Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access published online on March 11, 2009
Schizophrenia Bulletin, doi:10.1093/schbul/sbn169
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Telomere Length and Pulse Pressure in Newly Diagnosed, Antipsychotic-Naive Patients With Nonaffective Psychosis
2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, CB2 0QQ Cambridge, UK
3 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Huntingdon PE29 3RJ, UK
4 Programa Esquizofrènia Clínic, Servei de Psiquiatria, Institut de Neurociències, Hospital Clínic, Department de Psiquiatria, Universitat de Barcelona, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
5 Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques Agusti Pi i Sunyer, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
6 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
7 Servei d'Endocrinologia i Diabetis, Institut Clínic de Malalties Digestives i Metabòliques, Hospital Clinic, Departament de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
8 Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912
9 Department of Biostatistics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912
10 Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94117
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia, 997 St Sebastian Way, Augusta, GA 30912; tel: 706-721-9852, fax: 706-721-1793, e-mail: bkirkpatrick2{at}aol.com.
Introduction: Recent studies suggest that in addition to factors such as treatment side effects, suicide, and poor health habits, people with schizophrenia may have an increased risk of diabetes prior to antipsychotic treatment. Diabetes is associated with an increased pulse pressure (PP) and a shortened telomere. We tested the hypothesis that prior to antipsychotic treatment, schizophrenia and related disorders are associated with a shortened telomere, as well as an increased PP. Methods: Telomere content (which is highly correlated with telomere length) and PP were measured in newly diagnosed, antipsychotic-naive patients with schizophrenia and related disorders on first clinical contact and in matched control subjects. Both groups were also administered an oral glucose tolerance test. Results: Compared with control subjects, the patients with psychosis had decreased telomere content and an increased PP. As previously reported, they also had increased glucose concentrations at 2 hours. These differences could not be attributed to differences in age, ethnicity, smoking, gender, body mass index, neighborhood of residence, socioeconomic status, aerobic conditioning, or an increased cortisol concentration in the psychotic subjects. Discussion: These results suggest that prior to antipsychotic use, nonaffective psychosis is associated with reduced telomere content and increased PP, indices that have been linked to an increased risk of diabetes and hypertension.
Keywords: schizophrenia / telomere / diabetes / psychosis / pulse pressure