INTRODUCTION: With advancing age the left ventricle (LV) undergoes structural and functional changes, thereby creating the substrate for the development of diseases. One possible mechanism of the ageing heart is a cellular senescence. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a marker of replicative ageing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the structure and function of the LV in @entity1 of different ages free of @entity65 ( @entity65 ) and regular drug medication and to assess their relationship with LTL. We hypothesized that age-related changes in LV myocardium are associated with telomere length. METHODS: The study population consisted of 150 healthy, non-obese volunteers aged 28 to 78 years without history of @entity65 , significant deviations by 12-lead electrocardiogram and negative exercise test (treadmill stress test). All the @entity1 underwent standardized transthoracic echocardiography using an available system (iE33; Philips). The LTL was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We determined the relative ratio of telomere repeat copy number (T) to single-copy gene copy number (S). RESULTS: In the older @entity1 there was a higher wall thickness than in the younger (1.03  0.09 vs. 0.88  0.10, p<0.01), whereas LV mass index was comparable between them (85.8  15.40 vs. 83.1  11.8, p = 0.20). There was a decrease in LV dimensions with advancing age (p<0.001). Older subjects had impairment in LV relaxation. LTL was associated with decreased E/A, Em/Am ratio (b = -0.323, p = 0.0001) after adjusting for age, sex and risk factors. There is no relation between the LTL and the structure of LV. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the ageing process leads to changes in LV structure and diastolic function and is linked with a phenotype of concentric LV remodeling. Telomere @entity6661 is associated with age-related LV @entity67 . Telomere length appears to be a biomarker of myocardial ageing.

Age-Related Left Ventricular Changes and Their Association with Leukocyte Telomere Length in Healthy XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participants', 'people'] @entity67 :: ('MESH:D018754', 'Disease') :: ['diastolic dysfunction'] @entity6661 :: ('MESH:D019217', 'Disease') :: ['attrition'] @entity65 :: ('MESH:D002318', 'Disease') :: ['CVD', 'cardiovascular diseases']
@entity1 :: (9606,Species) :: ['People']
