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Although depression has been associated with accelerated cellular aging, manifested as shorter telomeres at the ends of chromosomes, such studies have been small or have included mostly older or medically ill subjects. These researchers used data from the Netherlands to examine telomere length in 1095 patients with current depression, 802 with remitted depression, and 510 healthy controls. One author cofounded a telomere testing company.
The large sample allowed the researchers to control for potential confounders such as smoking, body-mass index, alcohol use, and physical activity. Telomeres were significantly shorter in both current and remitted depressed participants than in controls (effect size was small). In the current depression grou…