Obesity is associated with shorter telomeres in 8 year-old children

Clemente Batalha Pardal, Diana, 1990-; Maitre, Léa; Bustamante Pineda, Mariona; Chatzi, Leda; Roumeliotaki, Theano; Fossati, Serena; Gražulevičienė, Regina; Gützkow, Kristine B.; Lepeule, Johanna; Martens, Dries S.; McEachan, Rosemary R.C.; Meltzer, Helle Margrete; Petraviciene, Inga; Slama, Rémy; Tamayo-Uria, Ibon; Urquiza, José M.; Vafeiadi, Marina, 1983-; Wright, John; Nawrot, Tim S.; Vrijheid, Martine

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55283-8

Obesity is associated with shorter telomeres in 8 year-old children

Citation

Clemente DBP, Maitre L, Bustamante M, Chatzi L, Roumeliotaki T, Fossati S, Grazuleviciene R, Gützkow KB, Lepeule J, Martens DS, McEachan RRC, Meltzer HM, Petraviciene I, Slama R, Tamayo-Uria I, Urquiza J, Vafeiadi M, Wright J, Nawrot TS, Vrijheid M. Obesity is associated with shorter telomeres in 8 year-old children. Sci Rep. 2019; 9(1):18739. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-55283-8

Abstract

Telomere length is considered a biomarker of biological aging. Shorter telomeres and obesity have both been associated with age-related diseases. To evaluate the association between various indices of obesity with leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in childhood, data from 1,396 mother-child pairs of the multi-centre European birth cohort study HELIX were used. Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and 4 adiposity markers in children at age 8 (6-11) years were assessed: BMI, fat mass, waist circumference, and skinfold thickness. Relative LTL was obtained. Associations of LTL with each adiposity marker were calculated using linear mixed models with a random cohort effect. For each 1 kg/m² increment in maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, the child's LTL was 0.23% shorter (95%CI: 0.01,0.46%). Each unit increase in child BMI z-score was associated with 1.21% (95%CI: 0.30,2.11%) shorter LTL. Inverse associations were observed between waist circumference and LTL (-0.96% per z-score unit; 95%CI: -2.06,0.16%), and skinfold thickness and LTL (-0.10% per z-score unit; 95%CI: -0.23,0.02%). In conclusion, this large multicentric study suggests that higher child adiposity indicators are associated with short telomeres in children, and that associations are stronger for child BMI than for maternal pre-pregnancy BMI.