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Research Paper|Volume 11, Issue 17|pp 7083—7097

Telomere length, vitamin B12 and mortality in persons undergoing coronary angiography: the Ludwigshafen risk and cardiovascular health study

Irene Pusceddu1, Wolfgang Herrmann2, Marcus E. Kleber3, Hubert Scharnagl4, Winfried März3,4,5, Markus Herrmann1,4
  • 1Department of Clinical Pathology, Hospital of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy
  • 2Department of Clinical Chemistry, University of Saarland, Homburg, Germany
  • 3Medical Clinic V - Nephrology, Hypertensiology, Rheumatology, Endocrinology, Diabetology, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
  • 4Medical University of Graz, Clinical Institute of Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, Graz, Austria
  • 5Synlab Academy, Synlab Holding Deutschland GmbH, Mannheim, Germany
Received: June 5, 2019Accepted: August 22, 2019Published: September 6, 2019
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102238

Copyright © 2019 Pusceddu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Background: Vitamin B12 (B12) deficiency and excess are associated with increased risk of age-related-diseases and mortality. It has been suggested that high- and low-B12 concentrations link to increased mortality through accelerated genomic aging and inflammation. Evidence to support this is limited.

Results: B12 was associated with all-cause-mortality, RTL and hsCRP in a non-linear fashion. The association between B12 and mortality was not independent, as it lost significance after adjustment for potential confounders. In the lowest-(LB12) and highest-(HB12) quartiles of B12 mortality was higher than in the mid-range (HR:LB12:1.23;CI95%:1.06-1.43; HR:HB12:1.24;CI95%:1.06-1.44). We divided subjects with LB12 in quartiles of their RTL. Those with the longest-telomeres had a lower mortality-rate (HR:0.57;95%CI:0.39-0.83) and lower homocysteine than those with the shortest-telomeres. Amongst subjects with HB12, those with long-telomeres also had a lower mortality than those with short-telomeres (HR:0.40;95%CI:0.27-0.59). IL-6 and hsCRP concentrations were low in HB12LT but were high in HB12ST.

Methods: B12, homocysteine, telomere length (RTL), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and high-sensitive-C-reactive-protein (hsCRP) were measured in 2970 participants of the LURIC study.

Conclusions: Mortality, stratified according to B12 and RTL, seems to be driven by different mechanisms. In LB12 and HB12 subjects, mortality and accelerated telomere shortening might be driven by homocysteine and inflammation, respectively.