This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between telomere length and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
We performed a meta-analysis of studies comparing the telomere length in RA patients and healthy controls, and conducted subgroup analysis based on ethnicity, age-matched status, study quality, sample type, assay method, subject number, and shared epitope (SE) status.
Nine studies from seven articles, with 388 RA patients and 362 controls, were included. Meta-analysis showed that the telomere length was significantly shorter in all individuals of the RA group than in those of the control group (SMD = -0.833, 95 % CI = -1.332 to -0.334, p = 0.001). Stratification by ethnicity showed significantly shortened telomere lengths in both mixed and age-matched Caucasian populations with RA (SMD = -1.415, 95 % CI = -1.709 to -1.120, p < 1.0 × 10
Our meta-analysis demonstrated that the telomere length was significantly shorter in patients with RA, and was significantly more so in the SE-positive group than in the SE-negative group.