An Association Between Short Telomere Length and Major Cardiovascular Events is Influenced by the Proximity of Telomere Measurement to Event Occurrence

Background: Short telomere length (TL) is associated with cardiovascular (CV) events. However, disagreement exists as to the physiological association between TL and CV events. Short TL may indicate pathology predisposing to an event as would be seen in a prospective study, or may occur subsequent to an event which would only be observed retrospectively. Objective: To determine whether prevalent (P) and incident (I) CV events differ with respect to association with TL. Methods: Peripheral blood TL was obtained from consenting patients (pts) undergoing angiography (n=3576). TL was determined by multiplex quantitative PCR that amplified both the telomere repeat and the single copy gene (albumin) used to normalize the result for DNA input. The quantitative PCR reactions were performed in triplicate and signal generated by the incorporation of the monochrome dye (SYBR Green I) Signal was measured by PCR (Bio-Rad CFX384 Detection System).TL is reported as t/s, the normalized ratio of telomere to single gene me...