For all of the statistical analyses described above, it is possible that, although there was only a marginal effect on the risk of developing cardiovascular disease when the TERT polymorphisms were considered individually, the polymorphisms may play a role in combination with other loci associated with variation in telomere length as demonstrated by Codd et al. in a genetic risk score analysis for coronary artery disease [21]. The gene discussed is TERT; the disease is coronary artery disorder.