Telomere length and survival
Both the binomial regression model and the Cox time-dependent proportional hazard model indicated that adult RTL is positively correlated with survival. In the binomial model, corrected z-RTL was statistically significantly related to survival to the next year, with a slope of 0.39 (Table 3, Fig. 1). Age also had a statistically significant quadratic relationship with survival, with early-life and late-life survival being lower than mid-life (Table 3, Fig. 2). There was no difference in survival between the sexes (Table 3).
Similarly, the Cox model showed a statistically significant and negative relationship between corrected z-RTL and mortality. Corrected z-RTL had a negative coefficient of -0.15 on survival, meaning that for every unit increase in corrected z-RTL the hazard ratio is multiplied by a factor of 0.86, i.e. a 14% decrease in mortality (Table 4). Age showed also a quadratic, U-shaped effect on mortality (Table 4). There was no significant effect of sex (Table 4).