Leukocyte telomere length in patients with bipolar disorder: An updated meta-analysis and subgroup analysis by mood status

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 270; pp. 41 - 49
• Main Authors: Huang, Yu-Chi, Wang, Liang-Jen, Tseng, Ping-Tao, Hung, Chi-Fa, Lin, Pao-Yen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.12.2018
• Subjects: Adult; Biomarker; Bipolar Disorder - metabolism; Cell aging; Cellular Senescence - physiology; Female; Humans; Leukocytes - metabolism; Male; Manic; Middle Aged; Telomere Shortening - physiology; Young Adult; Cell aging; Biomarker; Manic
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.09.035

•Bipolar disorder (BD) has been thought to be associated with accelerated cell aging.•We conducted a meta-analysis to compare leukocyte telomere length (LTL) between BD patients and healthy controls.•LTL is significantly shorter in BD patients than in healthy controls.•Late-stage BD patients demonstrated more significant LTL shortening than early-stage BD patients. The purpose of the present meta-analysis was to compare leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a proposed marker for cell aging, between patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and healthy controls and explore potential moderators for the LTL difference. We searched for the major research databases up to May 2018 for studies that examined LTL in patients with BD and healthy controls. The effect sizes (ESs) of LTL differences from the included studies were pooled using a random-effects model. Furthermore, we adopted subgroup analysis to investigate whether mood status of BD patients or methods for measuring telomere length may influence such differences. We included 10 studies, with a total of 579 patients and 551 controls, in the current meta-analysis and observed significantly shorter LTL in BD patients compared to control subjects. Such differences were found in studies with patients in all mood statuses and in studies using different methods for measuring telomere length. Late-stage BD patients demonstrated more significant LTL shortening than early-stage BD patients. Our current results support the hypothesis of accelerated aging in BD patients. In the future, further properly controlled longitudinal studies are warranted to determine whether LTL changes with disease status or medication use in BD patients.