April 26, 2026
View Full PaperTelomere Length of Circulating Leukocytes Is Decreased in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure
Key Result
Patients with chronic heart failure had a significantly shorter median leukocyte telomere length ratio (0.64) compared with healthy controls (1.05; p < 0.001).
Key Points
- The central aim is to determine whether patients with chronic heart failure have shorter telomeres than healthy individuals.
- Determined telomere length ratio of leukocytes using quantitative polymerase chain reaction in a case-control setting.
- Involved 803 participants: 620 with chronic heart failure and 183 healthy controls, aged 40 to 80 years.
- The median telomere length ratio was 0.64 in CHF patients vs. 1.05 in controls (p < 0.001).
- Telomere length decreased with increasing severity of chronic heart failure (p for trend <0.05).
- Patients with ischemic etiology showed shorter telomeres compared to those with nonischemic etiology.
Study Design
Type
Case-Control (n=803)
Structured PICO
Do patients with chronic heart failure have shorter telomere length compared to healthy individuals?
P
Population
803 participants: 183 healthy individuals and 620 chronic heart failure (CHF) patients, ages 40 to 80 years, New York Heart Association functional class II to IV, and left ventricular ejection fraction of 0.40 or less.
C
Comparator
Age-balanced and gender-balanced healthy individuals
O
Outcome
Telomere length ratio of circulating leukocytes determined by quantitative polymerase chain reactionsurrogate
Telomere length is significantly shorter in patients with chronic heart failure compared to healthy controls and correlates with disease severity and atherosclerotic burden.
Main Result
Absolute Event Rate: 0.64% vs 1.05%
p-value: p=<0.001
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This study sought to test the hypothesis that patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) have shorter telomeres compared with age-balanced and gender-balanced healthy individuals. BACKGROUND: Telomere length is considered to be a marker of biological aging. Chronic heart failure might be viewed as a condition associated with accelerated biological aging. METHODS: The telomere length ratio of leukocytes was determined prospectively by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based method in a case-control setting involving 803 participants: 183 healthy individuals and 620 CHF patients, ages 40 to 80 years, New York Heart Association functional class II to IV, and left ventricular ejection fraction of 0.40 or less. RESULTS: The median telomere length ratio was 0.64 (interquartile range IQR 0.47 to 0.88) in CHF patients compared with 1.05 (IQR 0.86 to 1.29) in control patients (p < 0.001). The telomere length ratio in CHF patients related to severity of disease (median value IQR of patients with New York Heart Association class II, III, or IV function was 0.67 0.48 to 0.92, 0.63 0.46 to 0.86, and 0.55 0.46 to 0.75, respectively; p for trend <0.05). In addition, telomeres were shorter in patients with an ischemic compared with a nonischemic etiology of CHF. Patients with none, 1 (coronary, cerebral, or peripheral vascular disease), 2 (any combination of the previous), or 3 atherosclerotic manifestations had a median (IQR) telomere length of 0.72 (0.51 to 1.01), 0.65 (0.48 to 0.87), 0.48 (0.39 to 0.72), and 0.43 (0.27 to 0.67), respectively (p for trend <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Telomere length is shorter in patients with CHF compared with age-balanced and gender-balanced control patients, and related to the severity of disease. In addition, telomere length was incrementally shorter according to the presence and extent of atherosclerotic disease manifestations.