Meta-analysis of telomere length in 19,713 subjects reveals high heritability, stronger maternal inheritance and a paternal age effect.

Telomere length (TL) has been associated with aging and mortality, but individual differences are also influenced by genetic factors, with previous studies reporting heritability estimates ranging from 34 to 82%. Here we investigate the heritability, mode of inheritance and the influence of parental age at birth on TL in six large, independent cohort studies with a total of 19713 participants. The meta-analysis estimate of TL heritability was 0.70 (95% CI 0.64‐0.76) and is based on a pattern of results that is highly similar for twins and other family members. We observed a stronger mother‐offspring (r ¼0.42; P-value ¼3.60 � 10 � 61 ) than father‐offspring correlation (r ¼0.33; P-value ¼7.01 � 10 � 5 ), and a significant positive association with paternal age at offspring birth (b ¼0.005; P-value ¼7.01 � 10 � 5 ). Interestingly, a significant and quite substantial correlation in TL between spouses (r ¼0.25; P-value ¼2.82 � 10 � 30 ) was seen, which appeared stronger in older spouse pairs (mean age Z55 years; r ¼0.31; P-value ¼4.27 � 10 � 23 ) than in younger pairs (mean ageo55 years; r ¼0.20; P-value ¼3.24 � 10 � 10 ). In summary, we find a high and very consistent heritability estimate for TL, evidence for a maternal