Telomere Disclosure and Impact on Psychological Distress and Health Behaviors

Plain-language summary

There is now a critical mass of data linking health to telomere length, and blood telomere length is starting to become a commercially available measure, with several companies either offering or planning to offer this measure. With the growing intrigue and interest in telomeres and its commercial measurement, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the psychological and behavioral impact of receiving information about one's own telomere length. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to provide results of blood telomere length (from immune cells) to individuals, and to examine the subsequent psychological and lifestyle factors associated with learning one's personal results. Specifically, the investigators will assess if providing both telomere length and educational material on how cell aging is related to health and how it is modifiable, might lead to improvements in salutary health behaviors, and consequently, changes in telomere length. A secondary goal of the study is methodological in nature. Human studies have mainly been limited to immune cells from blood, which requires a blood draw. The relation between blood telomere length and telomere length from other cells that are more easily accessible has not been assessed. Therefore, this study will assess relations between blood telomere length from venous blood draw with telomere lengths from buccal cells, hair follicle cells, and blood cells from a finger prick. This study will assess whether a new measure of telomere damage (TIFS) is related to other measures of cell aging. This study will also assess the reliability of the venous blood draw telomere length across three different assays (PCR, southern blot, and fluorescent in situ hybridization or FISH). To meet these aims, this study will collect samples of these cells from 240 healthy volunteers from the community.

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