The association between telomere length and ischemic stroke risk and phenotype

The chronological age of a person is a key determinant of etiology and prognosis in the setting of ischemic stroke. Telomere length, an indicator of biological aging, progressively shortens with every cell cycle. Herein, we determined telomere length from peripheral blood leukocytes by Southern blot analyses in a prospective cohort of ischemic stroke patients (n=163) and equal number of non-stroke controls and evaluated its association with various ischemic stroke features including etiology, severity, and outcome. A shorter telomere length (i.e. lowest quartile; <= 5.5 kb) was significantly associated with ischemic stroke (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.70-5.13). This significant relationship persisted for all stroke etiologies, except for other rare causes of stroke. No significant association was present between admission lesion volume and telomere length; however, patients with shorter telomeres had higher admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores when adjusted for chronological age, risk factors, etiology, and infarct volume (p=0.046). On the other hand, chronological age, but not telomere length, was associated with unfavorable outcome (modified Rankin scale >2) and mortality at 90 days follow-up. The association between shorter telomere length and more severe clinical phenotype at the time of admission, might reflect reduced resilience of cerebral tissue to ischemia as part of biological aging.