Annual Ambient Black Carbon Associated with Shorter Telomeres in Elderly Men: Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study

Annual Ambient Black Carbon Associated with Shorter Telomeres in Elderly Men: Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study

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Annual Ambient Black Carbon Associated with Shorter Telomeres in Elderly Men: Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study

dc.contributor.author	Hoxha, Mirjam
dc.contributor.author	Dioni, Laura
dc.contributor.author	McCracken, John Patrick
dc.contributor.author	Baccarelli, Andrea
dc.contributor.author	Melly, Steven John
dc.contributor.author	Coull, Brent Andrew
dc.contributor.author	Suh MacIntosh, Helen H.
dc.contributor.author	Vokonas, Pantel S
dc.contributor.author	Schwartz, Joel David
dc.date.accessioned	2011-05-19T20:07:40Z
dc.date.issued	2010
dc.identifier.citation	McCracken, John, Andrea Baccarelli, Mirjam Hoxha, Laura Dioni, Steve Melly, Brent Coull, Helen Suh, Pantel Vokonas, and Joel Schwartz. 2010. Annual Ambient Black Carbon Associated with Shorter Telomeres in Elderly Men: Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. Environmental Health Perspectives 118(11): 1564-1570.	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0091-6765	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4892363
dc.description.abstract	Background: Telomere length reflects biological age and is inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Ambient air pollution is associated with CVD, but its effect on telomere length is unknown. Objective: We investigated whether ambient black carbon (BC), a marker for traffic-related particles, is associated with telomere length in the Normative Aging Study (NAS). Methods: Among 165 never-smoking men from the NAS, leukocyte telomere length (LTL) was measured repeatedly approximately every 3 years from 1999 through 2006 using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). BC concentration at their residences during the year before each LTL measurement was estimated based on a spatiotemporal model calibrated with BC measurements from 82 locations within the study area. Results: The median [interquartile range (IQR)] annual moving-average BC concentration was 0.32 (0.20–0.45) μg/m3. LTL, expressed as population-standardized ratio of telomere repeat to single-copy gene copy numbers, had a geometric mean (geometric SD) of 1.25 (1.42). We used linear mixed-effects models including random subject intercepts and adjusted for several potential confounders. We used inverse probability of response weighting to adjust for potential selection bias due to loss to follow-up. An IQR increase in annual BC (0.25 μg/m3) was associated with a 7.6% decrease (95% confidence interval, −12.8 to −2.1) in LTL. We found evidence of effect modification, with a stronger association among subjects ≥ 75 years of age compared with younger participants (p = 0.050) and statin medications appearing protective of the effects of BC on LTL (p = 0.050). Conclusions: Telomere attrition, linked to biological aging, may be associated with long-term exposures to airborne particles, particularly those rich in BC, which are primarily related to automobile traffic.	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.publisher	National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences	en_US
dc.relation.isversionof	doi:10.1289/ehp.0901831	en_US
dc.relation.hasversion	http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2974694/pdf/	en_US
dash.license	LAA
dc.subject	air pollution	en_US
dc.subject	biological aging	en_US
dc.subject	cardiovascular physiology	en_US
dc.subject	environmental exposure	en_US
dc.subject	epigenetic process	en_US
dc.subject	particles	en_US
dc.subject	traffic	en_US
dc.subject	vehicle emissions	en_US
dc.title	Annual Ambient Black Carbon Associated with Shorter Telomeres in Elderly Men: Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article	en_US
dc.description.version	Version of Record	en_US
dc.relation.journal	Environmental Health Perspectives	en_US
dash.depositing.author	McCracken, John Patrick
dc.date.available	2011-05-19T20:07:40Z
dash.affiliation.other	SPH^Exposure Epidemiology and Risk Program	en_US
dash.affiliation.other	SPH^Exposure Epidemiology and Risk Program	en_US
dash.affiliation.other	SPH^Exposure Epidemiology and Risk Program	en_US
dash.affiliation.other	SPH^Biostatistics	en_US
dash.affiliation.other	HMS^Medicine-Brigham and Women's Hospital	en_US
dash.affiliation.other	SPH^Exposure Epidemiology and Risk Program	en_US