The telomere length of peripheral blood cells is associated with the risk of ischemic stroke in Han population of northern China

BACKGROUND: Telomere length is closely related to the onset and prognosis of ischemic stroke. This study was to investigate the relationship between telomere length and the incidence of ischemic stroke in Han population of northern China. METHODS: In the present study, 152 patients with ischemic stroke were selected as the case group, and 152 healthy persons were used as the control group. Detection of telomere length was done by real-time polymerase chain reaction after extraction of genomic DNA from peripheral venous blood. RESULTS: Our results showed that the telomere length of the patients in the case group was significantly lower than that of the control group (Z = −11.843, P < .0001). Further analysis found that the telomere length of the control group was inversely correlated with age (r = −0.234, P = .004), and the telomere length and homocysteine (HCY) were inversely correlated in the case group (r = −0.176, P = .03), especially in women (r = −0.357, P = .024). Multivariate regression analysis showed that telomere length was a protective factor for ischemic stroke (odds ratio [OR] 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 0.748 [0.681–0.823], β = −0.29, P < .0001). The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that telomere length was a good diagnostic biomarker of ischemic stroke (area under the curve: 0.894, sensitivity: 84.7%, specificity: 93.4%). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that shorter telomere length has some connection with the risk of ischemic stroke in the northern Chinese Han population. Telomere length might serve as a potential candidate biomarker for ischemic stroke. This requires a large sample to be further verified.