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Association Between Telomere Length and Risk of Cancer and Non-Neoplastic Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study

Overview of attention for article published in JAMA Oncology, May 2017
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (91st percentile)

Citations

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413 Dimensions

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mendeley
457 Mendeley
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2 CiteULike
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Title
Association Between Telomere Length and Risk of Cancer and Non-Neoplastic Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study
Published in
JAMA Oncology, May 2017
DOI 10.1001/jamaoncol.2016.5945
Pubmed ID
Authors

Philip C. Haycock, Stephen Burgess, Aayah Nounu, Jie Zheng, George N. Okoli, Jack Bowden, Kaitlin Hazel Wade, Nicholas J. Timpson, David M. Evans, Peter Willeit, Abraham Aviv, Tom R. Gaunt, Gibran Hemani, Massimo Mangino, Hayley Patricia Ellis, Kathreena M. Kurian, Karen A. Pooley, Rosalind A. Eeles, Jeffrey E. Lee, Shenying Fang, Wei V. Chen, Matthew H. Law, Lisa M. Bowdler, Mark M. Iles, Qiong Yang, Bradford B. Worrall, Hugh Stephen Markus, Rayjean J. Hung, Chris I. Amos, Amanda B. Spurdle, Deborah J. Thompson, Tracy A. O’Mara, Brian Wolpin, Laufey Amundadottir, Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, Antonia Trichopoulou, N. Charlotte Onland-Moret, Eiliv Lund, Eric J. Duell, Federico Canzian, Gianluca Severi, Kim Overvad, Marc J. Gunter, Rosario Tumino, Ulrika Svenson, Andre van Rij, Annette F. Baas, Matthew J. Bown, Nilesh J. Samani, Femke N.G. van t’Hof, Gerard Tromp, Gregory T. Jones, Helena Kuivaniemi, James R. Elmore, Mattias Johansson, James Mckay, Ghislaine Scelo, Robert Carreras-Torres, Valerie Gaborieau, Paul Brennan, Paige M. Bracci, Rachel E. Neale, Sara H. Olson, Steven Gallinger, Donghui Li, Gloria M. Petersen, Harvey A. Risch, Alison P. Klein, Jiali Han, Christian C. Abnet, Neal D. Freedman, Philip R. Taylor, John M. Maris, Katja K. Aben, Lambertus A. Kiemeney, Sita H. Vermeulen, John K. Wiencke, Kyle M. Walsh, Margaret Wrensch, Terri Rice, Clare Turnbull, Kevin Litchfield, Lavinia Paternoster, Marie Standl, Gonçalo R. Abecasis, John Paul SanGiovanni, Yong Li, Vladan Mijatovic, Yadav Sapkota, Siew-Kee Low, Krina T. Zondervan, Grant W. Montgomery, Dale R. Nyholt, David A. van Heel, Karen Hunt, Dan E. Arking, Foram N. Ashar, Nona Sotoodehnia, Daniel Woo, Jonathan Rosand, Mary E. Comeau, W. Mark Brown, Edwin K. Silverman, John E. Hokanson, Michael H. Cho, Jennie Hui, Manuel A. Ferreira, Philip J. Thompson, Alanna C. Morrison, Janine F. Felix, Nicholas L. Smith, Angela M Christiano, Lynn Petukhova, Regina C. Betz, Xing Fan, Xuejun Zhang, Caihong Zhu, Carl D. Langefeld, Susan D. Thompson, Feijie Wang, Xu Lin, David A. Schwartz, Tasha Fingerlin, Jerome I. Rotter, Mary Frances Cotch, Richard A. Jensen, Matthias Munz, Henrik Dommisch, Arne S. Schaefer, Fang Han, Hanna M. Ollila, Ryan P. Hillary, Omar Albagha, Stuart H. Ralston, Chenjie Zeng, Wei Zheng, Xiao-Ou Shu, Andre Reis, Steffen Uebe, Ulrike Hüffmeier, Yoshiya Kawamura, Takeshi Otowa, Tsukasa Sasaki, Martin Lloyd Hibberd, Sonia Davila, Gang Xie, Katherine Siminovitch, Jin-Xin Bei, Yi-Xin Zeng, Asta Försti, Bowang Chen, Stefano Landi, Andre Franke, Annegret Fischer, David Ellinghaus, Carlos Flores, Imre Noth, Shwu-Fan Ma, Jia Nee Foo, Jianjun Liu, Jong-Won Kim, David G. Cox, Olivier Delattre, Olivier Mirabeau, Christine F. Skibola, Clara S. Tang, Merce Garcia-Barcelo, Kai-Ping Chang, Wen-Hui Su, Yu-Sun Chang, Nicholas G. Martin, Scott Gordon, Tracey D. Wade, Chaeyoung Lee, Michiaki Kubo, Pei-Chieng Cha, Yusuke Nakamura, Daniel Levy, Masayuki Kimura, Shih-Jen Hwang, Steven Hunt, Tim Spector, Nicole Soranzo, Ani W. Manichaikul, R. Graham Barr, Bratati Kahali, Elizabeth Speliotes, Laura M. Yerges-Armstrong, Ching-Yu Cheng, Jost B. Jonas, Tien Yin Wong, Isabella Fogh, Kuang Lin, John F. Powell, Kenneth Rice, Caroline L. Relton, Richard M. Martin, George Davey Smith

