The Short Telomere Double Whammy of COVID-19
Study Finds Shortened Telomeres in Patients With Severe COVID-19 – a recent article discussing a study in the medical journal Aging.
Scientists found that people with COVID-19 have shortened telomeres – think of these as the “edges” of your genes that can unravel. Long telomeres mean your body has the capacity to recover and generate. Short telomeres = difficulty with recovery.
The study author says “we know that the virus infects alveolar type II pneumocytes and that these cells are involved in lung regeneration; we also know that if they have telomeric damage they cannot regenerate, which induces fibrosis. This is what is seen in patients with lung lesions after COVID-19: we think they develop pulmonary fibrosis because they have shorter telomeres, which limits the regenerative capacity of their lungs.”
Short telomeres are often a sign of aging. Which makes sense – it takes older adults longer to heal, compared to their younger counterparts.
They are also found in people who have chronic stress… like racism and poverty.
So, people with low socioeconomic status and experiencing racial discrimination get hit by a double whammy of ALREADY short telomeres, plus the additional insult of COVID-19-induced short telomeres. And often those who have low socioeconomic status are part of the frontline and essential worker group too… who are exposed to COVID-19. It would be a triple whammy if that person is older, and quadruple whammy if that person is male.
Sigh. What a vicious cycle.
Journal Article: Sanchez-Vazquez R et al. Shorter telomere lengths in patients with severe COVID-19 disease. Aging. 2021;12. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202463.
