Telomere Length Among Older U.S. Adults: Differences by Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Age

We examine race/ethnic, gender, and age differences in telomere length (TL) within a diverse, nationally representative sample of older adults.

Data come from 5,228 White, Black, and Hispanic respondents aged 54+ in the 2008 Health and Retirement Study. TL was assayed from saliva using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) by comparing telomere sequence copy number with a single gene copy number (T/S ratio). Linear regression was used to examine TL by race/ethnicity, gender, and age adjusting for social, economic, and health characteristics.

Women had longer TL than men (p < .05). Blacks ( p < .05) and Hispanics ( p < .10) had longer TL than Whites. Black women and men had the longest TL relative to other groups ( p < .05), while White men had the shortest TL ( p < .05). Black women and Hispanic men showed greater differences in TL with age.

Findings indicate social patterns in TL by race/ethnicity, gender, and age among older adults do not reflect differences observed in most population health outcomes.