Telomere length, late delivery and longevity
The life expectancy of women can be predicted by the "tails" of DNA
Geneticists have found new evidence that a woman's life expectancy, as well as the time of birth of her last child, is reflected in the length of the so-called telomeres, "tails" at the ends of chromosomes, according to an article published in the journal Menopause (Fagan et al., Telomere length is longer in women with late maternal age).
"This study shows that long life and the ability to conceive children at a late age are associated with a long telomere length. This indicates that the late birth of children is a sign of healthy aging. On the other hand, we must remember that such decisions are influenced by social factors that have nothing to do with either life expectancy or fertility of women," Joann Pinkerton, executive director of the American Association for the Study of Menopause in Cleveland, commented on the discovery (in a press release New study identifies possible predictor for women's longevity – VM).
Telomeres are the end sections of chromosomes located in the nucleus of each cell of the human body. Telomeres protect DNA from damage. With each cell division, they become shorter, when their length is not enough for a new division, the cell dies.
Relatively recently, scientists have discovered that the length of telomeres and their condition can change not only with age, but also as a result of various processes in the body associated with depression, poverty and stress. In particular, a large number of oxidants and other aggressive molecules in cells leads to an abnormally rapid reduction in the length of telomeres, and, accordingly, to their accelerated aging.
Erin Fagan from the University of Pittsburgh (USA) and her colleagues found out that telomere length can be associated not only with the life expectancy of women, but also with how late they give birth to their last child by studying data collected as part of the LLFS social study.
As part of this study, scientists followed the lives of several thousand centenarian women aged 79 years and their descendants living today in the United States and Denmark. By studying their life histories and DNA structure, biologists hoped to find out which biological and social factors most affect the life expectancy of the fairer sex.
Fagan and her colleagues used this data to check which aspects of life were associated with the length of telomeres and their other properties.
It turned out that, in addition to life expectancy, long telomeres were also statistically related to how late women gave birth to their last child. For example, women who gave birth to children at the age of 33 and had long telomeres lived noticeably longer than 80% of the participants in this study. A similar effect was observed for all women who gave birth to their last child after the age of 29.
Thus, we can say that the length of telomeres is a kind of indicator of the life expectancy of women and when they will give birth to children. On the other hand, as Pinkerton emphasizes, such conclusions should be taken with caution, since they do not allow distinguishing social factors from biological markers of longevity and slow aging.
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08.12.2016