Campos Sánchez, IreneNavarrete-Muñoz, Eva-MaríaHurtado Pomares, MiriamJúlvez Calvo, JordiLertxundi, NereaMartens, Dries S.Fernández Somoano, AnaRiaño-Galán, IsolinaGuxens Junyent, MònicaIbarluzea, JesúsNawrot, Tim S.Valera-Gran, Desirée2024-06-202024-06-202024Campos-Sánchez I, Navarrete-Muñoz EM, Hurtado-Pomares M, Júlvez J, Lertxundi N, Martens DS, et al. Association between telomere length and neuropsychological function at 4-5 years in children from the INMA project: a cross-sectional study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2024 Jan 22. DOI: 10.1007/s00787-023-02361-y1018-8827http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60528Data de publicació eelctrònica: 22-01-2024Shortened telomere length (TL) has been associated with lower cognitive performance, different neurological diseases in adults, and certain neurodevelopmental disorders in children. However, the evidence about the association between TL and neuropsychological developmental outcomes in children from the general population is scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the association between TL and neuropsychological function in children 4-5 years of age. We included 686 children from the INMA Project, a population-based birth cohort in Spain. Leucocyte TL was determined by quantitative PCR method, and neuropsychological outcomes were measured using the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MCSA). Multiple linear regression models were used to estimate associations adjusted for potential confounding variables. Main findings showed that a longer TL was associated with a higher mean working memory score (β = 4.55; 95% CI = 0.39, 8.71). In addition, longer TL was associated with a higher mean global quantitative score (β = 3.85; 95% CI = -0.19, 7.89), although the association was marginally significant. To our knowledge, this is the first study that shows a positive association between TL and better neuropsychological outcomes in children. Although further research is required to confirm these results, this study supports the hypothesis that TL is essential in protecting and maintaining a child's health, including cognitive functions such as working memory.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02361-yChildrenNeuropsychological functionTelomere lengthWorking memoryinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess