Pathogen Burden and Leukocyte Telomere Length in the United States

Citation

Noppert, Grace A.; Feinstein, Lydia; Dowd, Jennifer Beam; Stebbins, Rebecca C.; Zang, Emma; Needham, Belinda L.; Meier, Helen C. S.; Simanek, Amanda M.; & Aiello, Allison E. (2020). Pathogen Burden and Leukocyte Telomere Length in the United States. Immunity & Ageing, 17(1), 36. PMCID: PMC7677839

Abstract

Prior studies in humans have suggested that telomere shortening may be accelerated by infection, but research on multiple pathogens and use of large population-based study samples has been limited. We estimated cross-sectional associations between seropositivity to five persistent pathogens (Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 (HSV-1), Herpes Simplex Virus Type-2 (HSV-2), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori), and Hepatitis B) as well as total pathogen burden and leukocyte telomere length. Data were derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999–2000) for individuals 20–49 years of age, N = 1708. We analyzed the influence of each pathogen separately, a pathogen count score and a latent class model of pathogen burden on log telomere length using linear regression models, adjusted for covariates.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12979-020-00206-9

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2020

Journal Title

Immunity & Ageing

Author(s)

Noppert, Grace A.
Feinstein, Lydia
Dowd, Jennifer Beam
Stebbins, Rebecca C.
Zang, Emma
Needham, Belinda L.
Meier, Helen C. S.
Simanek, Amanda M.
Aiello, Allison E.

Article Type

Regular

PMCID

PMC7677839

Data Set/Study

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

Continent/Country

United States of America

State

Nonspecific

ORCiD

Aiello - 0000-0001-7029-2537
Noppert - 0000-0002-2040-960x