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Association between telomere length and psychiatric disorders: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study
Han Zhang1,2, Jing Zhou2, Yuan Cao1
1The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China.
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
|April 25, 2025
Summary
Shorter telomere length (TL) may be linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, this genetic association has limited clinical significance and TL is unlikely a biomarker for psychiatric disorders.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Psychiatry
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Observational studies suggest shorter telomere length (TL) is a risk factor for psychiatric disorders.
- Causal relationship between TL and psychiatric disorders remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the potential causal association between TL and ten psychiatric disorders using a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) study.
Main Methods:
- Utilized summary statistics for TL from UK Biobank (n=472,174) and ten psychiatric disorders from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC).
- Employed inverse-variance weighted (IVW) as the primary analysis, with MR-Egger, weighted median, MR-PRESSO, simple mode, and weighted mode for sensitivity analyses.
Main Results:
- A potential association was found between genetic predisposition to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and shortened TL (Beta=-0.039, P=4.00E-04).
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) showed a potential association with TL (Beta=-0.014, P=0.019).
- No significant association was observed between TL and other psychiatric disorders.
Conclusions:
- Findings suggest a potential correlation between ADHD and TL, and possibly PTSD and TL.
- The small effect sizes indicate limited practical clinical significance.
- TL is unlikely to serve as a biomarker for psychiatric disorders.
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