Department of Research & Evaluation News

Gay men had shorter age-adjusted telomere length, which is a biomarker of aging, than straight men, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

“While everyone ages at the same rate chronologically, studies have shown that we do not age at the same rate biologically,” said the lead author on the research, Adovich “Ado” Rivera, PhD, formerly of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation. “In this study, we find that gay men had significantly shorter telomeres than straight men. If confirmed, this could mean that gay men are aging faster than straight men due to stress from discrimination. Discrimination can also affect access to health and social resources.”

This is one of the largest studies and the first in the United States that shows disparities in telomere lengths by sexual orientation. Interestingly, the disparities seen between gay and straight men were not replicated among gay and straight women. Dr. Rivera said he and the other researchers think this may be due to factors such as resilience or community among women that may offset the harm caused by stress. There were no differences seen among people who were heterosexual and bisexual.

Biological aging and chronological aging

Over the years, researchers have looked at the idea of disparities in biological aging by people of different races and ethnicities, and socioeconomic status. They’ve found those in marginalized categories often appear to be aging more quickly biologically, although not always, Dr. Rivera said.

“Since we know that sexual minority populations are also marginalized,” he said, “I was curious to see if we can also see biologic aging disparities by sexual orientation, and one way to measure biologic aging is using telomere lengths.”

While experiencing stress and discrimination is known to be bad for your health, most previous research on sexual minority groups has focused on mental health outcomes.

“I wanted to see if we could also uncover empirical evidence that these harms affect the physical body and, in this case, biologic aging,” Dr. Rivera said. “This evidence could potentially help in larger societal conversations about the need to have policies and programs that will eliminate LGBTQ+ stigma and discrimination as well as give clues to the effect on gay men’s risk for aging-related disease.”

Telomeres are made from DNA

Telomeres are structures made from DNA sequences and proteins found at the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres get shorter with chronologic age in a predictable manner so researchers can see if the telomere length of a person (or group) is shorter or longer than expected. The Kaiser Permanente Southern California researchers analyzed de-identified patient information and  biological samples through the Genetic Epidemiology Research on Aging (GERA) study, which is part of Kaiser Permanente Research Bank.

The study cohort of 102,258 people living in Northern California had both their sexual orientation and telomere length recorded between 2008 and 2011.

“The study supports the hypothesis that minority populations experience accelerated aging putting them at risk of worse health outcomes,” Dr. Rivera said. “If further confirmed, it may suggest the need for adjusting practice recommendations in terms of screening for aging-related conditions, especially of sexual minority men.”

Next steps in this research

Dr. Rivera said this research has broken new ground, but follow-up research will be important. The next steps will be to confirm the findings and determine the implications for the risk of disease for gay men. Confirming could mean studying telomeres or other biologic aging markers in other contexts such as in different locations, cultures, or generations. It would be beneficial if future research included HIV and menopausal status data among the cohort, which this study did not incorporate.

“Preferably, future work should use a longitudinal design where biologic aging markers are repeatedly measured over time,” Dr. Rivera said. “This allows measurement of the rate of telomere length shortening. We will also want to assess if shorter telomeres translate to worse health or increased risk of aging-related disease.”

Research co-authors are Chun Chao, PhD, MS, and Rulin Hechter, MD, PhD, MS, also with the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation.