Non-esterified Fatty Acids and Telomere Length in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study

Overview

Journal Metabol Open

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2020 Sep 30

PMID 32995737

Citations 3

Authors

Peter Ahiawodzi

Annette L Fitzpatrick

Luc Djousse

Joachim H Ix

Jorge R Kizer

Kenneth J Mukamal

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Telomeres shorten as organisms age, placing limits on cell proliferation and serving as a marker of biological aging. Non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) are a key mediator of age-related metabolic abnormalities. We aimed to determine if NEFAs are associated with telomere length in community-living older adults.

Material And Methods: We cross-sectionally studied 1648 participants of the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) who underwent concomitant telomere length measurement from a sample of 4715 participants who underwent measurement of circulating total fasting NEFAs in stored specimens from their 1992-3 clinic visit. We used linear regression and inverse probability weighting to model telomere length as a function of NEFAs with adjustment for age, gender, race, clinic, BMI, marital status, smoking status, alcohol intake, diabetes status, years of education, hypertension status, prevalent cardiovascular disease, C-reactive protein, total adiponectin, albumin, fetuin-A, fasting insulin, eGFR, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and general health status.

Results: Higher NEFAs were significantly associated with shorter telomere length, after adjusting for age, gender, race, and clinic site (β = -0.034; SE = 0.015; = 0.02). Estimates remained similar in fully adjusted models where each SD of NEFA increment was associated with 0.042 kilobase (kb) pairs shorter telomere length (standard error = 0.016; = 0.007); for comparison the coefficient for a single year of age in the same model was -0.017. These results were similar in strata of sex, and waist circumference although they tended to be strongest among participants in the youngest tertile of age (β = -0.079; SE = 0.029; P = 0.01).

Conclusions: In this population-based cohort of community-living elders, we observed a significant inverse association between NEFAs and telomere length. If confirmed, NEFAs may represent a promising target for interventions to slow biological aging.

Citing Articles

Association between the anthropometric measurements and dietary habits on telomere shortening in healthy older adults: A-cross-sectional study.

Barcin-Guzeldere H, Aksoy M, Demircan T, Yavuz M, Beler M Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2023; 23(7):565-572.

PMID: 37329271 PMC: 11503634. DOI: 10.1111/ggi.14620.

[Telomere pathology in ontogenesis in patients with Turner syndrome].

Mikheev R, Grigoryan O, Pankratova M, Andreeva E, Sheremetyeva E, Absatarova Y Probl Endokrinol (Mosk). 2022; 68(2):128-132.

PMID: 35488763 PMC: 9112980. DOI: 10.14341/probl12869.

Comment on: Non-esterified fatty acids and telomere length in older adults.

Katipoglu B, Naharci M Metabol Open. 2021; 9:100084.

PMID: 33659892 PMC: 7896139. DOI: 10.1016/j.metop.2021.100084.

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