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Short telomeres are associated with increased carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive subjects

Athanase Benetos1, Jeffrey P Gardner, Mahmoud Zureik

  • 1Centre d'Investigations Préventives et Cliniques, 6/14 rue la Pérouse, 75116 Paris, France. benetos@ipc.asso.fr

Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979)
|January 21, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Shorter telomeres in white blood cells are linked to carotid artery plaques in hypertensive men. This suggests telomere length may predict atherosclerosis risk in individuals with high blood pressure.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Genetics
  • Hypertension Research

Background:

  • Shorter telomeres are associated with increased cardiovascular disease mortality and arterial lesions.
  • Hypertension is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, but susceptibility to atherosclerotic lesions varies among patients.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between white blood cell telomere length and the presence of carotid artery atherosclerotic plaques in hypertensive males.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of data from 163 treated hypertensive men.
  • Assessment of extracranial carotid plaques using B-mode ultrasound.
  • Measurement of telomere length from DNA extracted from white blood cells.

Main Results:

  • Hypertensive men with carotid artery plaques had significantly shorter telomere lengths (8.17+/-0.07 kb) compared to those without plaques (8.46+/-0.07 kb).
  • Multivariate analysis identified telomere length as a significant predictor of carotid artery plaque presence, independent of age.

Conclusions:

  • In hypertensive males, shorter white blood cell telomere length is associated with a higher likelihood of developing carotid artery atherosclerosis.
  • Telomere length may serve as a biomarker for predicting atherosclerosis risk in the context of hypertension.

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