AUTHOR=Zhang Yiling , Xu Ziye , Yang Yiling , Cao Shanshan , Lyu Sali , Duan Weiwei 

TITLE=Association Between Weight Change and Leukocyte Telomere Length in U.S. Adults

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.650988

DOI=10.3389/fendo.2021.650988

ISSN=1664-2392

ABSTRACT=Objective: To investigate the association of dynamic weight change in adulthood with leukocyte telomere length among U.S. adults.
Methods: This study included 3,886 subjects aged 36~75 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2002 cycle. Survey-weighted multivariable linear regression with adjustments for potential confounders was utilized.
Results: 3,386 individuals were finally included. People with stable obesity had a 0.130 kbp (95% CI: 0.061~0.198, P=1.97E-04) shorter leukocyte telomere length than those with stable normal weight (reference group) during the 10-year period, corresponding to approximately 8.7 years of aging. Weight gain from nonobesity to obesity shortened the leukocyte telomere length by 0.094 kbp (95% CI: 0.012~0.177, P=0.026), while normal weight to overweight or remaining overweight shortened the leukocyte telomere length by 0.074 kbp (95% CI: 0.014~0.134, P=0.016). The leukocyte telomere length has 0.003 kbp attrition on average for every 1 kg increase in weight from a mean age of 41 years to 51 years. Further stratified analysis showed that the associations generally varied across sex and race.
Conclusions: This study found that weight change in 10-year period was associated with leukocyte telomere length and supports the theory that weight gain promotes aging across adulthood.