Relationship between leukocyte telomere length and personality traits in healthy subjects.


Author: Sadahiro R1, Suzuki A2, Enokido M1, Matsumoto Y1, Shibuya N1, Kamata M1, Goto K3, Otani K1.

Affiliation: 1Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata 990-9585, Japan. 2Department of Psychiatry, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata 990-9585, Japan. Electronic address: suzukiakihito@hotmail.com. 3Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata 990-9585, Japan.
Conference/Journal: Eur Psychiatry. 
Date published: 2014 Apr 24
Other:
  Pages:  S0924-9338(14)00045-5   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2014.03.003   ,  Word Count: 231  
    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.

Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

KEYWORDS:

Healthy subjects, Personality, Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), Telomere length, Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI)



PMID: 24768472