Telomere length is associated with childhood trauma in patients with severe mental disorders

TY - JOUR

T1 - Telomere length is associated with childhood trauma in patients with severe mental disorders

AU - Aas, Monica

AU - Elvsåshagen, Torbjørn

AU - Westlye, Lars T.

AU - Kaufmann, Tobias

AU - Athanasiu, Lavinia

AU - Djurovic, Srdjan

AU - Melle, Ingrid

AU - van der Meer, Dennis

AU - Martin-Ruiz, Carmen

AU - Steen, Nils Eiel

AU - Agartz, Ingrid

AU - Andreassen, Ole A.

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by grants from the South-Eastern Norway Health Authority (#2017060) and the Narsad Young Investigator Award to Monica Aas (#22388). The study was also funded by the Research Council of Norway (#22327), the KG Jebsen Stiftelsen, 1NORMENT K.G Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, and Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. 2Department of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. 3Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. 4Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. 5NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. 6NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre & Unit, Ageing Research Laboratories, Institute of Neurosciences, Newcastle University, Campus for Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. 7Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway. 8Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Publisher Copyright: © 2019, The Author(s).

PY - 2019/12/1

Y1 - 2019/12/1

N2 - Reduced telomere length (TL) and structural brain abnormalities have been reported in patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). Childhood traumatic events are more frequent in SZ and BD than in healthy individuals (HC), and based on recent findings in healthy individuals could represent one important factor for TL and brain aberrations in patients. The study comprised 1024 individuals (SZ [n = 373]; BD [n = 249] and HC [n = 402]). TL was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and childhood trauma was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Diagnosis was obtained by the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) for the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders-IV (DSM-IV). FreeSurfer was used to obtain regional and global brain volumes from T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans. All analyses were adjusted for current age and sex. Patients had on average shorter TL (F = 7.87, p = 0.005, Cohen’s d = 0.17) and reported more childhood trauma experiences than HC (χ 2 = 148.9, p < 0.001). Patients with a history of childhood sexual, physical or emotional abuse had shorter TL relative to HC and to patients without a history of childhood abuse (F = 6.93, p = 0.006, Cohen’s d = 0.16). After adjusting for childhood abuse, no difference in TL was observed between patients and HC (p = 0.12). There was no statistically significant difference in reported childhood abuse exposure or TL between SZ and BD. Our analyses revealed no significant associations between TL and clinical characteristics or brain morphometry. We demonstrate shorter TL in SZ and BD compared with HC and showed that TL is sensitive to childhood trauma experiences. Further studies are needed to identify the biological mechanisms of this relationship.

AB - Reduced telomere length (TL) and structural brain abnormalities have been reported in patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). Childhood traumatic events are more frequent in SZ and BD than in healthy individuals (HC), and based on recent findings in healthy individuals could represent one important factor for TL and brain aberrations in patients. The study comprised 1024 individuals (SZ [n = 373]; BD [n = 249] and HC [n = 402]). TL was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and childhood trauma was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Diagnosis was obtained by the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) for the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders-IV (DSM-IV). FreeSurfer was used to obtain regional and global brain volumes from T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans. All analyses were adjusted for current age and sex. Patients had on average shorter TL (F = 7.87, p = 0.005, Cohen’s d = 0.17) and reported more childhood trauma experiences than HC (χ 2 = 148.9, p < 0.001). Patients with a history of childhood sexual, physical or emotional abuse had shorter TL relative to HC and to patients without a history of childhood abuse (F = 6.93, p = 0.006, Cohen’s d = 0.16). After adjusting for childhood abuse, no difference in TL was observed between patients and HC (p = 0.12). There was no statistically significant difference in reported childhood abuse exposure or TL between SZ and BD. Our analyses revealed no significant associations between TL and clinical characteristics or brain morphometry. We demonstrate shorter TL in SZ and BD compared with HC and showed that TL is sensitive to childhood trauma experiences. Further studies are needed to identify the biological mechanisms of this relationship.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063315681&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41398-019-0432-7

DO - 10.1038/s41398-019-0432-7

M3 - Article

C2 - 30898995

AN - SCOPUS:85063315681

SN - 2158-3188

VL - 9

JO - Translational psychiatry

JF - Translational psychiatry

IS - 1

M1 - 97

ER -