Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Letter
  • Published:

Telomere length may be associated with hypertension

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 22, pages 230–232 (2008)Cite this article

The cause of hypertension is unknown in nearly 95% of cases.1 Additionally, most forms of essential hypertension become more severe as patient's age and age-related changes in the cardiovascular system may contribute to this phenomenon.1 Telomere shortening has been found in vascular endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and cardiomyocytes during aging.2 Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare the telomere length of hypertensive patients and control subjects from the community.

The institutional review board of a teaching hospital approved the protocol for this study and informed consents were obtained from all participants. We consecutively collected 73 hypertensive patients from the outpatient department at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan, from November 2002 to August 2003. Patients were placed in the hypertension group if they were on any antihypertensive medication and had a systolic measured blood pressure greater than or equals to 140 mm Hg, and/or a measured diastolic blood pressure more than or equals to 90 mm Hg in the clinic records as defined by the criteria of the World Health Organization.3

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Cowley AW . The genetic dissection of essential hypertension. Nat Rev Genet 2006; 7: 829–840.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Edo MD, Andres V . Aging, telomeres, and atherosclerosis. Cardiovasc Res 2005; 66: 213–221.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Whitworth JA . World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension statement on management of hypertension. J Hypertens 2003; 21: 1983–1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cawthon RM . Telomere measurement by quantitative PCR. Nucleic Acids Res 2002; 30: e47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gil ME, Coetzer TL . Real-time quantitative PCR of telomere length. Mol Biotechnol 2004; 27: 169–172.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Demissie S, Levy D, Benjamin EJ, Cupples LA, Gardner JP, Herbert A et al. Insulin resistance, oxidative stress, hypertension, and leukocyte telomere length in men from the Framingham Heart Study. Aging Cell 2006; 5: 325–330.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Tristano A, Eugenia Chollet M, Willson ML, Adjounian H, Fernanda Correa M, Borges A . Telomerase activity in peripheral blood leukocytes from patients with essential hypertension. Med Clin (Barcelona) 2003; 120: 365–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hao LY, Armanios M, Strong MA, Karim B, Feldser DM, Huso D et al. Short telomeres, even in the presence of telomerase, limit tissue renewal capacity. Cell 2005; 123: 1121–1131.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Haijar I, Krotchen TA . Trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the United States, 1988–2000. JAMA 2003; 290: 199–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Fan PL, Shu CH, Shiang JC, Kuo TS, Lung FW . Hypertension- a possible vulnerability marker for depression in patients with end-stage renal disease. Nephron Clin Pract 2006; 102: c43–c50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lung FW, Chen NC, Shu BC . Genetic pathway of major depressive disorder in shortening telomeric length. Psychiatr Genet 2007; 17: 195–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Demissie S, Levy D, Benjamin EJ, Cupples LA, Gardner JP, Herbert A et al. Insulin resistance, oxidative stress, hypertension, and leukocyte telomere length in men from the Framingham Heart Study. Aging Cell 2006; 5: 325–330.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    F-W Lung & W-T Kao

  2. Graduate Institute of Behavior Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    F-W Lung

  3. Department of Psychiatry, National Defense Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    F-W Lung

  4. Calo Psychiatric Center, Pingtung County, Taiwan

    F-W Lung

  5. Cardiology Division, Yong Kung Veterans Hospital, Tainan County, Taiwan

    C-S Ku

  6. Graduate School of Human Sexuality, Shu-Te University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    W-T Kao

Authors
  1. F-W Lung
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C-S Ku
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. W-T Kao
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to F-W Lung.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lung, FW., Ku, CS. & Kao, WT. Telomere length may be associated with hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 22, 230–232 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1002314

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1002314

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links