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Journal Article Epublish 1 citation

PubMed: 39582797 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2024.100398

Effect of an 18-Month Meditation Training on Telomeres in Older Adults: A Secondary Analysis of the Age-Well Randomized Controlled Trial.

Biol Psychiatry Glob Open Sci 5(1):100398

Authors: Perla Kaliman, María Jesús Álvarez-López, Asrar Lehodey, Daniel Fernández, Anne Chocat, Marco Schlosser, Vincent de La Sayette, Denis Vivien, Natalie L Marchant, Gael Chételat, Antoine Lutz, Géraldine Poisnel

Affiliations

  • Universitat Oberta de Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.
  • Jacinto Benavente. 08100 Mollet del Vallès, Spain.
  • Normandie Univ. UNICAEN, INSERM, U1237, PhIND Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders, NeuroPresage Team, Institut Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie, Caen, France.
  • Department of Statistics and Operations Research (DEIO), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTech (UPC), Barcelona, Spain.
  • Institute of Mathematics of UPC - BarcelonaTech (IMTech), Barcelona, Spain.
  • Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.
  • Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Department of Neurology, CHU de Caen, Caen, France.
  • Department of Clinical Research, CHU de Caen, Caen, France.
  • Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom.
  • Eduwell team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, UCBL1, Lyon, France.

Abstract

Background

Shorter telomeres are associated with increased risk of cognitive decline and age-related diseases. Developing interventions to promote healthy aging by preserving telomere integrity is of paramount importance. Here, we investigated the effect of an 18-month meditation intervention on telomere length (TL) measures in older people without cognitive impairment.

Methods

A total of 137 adults age ≥65 years were randomized to one of the 3 groups (meditation training, non-native language training, or passive control). We evaluated the 50th and 20th percentile TL and the percentage of critically short telomeres (<3 kbp) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Results

Mixed model analysis showed a time effect indicating a general decrease on the 50th percentile TL ( = 80.72, < .001), without a significant group effect or time × group interaction. No significant effect was detected in the 20th percentile TL or the percentage of critically short telomeres. Secondary analysis showed that only in the meditation training group 1) the 50th percentile TL positively correlated with class attendance time ( = 0.45, < .011), 2) the 50th and 20th percentile TL positively correlated with responsiveness to the intervention, evaluated through a composite score ( = 0.46, < .010 and  = 0.41,  = .029, respectively), and 3) lower scores on a measure of the personality trait "openness to experience" correlated with a lower percentage of critically short telomeres after the intervention ( = 0.44,  = .015).

Conclusions

In older adults, we found no evidence for a main effect of an 18-month meditation training program on TL compared with the control groups. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the impact of moderating factors when measuring the effectiveness of meditation-based trainings.

MeSH

Meditation, Cognitive Dysfunction, Telomere

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