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The association between visceral adiposity index and leukocyte telomere length in adults: results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

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Abstract

Background

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a robust marker of biological aging, which is associated with obesity. Recently, the visceral adiposity index (VAI) has been proposed as an indicator of adipose distribution and function.

Objective

To evaluated the association between VAI and LTL in adult Americans.

Methods

There were 3193 participants in U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (1999–2002) included in this analysis. LTL was measured using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and expressed as telomere to single-gene copy ratio (T/S ratio). We performed multiple logistic regression models to explore the association between VAI and LTL by adjusting for potential confounders.

Results

Among all participants, VAI was associated with the shorter LTL (β:  – 14.81, 95% CI  – 22.28 to  – 7.34, p < 0.001). There were significant differences of LTL in VAI tertiles (p < 0.001). Participants in the higher VAI tertile had the shorter LTL (1.26 ≤ VAI < 2.46: β =  – 130.16, 95% CI [ – 183.44,  – 76.87]; VAI ≥ 2.46: β =  – 216.12, 95% CI [ – 216.12,  – 81.42], p for trend: < 0.001) comparing with the lower VAI tertile. We also found a non-linear relationship between VAI and LTL. VAI was negatively correlated with LTL when VAI was less than 2.84.

Conclusions

The present study demonstrates that VAI is independently associated with telomere length. A higher VAI is associated with shorter LTL. The results suggest that VAI may provide prediction for LTL and account for accelerating the biological aging.

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Data availability

The data that support the results of this research are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81870310 and 81200194).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Heart Center and Beijing Key Laboratory of Hypertension, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, 8 Gongren Tiyuchang Nanlu, Beijing, Chaoyang District, 100020, China

    Yifan Fan, Jiuchang Zhong, Hongjie Chi, Xiaotao Zhao & Mulei Chen

  2. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart Center and Beijing Key Laboratory of Hypertension, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, 8 Gongren Tiyuchang Nanlu, Beijing, Chaoyang District, 100020, China

    Yulin Guo, Pixiong Su & Jie Gao

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  1. Yifan Fan
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  2. Yulin Guo
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  3. Jiuchang Zhong
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  4. Hongjie Chi
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Contributions

The authors’ contributions were as follows—conception and design of the research: YF, JG, MC. Analysis and interpretation of data: YF, JG, YG. Assistant in data analysis: XZ and HC. Draft the manuscript: YF. Assistant in the manuscript preparation: JZ, PS. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jie Gao or Mulei Chen.

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Ethical approval

NHANES program was approved by the NCHS Ethics Review Board.

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All the participants provided written informed consent.

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Fan, Y., Guo, Y., Zhong, J. et al. The association between visceral adiposity index and leukocyte telomere length in adults: results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Aging Clin Exp Res 34, 2177–2183 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-022-02168-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-022-02168-y

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