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Relationship Between Leukocyte Telomere Length and Personality Traits in Healthy Subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

R. Sadahiro ,
A. Suzuki ,
M. Enokido ,
Y. Matsumoto ,
N. Shibuya ,
M. Kamata ,
K. Goto  and
K. Otani
R. Sadahiro
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata990-9585, Japan
A. Suzuki*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata990-9585, Japan
M. Enokido
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata990-9585, Japan
Y. Matsumoto
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata990-9585, Japan
N. Shibuya
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata990-9585, Japan
M. Kamata
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata990-9585, Japan
K. Goto
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata990-9585, Japan
K. Otani
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata990-9585, Japan
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:suzukiakihito@hotmail.com (A. Suzuki).
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Abstract

Background:

It has been shown that certain personality traits are related to mortality and disease morbidity, but the biological mechanism linking them remains unclear. Telomeres are tandem repeat DNA sequences located at the ends of chromosomes, and shorter telomere length is a predictor of mortality and late-life disease morbidity. Thus, it is possible that personality traits influence telomere length. In the present study, we examined the relationship of leukocyte telomere length with personality traits in healthy subjects.

Subjects and methods:

The subjects were 209 unrelated healthy Japanese who were recruited from medical students at 4th–5th grade. Assessment of personality traits was performed by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Leukocyte relative telomere length was determined by a quantitative real-time PCR method for a ratio of telomere/single copy gene.

Results:

In the stepwise multiple regression analysis, shorter telomere length was related to lower scores of neuroticism (P < 0.01) and conscientiousness (P < 0.05) of the NEO-PI-R, and lower scores of harm avoidance (P < 0.05) and reward dependence (P < 0.05) of the TCI.

Conclusions:

The present study suggests that leukocyte telomere length is associated with some personality traits, and this association may be implicated in the relationship between personality traits and mortality.

Keywords

Healthy subjectsPersonalityRevised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R)Telomere lengthTemperament and Character Inventory (TCI)
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , February 2015 , pp. 291 - 295
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2014

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