Telomere Length in Young Patients: Relationship With Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have reported inconsistent findings on the relationship between telomere length and metabolic syndrome (MS). The aim of the work was to study leukocyte telomere length in young patients without cardiovascular diseases and its relationship with MS and its components.

Methods: This study included 450 Caucasian patients with a median age of 30 (21 - 42) years. Glycemic parameters and lipid profile components were determined using the CardioChek PA (USA, 2017). Integral metabolic indices were calculated in all patients. To investigate leukocyte telomere length, 45 were randomly selected from the total cohort of 450 participants.

Results: The selected patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of MS. The median telomere length in MS patients (7.36 (6.96 - 8.67) pn) was significantly lower than in the comparison group (8.72 (8.37 - 8.96) pn) (P = 0.016). Correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationship between telomere length and various traditional cardiovascular risk factors (sex, age, smoking, and blood pressure levels), MS components, and integral metabolic indices. Several linear regression analysis models were constructed to assess the independent associations between various factors and telomere length. Age, smoking, neck circumference, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein levels, LAP index, and the presence of dyslipidemia were significantly associated with telomere length.

Conclusion: Our results are consistent with the notion of shorter leukocyte telomere length in individuals with MS and support an association with dyslipidemia in premature shortening of telomere length. The causal relationship between these changes requires further study.