Association of shorter telomeres with heart disease
This seems a bit like a hen and egg problem. Telomere length is both associated with age and with heart diseases, but heart disease is also associated with age. The question here is, is one really causing the other here (short telomeres heart problems) or do they occur simultaneously? The other problem with heart disease is that it is a multi-risk disease, with many risks accumulating with age. The figure below sums this up, it is from the first paper:



Have a look on these articles:


Telomere biology in heart failure
Aging, telomeres and heart failure.
Telomeres and Cardiovascular Disease