013-04
- Volume
- 75
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 288-296
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2063043748
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 4.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
- University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Open Access at Essex (University of Essex) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council (MR/K00414X/1, MC_A540_5TK10, MC_A540_53462)
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/H043772/1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- depressive symptoms, telomere length, biological aging, major depressive disorder, longitudinal change in depression, age cohort differences, West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study, caregiving stress
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aging, Depression, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Risk Factors, Scotland, Cohort Studies, Telomere, Telomere Shortening
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