Abstract
Purpose: To examine the association between telomere length and neurodevelopment in children. Methods: We examined the relationship between relative telomere length (rTL) and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 9 and 30 months, and 5 years of age in children enrolled in the Seychelles Child Development Study Nutrition Cohort 1 (NC1). Relative telomere length was measured in cord blood and in child blood at age five. Multivariable linear regression examined associations between neurodevelopmental outcomes and rTL adjusting for relevant covariates.Results: Mean rTL was 1.18 at birth and 0.71 at age five. Increased cord blood rTL was associated with better scores on two neurodevelopmental tests, the psychomotor developmental index (β =4.01; 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.17, 7.85) at age 30 months, and the Woodcock Johnson test of achievement letter-word score (β=2.88; CI=1.21-4.56) at age five. The Woodcock Johnson test of achievement letter-word score remained statistically significant after two outliers were excluded (β=2.83; CI=0.69, 4.97); the psychomotor developmental index did not (β =3.62; CI=-1.28, 8.52). None of the neurodevelopmental outcomes at age five were associated with five-year rTL. Conclusion: Although increased cord blood rTL was associated with better test scores for a few neurodevelopmental outcomes, this study found little consistent evidence of an association between rTL and neurodevelopment. Future studies with a larger sample size, longer follow-up, and other relevant biological markers (e.g. oxidative stress) are needed to clarify the role of rTL in neurodevelopment and its relevance as a potential surrogate measure for oxidative stress in the field of developmental neurotoxicity.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 22-27 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Neurotoxicology |
Volume | 65 |
Early online date | 31 Jan 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 31 Mar 2018 |
Keywords
- children
- epidemiology
- cognition
- language
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Alison Yeates
- School of Biomedical Sciences - Lecturer In Biomedical Sciences
- Faculty Of Life & Health Sciences - Lecturer
Person: Academic