Loading...
Selected occupational characteristics and change in leukocyte telomere length over 10 years: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
Journal Title
PLOS ONE
Keywords
Readers/Advisors
Journal Title
Term and Year
Publication Date
2018-09-27
Book Title
Publication Volume
13
Publication Issue
9
Publication Begin
e0204704
Publication End
Number of pages
Collections
Files
Loading...
file (20).pdf
Adobe PDF, 740.98 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
Telomere length (TL) is considered as a marker of cell senescence, but factors influencing the rate of TL attrition are not well understood. While one previous study reported the association of occupation and TL, many subsequent studies have failed to find the association. This may be due to heterogeneity within the samples and cross-sectional designs. This longitudinal study examines two occupational characteristics, occupational complexity and hazardous conditions, as predictors of TL attrition in gender- and race/ethnicity-stratified analysis. Leukocyte TL (expressed as T/S ratio) was measured twice over a 10-year period in a multi-racial sample (n = 914). Linear mixed effect models were used to estimate TL attrition associated with occupational complexity and hazardous conditions. Analysis was stratified by gender and race/ethnicity (white, African American, and Latino) and controlled for baseline age, baseline TL, and time since baseline. Higher occupational complexity was associated with slower rates of TL attrition only among white men. Hazardous conditions were not associated with TL attrition for any gender-and-race/ethnicity stratified group. Occupational complexity may influence TL attrition, but the different findings for white men and other groups suggest that a more comprehensive framework is needed to better understand the potential link between occupational characteristics and biological aging.
Citation
Fujishiro K, Needham BL, Landsbergis PA, Seeman T, Jenny NS, Diez Roux AV. Selected occupational characteristics and change in leukocyte telomere length over 10 years: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). PLoS One. 2018 Sep 27;13(9):e0204704. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204704. PMID: 30261026; PMCID: PMC6160145.