Telomere length across spectrum of metabolic health

Abstract Introduction Telomere length is a marker of cellular aging and is correlated with various cardiovascular risk factors. Aim To assess the association between obesity, metabolic syndrome (MetS) and telomere length. Methods The LIPIDOGEN study was carried out in the primary care 2015. Patients recruited to LIPIDOGEN cohort (n=1788) were a random subset of patients from LIPIDOGRAM 2015 (n=13,724) study. Patients for LIPIDOGRAM2015/LIPIDOGEN study were recruited in all 16 administrative regions in Poland and physicians were proportionally distributed to the number of inhabitants in each administrative region. Each patient was asked to fill the questionnaire on risk factors, chronic diseases, treatments and lifestyle and also had saliva secured for DNA analyses. Recruited patients were divided into four groups based on the presence of MetS: 1) HS – healthy slim 2) MHO – metabolically healthy obese 3) NOMS – Non-obese with MetS 4) MUO – metabolically unhealthy obese. MetS was diagnosed basing on Joint Interim Statement 2009 criteria. Relative telomere length (rTL) was measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results DNA quality was sufficient for further analyses in 1606 patients. After removing of outliers, 1342 patients (Females - 59.3%, mean age- 50.2 years) were included for further analyses (HS-488, MHO-180, NOMS-165, MUO-509). Increase in BMI, waist circumference, frequency of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia and history of myocardial infarction moving from HS to MUO was observed. (Table 1.). MUO group exhibited the highest triglycerides and lowest HDL-C levels. RTL length, an indicator of cellular aging, was inversely correlated with metabolic health, being shortest in the NOMS and MUO groups, which may indicate a link between metabolic health and accelerated biological aging. Conclusions Telomere length is shorter in patients with obesity as compared to lean patients even without the presence of MetS. Telomere length in patients with MetS, regardless of concomitant obesity, is shorter than in patients without MetS. Figure 1. Telomere length across metabolic health categories. Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the study participants.Figure. 1.Table. 1.