Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Associations of smoking indicators and cotinine levels with telomere length: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The influence of smoking exposure on telomere length with a focus on the impact of race has rarely been discussed. We performed a cross sectional analysis into the associations of smoking indicators with leukocyte telomere length (LTL) by race among 5864 nationally representative sample of US adults (≥20 years). Data from 1999 to 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was used for the analysis. Smoking indicators were assessed by interviews and serum cotinine levels. LTL was quantified by polymerase chain reaction. Multiple linear regressions were used to assess the association with adjustment for covariates, sample weights and design effects separately for Whites, Blacks and Mexican Americans. The intensity of smoking, measured by the average number of cigarettes consumed per day, was negatively associated with LTL among Whites (β: -3.87, 95% CI: -5.98 to -1.21) and among Blacks (β: -15.46, 95% CI: -29.79 to -2.12) participants. Compared with cotinine level < 0.05 ng/ml, cotinine level ≥3 ng/ml was associated with shorter LTL (β: -77.92, 95% CI = -143.05 to -11.70) among Whites, but not among Blacks. We found increased number of cigarette consumption to be associated with shorter LTL in both Blacks and Whites, indicating that the impact of smoking on life-shortening diseases could partly be explained by telomere biology. Increased cotinine concentration however, was associated with shorter LTL only among Whites, not among Blacks. This differential relationship that we observed may have implications in interpreting cotinine as an objective biomarker of smoking exposure across races and warrant additional prospective investigation.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app