Is bipolar disorder associated with accelerating aging? A meta-analysis of telomere length studies

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with a reduced life expectancy compared to the general population mainly due to a high prevalence of comorbid somatic illnesses. A model of accelerated aging has been proposed as a potential explanation to these epidemiological findings. Nevertheless, studies measuring telomere length (TL) in patients with BD compared to healthy controls have provided mixed results. OBJECTIVE: To compare TL between BD patients and healthy controls, and to search for potential modeP