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Telomere Length in Elite Athletes

2016; Human Kinetics; Volume: 12; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1123/ijspp.2016-0471

1555-0273

Carlos Muniesa, Zoraida Verde, Germán Díaz-Ureña, Catalina Santiago, Fernando Gutiérrez Hidalgo, Enrique Gallardo Díaz, Félix Gómez‐Gallego, Helios Pareja‐Galeano, Luísa Soares‐Miranda, Alejandro Lucía,

Dermatoglyphics and Human Traits

Growing evidence suggests that regular moderate-intensity physical activity is associated with an attenuation of leukocyte telomere length (LTL) shortening. However, more controversy exists regarding higher exercise loads such as those imposed by elite-sport participation. Methods: The authors investigated LTL differences between young elite athletes (n = 61, 54% men, age [mean ± SD] 27.2 ± 4.9 y) and healthy nonsmoker, physically inactive controls (n = 64, 52% men, 28.9 ± 6.3 y) using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: Elite athletes had, on average, higher LTL than control subjects, 0.89 ± 0.26 vs 0.78 ± 0.31, P = .013 for the group effect, with no significant sex ( P = .995) or age effect ( P = .114). Conclusions: The results suggest that young elite athletes have longer telomeres than their inactive peers. Further research might assess the LTL of elite athletes of varying ages compared with both age-matched active and inactive individuals.