| Autor: |
Maasen K; Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.; Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Atlantic Boulevard, Fajara, Banjul, The Gambia.; Department of Internal Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands., James PT; Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK., Prentice AM; Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Atlantic Boulevard, Fajara, Banjul, The Gambia., Moore SE; Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Atlantic Boulevard, Fajara, Banjul, The Gambia.; Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, London, UK., Fall CH; MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK., Chandak GR; Genomic Research on Complex diseases (GRC Group), CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India., Betts M; Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Atlantic Boulevard, Fajara, Banjul, The Gambia.; Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, England, UK., Silver MJ; Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Atlantic Boulevard, Fajara, Banjul, The Gambia. Matt.Silver@lshtm.ac.uk., Buxton JL; Genetics and Genomic Medicine Programme, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK. J.Buxton@kingston.ac.uk.; School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry, Kingston University, London, UK. J.Buxton@kingston.ac.uk. |
| Abstrakt: |
Early life exposures are important predictors of adult disease risk. Although the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown, telomere maintenance may be involved. This study investigated the relationship between seasonal differences in parental exposures at time of conception and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in their offspring. LTL was measured in two cohorts of children aged 2 yrs (N = 487) and 7-9 yrs (N = 218). The association between date of conception and LTL was examined using Fourier regression models, adjusted for age, sex, leukocyte cell composition, and other potential confounders. We observed an effect of season in the older children in all models [likelihood ratio test (LRT) χ² 2 = 7.1, p = 0.03; fully adjusted model]. LTL was greatest in children conceived in September (in the rainy season), and smallest in those conceived in March (in the dry season), with an effect size (LTL peak-nadir) of 0.60 z-scores. No effect of season was evident in the younger children (LRT χ² 2 = 0.87, p = 0.65). The different results obtained for the two cohorts may reflect a delayed effect of season of conception on postnatal telomere maintenance. Alternatively, they may be explained by unmeasured differences in early life exposures, or the increased telomere attrition rate during infancy. |
