Table 1.
Descriptive study population statistics (n = 75).
Fig 1.
Change in number of surviving children and telomere length.
Women who had more children from 2000 to 2013 had longer telomere lengths in 2013 than women who had fewer children, after controlling for their telomere length in 2000 and age in 2013.
Table 2.
Relationship between telomere length in 2013 and women’s reproductive history variables.
Model 1: Change in number of surviving offspring from 2000 to 2013 was positively associated with telomere length in 2013, controlling for salivary telomere length in 2000 and maternal age in 2013 (n = 75; adjusted R2 = 0.041). Model 2: Total number of surviving offspring was marginally positively associated with telomere length in 2013, controlling for salivary telomere length in 2000 and maternal age in 2013 (n = 75; adjusted R2 = 0.021). Neither maternal age at first birth nor average inter-birth interval was associated with telomere length in 2013 in either model.