Association of leukocyte telomere length with obesity‐related traits in Asian children with early‐onset obesity

Abstract

Summary Background Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with obesity and obesity‐related traits, and there are ethnic‐specific determinants of LTL. Objective To evaluate LTL associations with obesity and metabolic parameters in Asian children with early‐onset obesity. Methods Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes of a cohort of children with (N = 371) and without obesity (N = 23), and LTL was measured using quantitative PCR (qPCR). Blood plasma was used for metabolic phenotyping. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS and STATA. Results Children with obesity had shorter LTL (coefficient = −0.683, PAdj = 1.24 × 10−3) as compared to children who were lean. LTL was found to be associated with waist circumference (coefficient = −0.326, PAdj = 0.044) and skin‐fold measures (coefficient between 0.267 and 0.301, PAdj between 4.27 × 10−4 and 7.06 × 10−7) in children with obesity. However, no significant associations were observed between LTL and metabolic parameters, and between LTL and inflammatory cytokines. LTL also did not significantly mediate the risk of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children with obesity. Conclusions We showed for the first time that Asian children with severe obesity had shorter LTL, and the shortening of LTL was associated with other adiposity measures including waist circumference and skin‐fold measurements.

Association between Telomere Length and Pediatric Obesity: A Systematic Review

“…Among these full-text articles, 13 were excluded for the following reasons: namely reviews/systematic reviews, duplicate papers, other age group or information that did not meet the eligibility criteria and the purpose of this systematic review. Finally, 16 full-text articles [ 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 ] were considered eligible and were included to our qualitative synthesis. The study selection procedure is detailed in the respective flow chart ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…In the systematic review for the primary objective, ten cross-sectional studies [ 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 93 , 94 ] and one case control [ 92 ] were included ( Table 3 ). The age ranged from 2 to 18 years and the percentage of boys was between 46.0% and 67.7%.…”

“…The age ranged from 2 to 18 years and the percentage of boys was between 46.0% and 67.7%. The majority of the included studies (15/16) used quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to evaluate telomere length [ 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 ], while one study (1/16) used terminal restriction fragmentation (TRF) method [ 94 ]. Most studies (8/11) measured telomere length from leukocytes.…”

“…As for the obesity definition, only one study divided subjects in three groups (obese, overweight and of normal-BMI) according to the IOTF criteria [ 89 ]. When the overweight group was not included, three studies compared obese and normal-BMI children according to the IOTF and WHO criteria [ 74 , 85 , 86 , 92 ]. In five studies, the overweight and obese children were grouped together, according to the CDC and WHO criteria [ 84 , 87 , 88 , 90 , 91 ].…”

“…In five studies, the overweight and obese children were grouped together, according to the CDC and WHO criteria [ 84 , 87 , 88 , 90 , 91 ]. Of the included studies, five showed significantly shorter TL in overweight and obese children compared to children with normal-BMI [ 85 , 86 , 88 , 89 , 92 ], while five did not find any significant differences [ 84 , 87 , 90 , 91 , 94 ]. One study revealed shorter TL only in obese boys compared with their normal-BMI counterparts, but not in girls [ 93 ].…”