Role of parental age in newborn telomere length prolongation

Abstract

Telomere length, a marker of biological aging, can be altered by parental telomere genetics. In this study, we aimed to find an association between parental age and newborn telomere length (TL) and deterioration patterns in parents and newborns. This was a cross-sectional study on 204 parent–newborn pairs from September 2021 to July 2022. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to measure the telomere length (T/S ratio). A correlation and linear regression were used for the association between newborn TL and parental age. There was a positive correlation (r = 0.185, p = 0.007) between the fathers' age and newborn TL. However, regression analysis highlighted an association between the mother's as well as the father's age and newborn TL (B = 0.032, 0.04; p = 0.09, 0.009). The old-age mothers (35.1–40 years old) had newborn girls with longer TL; however, old-age fathers (35.1–45 years old) had boys with longer TL (1.94 ± 0.72, 2.48 ± 1.22) (p = 0.23). Therefore, longer telomere length was seen in newborns of older parents. Moreover, parental age, especially the father's age, showed an association with newborns' telomere genetics.

Keywords

• telomere
• telomerase
• telomere length
• newborn
• aging