Telomere Length of Circulating Leukocytes Is Decreased in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure
Pim van der Harst, MD, PhD*, ,1,*,
Gerrit van der Steege, PhD ,
Rudolf A. de Boer, MD, PhD*,2,
Adriaan A. Voors, MD, PhD*,
Alistair S. Hall, MD, PhD ,
Marcel J. Mulder ,
Wiek H. van Gilst, PhD ,
Dirk J. van Veldhuisen, MD, PhD, FACC*,3 on behalf of the MERIT-HF Study Group
* Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
Department of Medical Biomics, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
British Heart Foundation Research Center, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.

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Figure 1 Telomere Length in Control Patients and CHF Patients
Telomere length, expressed as the natural log (Ln) of the telomere to single reference gene (T/S) ratio, is plotted as a function of age. The median telomere length was 0.64 (interquartile range [IQR] 0.47 to 0.88) in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients compared with 1.05 (IQR 0.86 to 1.29) in control patients (p < 0.001). Yearly decline of telomere length ratio was 0.0079 ± 0.0022 in CHF patients and 0.0077 ± 0.0026 in control patients (p = NS). Linear regression line and mean 95% confidence interval lines are drawn for CHF patients and control patients. Solid squares = controls; open circles = CHF.
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Figure 2 Relationship Between Severity and Etiology of CHF With Telomere Length
Median and interquartile range (box) of telomere length (A) of CHF patients according to the severity of the disease measured by New York Heart Association functional classification; telomere length is incrementally shortened with increased New York Heart Association functional class (p < 0.05 for trend). (B) Patients with CHF have decreased telomere length compared with healthy control patients (p < 0.001). The CHF patients with concomitant coronary artery disease (CAD) have further decreased telomere length (p < 0.05). Abbreviations as in Figure 1.
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Figure 3 Number of Atherosclerotic Disease Manifestations and Telomere Length in CHF Patients
Median and interquartile range (box) of telomere length of CHF patients is gradually decreased according to the number of atherosclerotic disease manifestations: none, 1 (coronary, cerebrovascular, peripheral), 2 (any combination of the previous), or 3. Abbreviations as in Figure 1.
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