Telomere Length and Aging
Researchers have been retiring the telomere theory of aging for a while now, but telomeres do play an important role in many processes and medical conditions. "decreasing telomere length in a number of different tissues in humans with age, have led to the suggestion that telomeres play a role in cellular aging in vivo and ultimately even in organismal aging. ... Telomere length was measured [in] blood cells from 812 persons, age 73 to 101 years ... analyses revealed that longer telomeres were associated with better survival ... This longitudinal study of the elderly and oldest old does not support the hypothesis that telomere length is a predictor for remaining lifespan once age is controlled for." This sounds like shorter telomeres are not good, but the sum of all other progressive age-related cellular damage is worse.