Abstract

The causal direction and magnitude of the association between telomere length and incidence of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases is uncertain owing to the susceptibility of observational studies to confounding and reverse causation. To conduct a Mendelian randomization study, using germline genetic variants as instrumental variables, to appraise the causal relevance of telomere length for risk of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases. Genomewide association studies (GWAS) published up to January 15, 2015. GWAS of noncommunicable diseases that assayed germline genetic variation and did not select cohort or control participants on the basis of preexisting diseases. Of 163 GWAS of noncommunicable diseases identified, summary data from 103 were available. Summary association statistics for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are strongly associated with telomere length in the general population. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for disease per standard deviation (SD) higher telomere length due to germline genetic variation. Summary data were available for 35 cancers and 48 non-neoplastic diseases, corresponding to 420 081 cases (median cases, 2526 per disease) and 1 093 105 controls (median, 6789 per disease). Increased telomere length due to germline genetic variation was generally associated with increased risk for site-specific cancers. The strongest associations (ORs [95% CIs] per 1-SD change in genetically increased telomere length) were observed for glioma, 5.27 (3.15-8.81); serous low-malignant-potential ovarian cancer, 4.35 (2.39-7.94); lung adenocarcinoma, 3.19 (2.40-4.22); neuroblastoma, 2.98 (1.92-4.62); bladder cancer, 2.19 (1.32-3.66); melanoma, 1.87 (1.55-2.26); testicular cancer, 1.76 (1.02-3.04); kidney cancer, 1.55 (1.08-2.23); and endometrial cancer, 1.31 (1.07-1.61). Associations were stronger for rarer cancers and at tissue sites with lower rates of stem cell division. There was generally little evidence of association between genetically increased telomere length and risk of psychiatric, autoimmune, inflammatory, diabetic, and other non-neoplastic diseases, except for coronary heart disease (OR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.67-0.90]), abdominal aortic aneurysm (OR, 0.63 [95% CI, 0.49-0.81]), celiac disease (OR, 0.42 [95% CI, 0.28-0.61]) and interstitial lung disease (OR, 0.09 [95% CI, 0.05-0.15]). It is likely that longer telomeres increase risk for several cancers but reduce risk for some non-neoplastic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 267 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 457 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Unknown 456 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 62 14%
Researcher 59 13%
Student > Master 48 11%
Student > Bachelor 43 9%
Student > Doctoral Student 29 6%
Other 79 17%
Unknown 137 30%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 110 24%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 70 15%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 23 5%
Nursing and Health Professions 21 5%
Psychology 14 3%
Other 50 11%
Unknown 169 37%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 434. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 January 2023.
All research outputs
#65,394
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from JAMA Oncology
#124
of 3,308 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,478
of 324,557 outputs
Outputs of similar age from JAMA Oncology
#7
of 80 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,308 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 84.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 324,557 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 80 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 91% of its contemporaries.