Figure 2. Telomere shortening and of increase in short telomeres with age in men and women. (A, B) Percentage of short telomeres (<3 kb) in PMBC samples. Mean telomere length (A) and percent of short telomeres (<3kb) (B) in PMBCs from male (blue) and female (red) patients. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the rate of telomere shortening expressed as number of bp loss and the increase of the percentage of short telomeres per year.