TY - JOUR
T1 - Shorter telomere length in schizophrenia
T2 - Evidence from a real-world population and meta-analysis of most recent literature
AU - Russo, Patrizia
AU - Prinzi, Giulia
AU - Proietti, Stefania
AU - Lamonaca, Palma
AU - Frustaci, Alessandra
AU - Boccia, Stefania
AU - Amore, Rosarita
AU - Lorenzi, Maria
AU - Onder, Graziano
AU - Marzetti, Emanuele
AU - Valdiglesias, Vanessa
AU - Guadagni, Fiorella
AU - Valente, Maria Giovanna
AU - Cascio, Gerland Lo
AU - Fraietta, Sara
AU - Ducci, Giuseppe
AU - Bonassi, Stefano
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic mental disorder. Schizophrenia is visualized as an accelerated cellular aging syndrome characterized by early onset of cardiovascular disease causing premature mortality. In human aging involves alterations in telomere length (TL). To investigate the presence of TL shortening in schizophrenia and psychiatric syndromes associated, this condition was studied in leukocytes (LTL) of a sample of patients suffering from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, and compared with a group of non-psychiatric controls. We explored the relationship between LTL and age, gender, and smoking habit with the aim to control whether these potential confounding factors may influence the rate of telomeres shortening. We also performed a new comprehensive meta-analysis including studies on LTL in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy subjects published in the last two years and the results of the present study. Our results suggest that a diagnosis of schizophrenia, more than gender, age, cigarette smoking or alcohol drinking, is the most important condition responsible of the LTL shortening. A strong LTL shortening was observed in patients affected by schizophrenia, Schizoaffective disorder, and Psychosis not otherwise specified when they were younger than 50 years, while in the group of older subjects no major differences were observed. Additional evidence supporting the causal link of schizophrenia with accelerated telomeres shortening came from the analysis of the updated meta-analysis. The availability of a personalized profile of mechanistic pathways, risk factors, and clinical features may pose the basis for a rehabilitative treatment addressing individual needs of the psychiatric patients.
AB - Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic mental disorder. Schizophrenia is visualized as an accelerated cellular aging syndrome characterized by early onset of cardiovascular disease causing premature mortality. In human aging involves alterations in telomere length (TL). To investigate the presence of TL shortening in schizophrenia and psychiatric syndromes associated, this condition was studied in leukocytes (LTL) of a sample of patients suffering from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, and compared with a group of non-psychiatric controls. We explored the relationship between LTL and age, gender, and smoking habit with the aim to control whether these potential confounding factors may influence the rate of telomeres shortening. We also performed a new comprehensive meta-analysis including studies on LTL in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy subjects published in the last two years and the results of the present study. Our results suggest that a diagnosis of schizophrenia, more than gender, age, cigarette smoking or alcohol drinking, is the most important condition responsible of the LTL shortening. A strong LTL shortening was observed in patients affected by schizophrenia, Schizoaffective disorder, and Psychosis not otherwise specified when they were younger than 50 years, while in the group of older subjects no major differences were observed. Additional evidence supporting the causal link of schizophrenia with accelerated telomeres shortening came from the analysis of the updated meta-analysis. The availability of a personalized profile of mechanistic pathways, risk factors, and clinical features may pose the basis for a rehabilitative treatment addressing individual needs of the psychiatric patients.
KW - Age
KW - Cardiovascular comorbidity
KW - Gender
KW - Rehabilitation
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Smoking
KW - Telomere length
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U2 - 10.1016/j.schres.2018.07.015
DO - 10.1016/j.schres.2018.07.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 30001973
AN - SCOPUS:85049495973
VL - 202
SP - 37
EP - 45
JO - Schizophrenia Research
JF - Schizophrenia Research
SN - 0920-9964
ER -