Association between alcohol consumption and telomere length

Abstract

Both telomere length and alcohol consumption have an important impact on biological age and carcinogenesis. Researchers have conducted many efforts to study the relationship between alcohol consumption and telomere length yet reached no consensus. In this paper, a meta-analysis is performed and relevant investigation results from previous literature are integrated. Twenty-one works of literature published between 2000 and 2016, which comprise 27 analyses with a total samples' size of 35,891, meet our screening conditions. Whether the relationship between alcohol consumption and telomere length is significant, this issue varies with study type (cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional) and study population (Europe, Asia, American, or Australia). It is deduced by combined evidence that alcohol consumption is associated with telomere length (with Fisher's combined p-value = 3.52E-8 and Liptak's weighted p-value = 8.24E-3). In the future, the consistent standardised quantifications of alcohol consumption and telomere length will avail further aggregation of the evidence from various studies.