Substantial variation in qPCR measured mean blood telomere lengths in young men from eleven European countries

Abstract

These findings suggest considerable population variation in BTL in Europe that is not obviously a result of broad measures of population structure or infection/economic exposure measured in early life or in adulthood.Studying telomere dynamics in a wider variety of populations, and with greater attention to life-cycle dynamics, will be important to help elucidate the causes and possible consequences of human population variation in telomere length.