ObjectiveThe study aimed to explore the relationship of the telomere length with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) among patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD).MethodThis 2-year cross-sectional study included 130 male patients diagnosed with IHD through echocardiography and coronary angiography, wherein consecutive IHD patients with type 2 DM (65) and without type 2 DM (65) were selected. Baseline characteristics including age, gender, body mass index, and blood pressure were recorded. Laboratory investigations such as random blood sugar (RBS), fasting lipid profile, serum creatinine, and serum urea levels were measured. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used for the measurement of the telomere length. The logistic regression analysis was used to predict the relationship of the telomere length with age and type 2 DM among patients with IHD.ResultsAll the patients in the study were men, and most of them (diabetics = 22; nondiabetics = 20) were aged between 56 and 65 years. Age (p = 0.003), telomere length (p < 0.001), RBS (p < 0.001), serum creatinine (p < 0013), and serum urea (p < 0.04) were significantly higher in the diabetic subset than in the nondiabetic subset. No significant relationship was observed between age and the telomere length (p = 0.813); however, the mean telomere length was significantly high among the patients with type 2 DM than those without type 2 DM (p = 0.005). The logistic regression analysis showed that the telomere shortening (p = 0.00019) and RBS (p < 0.0001) were the significant risk factors for type 2 DM in patients with IHD.ConclusionThe telomere shortening was significantly correlated with type 2 DM among the patients with IHD. However, multicentric studies with larger samples are required to validate the current observation.

Telomere length is regarded as a potential biomarker of biological ageing and is associated with various age-related diseases, such as ischemic heart disease (IHD), myocardial infarction, peripheral vascular disease, and cancer. As there is a paucity of study that deals with this influence, this study aimed to assess how the cardiovascular risk factors influence the risk of IHD by performing mediation analysis. A total of 407 males were included in the study. IHD was diagnosed through echocardiography and coronary angiography by determining the number of coronary vessels involved. Demographic data, clinical history, and laboratory investigations such as random blood sugar (RBS), fasting lipid profile, serum creatinine, and serum urea levels of all the subjects were measured and recorded. Serum uric acid and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels were significantly higher in IHD subjects compared to non-IHD subjects (P < 0.05). Body mass index (BMI), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), RBS, serum uric acid, serum creatinine, BUN, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and telomere length significantly differed between subjects with and without IHD (P < 0.05). Further, telomere length (P < 0.001), BMI (P < 0.001), and total cholesterol level (P < 0.001) were risk factors that significantly affected the incidence of IHD, as proved by logistic regression. It indicates that shorter telomeres contribute to increased risk of IHD, influenced by BMI, HbA1c, BUN, total cholesterol levels, and RBS (P < 0.001). The study established a link between telomere shortening, conventional risk factors, and IHD; moreover, the study takes care in the role of mediation analysis which is a novel idea as little is done in this area of biostatistics with telomere length. Overall, this further establishes that telomeres length might serve as the promising biomarkers in predicting the risk of IHD.