Objectives: Bipolar disorder (BD) may be connected with accelerated aging, the marker of this can be shorter telomere length (TL). Some data suggest that lithium may exert a protective effect against telomere shortening. The study aimed to compare the TL between patients with BD and control subjects. The effect of long-term lithium treatment was also assessed.
Methods: The study group comprised 41 patients with BD, including 29 patients treated longitudinally with lithium (mean 16.5 years) and 20 healthy people. TL was assessed by the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
Results: In the control group, the TL was significantly longer in males than in females. Male bipolar patients had significantly shorter TL compared with the control male group. In bipolar patients, there was no correlation between TL and duration of treatment. The TL was negatively correlated with age in male bipolar patients.
Conclusions: The study did not confirm the lithium effect on TL in bipolar patients. TL showed gender differences, being shorter in BD males, compared to control males, and longer in healthy males, compared to control females.
Keywords: bipolar disorder; leucocyte telomere length; lithium; polymerase chain reaction; telomere shortening.