Telomere Shortening, Early Depressive Symptoms and Cognitive Complaints in Older Adults

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Aging (Aging-US)

Aging-US published this research paper as the cover for Volume 15, Issue 4, entitled, "Relationship between telomere shortening and early subjective depressive symptoms and cognitive complaints in older adults" by researchers from the Department of Neurosurgery, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, Guri, South Korea; Department of Neurology, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, Guri, South Korea; Department of Translational Medicine, Hanyang University Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Neurology, Inha University College of Medicine, Incheon, South Korea. DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.204533 Corresponding authors - Seong Hye Choi - seonghye@inha.ac.kr, and Seong-Ho Koh - ksh213@hanyang.ac.kr Abstract Telomere length (TL) has been reported to be associated with depression and cognitive impairment in elderly. Early detection of depression and cognitive impairment is important to delay disease progression. Therefore, we aimed to identify whether TL is associated with early subjective depressive symptoms and cognitive complaints among healthy elderly subjects. This study was a multicenter, outcome assessor-blinded, 24-week, randomized controlled trial (RCT). Measurement of questionnaire and physical activity scores and blood sample analyses were performed at baseline and after six months of follow-up in all study participants. Linear regression analyses were performed to identify whether early subjective depressive symptoms, cognitive complaints, and several blood biomarkers are associated with TL. Altogether, 137 relatively healthy elderly individuals (60–79 years old) were enrolled in this prospective RCT. We observed an approximate decrease of 0.06 and 0.11−0.14 kbps of TL per one point increase in the geriatric depression scale and cognitive complaint interview scores, respectively, at baseline and after six months of follow-up. We also found an approximate decrease of 0.08−0.09 kbps of TL per one point increase in interleukin (IL)-6 levels at baseline and after six months of follow-up. Our study showed that both early subjective depressive symptoms and cognitive complaints were associated with a relatively shorter TL in relatively healthy elderly individuals. In addition, based on our findings, we believe that IL-6 plays an important role in the relationship between shortening TL and early subjective depressive symptoms and cognitive complaints. Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://aging.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Faging.204533 Keywords - aging, telomere length, cognitive complaint, depressive symptom, interleukin-6 About Aging-US Launched in 2009, Aging-US publishes papers of general interest and biological significance in all fields of aging research and age-related diseases, including cancer—and now, with a special focus on COVID-19 vulnerability as an age-dependent syndrome. Topics in Aging-US go beyond traditional gerontology, including, but not limited to, cellular and molecular biology, human age-related diseases, pathology in model organisms, signal transduction pathways (e.g., p53, sirtuins, and PI-3K/AKT/mTOR, among others), and approaches to modulating these signaling pathways. Please visit our website at https://www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/Aging-Us Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AgingUS/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/AgingJrnl Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/agingjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@AgingJournal LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/aging/ Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/AgingUS/ Media Contact 18009220957 MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM