Rate of telomere shortening and metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors: A longitudinal study in the 1934–44 Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

Figures & data

Table I. Demographic, clinical, and biochemical parameters in 2001–2004 and in 2011–2013 among men and women.

	Males				Females
	2001–2004		2011–2013		2001–2004		2011–2013
	n	Mean ± SEM	n	Mean ± SEM	n	Mean ± SEM	n	Mean ± SEM
Age (years)	472	61.2 ± 0.1	472	70.8 ± 0.1**	610	61.3 ± 0.1	610	71.1 ± 0.1**
BMI (kg/m^2)	472	27.2 ± 0.2	472	26.8 ± 0.2**	610	27.2 ± 0.2	610	27.3 ± 0.2
SBP (mmHg)	472	144.5 ± 0.9	472	151.3 ± 0.9**	610	142.7 ± 0.8	610	151.8 ± 0.9**
DPB (mmHg)	472	89.7 ± 0.5	472	84.8 ± 0.5**	610	87.0 ± 0.4	610	83.2 ± 0.4**
Lean body mass (kg)	453	65.5 ± 0.3	460	63.2 ± 0.3**	592	47.7 ± 0.2	599	46.1 ± 0.2**
Fat percentage (%)	453	22.9 ± 0.3	460	23.6 ± 0.3**	592	33.2 ± 0.3	599	34.8 ± 0.3**
Glucose (mM)	472	6.0 ± 0.1	472	5.9 ± 0.1*	610	5.5 ± 0.1	607	5.6 ± 0.1*
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	471	5.7 ± 0.1	472	5.1 ± 0.1**	610	6.0 ± 0.1	608	5.6 ± 0.1**
HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)	471	1.47 ± 0.02	472	1.46 ± 0.01	610	1.76 ± 0.02	608	1.74 ± 0.01
LDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)	471	3.6 ± 0.1	472	3.1 ± 0.1**	610	3.6 ± 0.1	608	3.3 ± 0.1**
Triglyceride (mmol/L)	471	1.50 ± 0.03	472	1.29 ± 0.03**	610	1.37 ± 0.03	608	1.27 ± 0.02**

*P < 0.05 compared to baseline value in 2001–2004; **P < 0.001 compared to baseline value in 2001–2004.

Figure 1. Changes in telomere length during the follow-up period in males (left) and women (right).

Table II. Correlations between leucocyte telomere length (LTL) and clinical characteristics in 2001–2004, unadjusted, adjusted for age, and adjusted for age and use of medication affecting blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and lipids (lipid parameters).

	All subjects		Males		Females
	r	P value	r	P value	r	P value
Weight (kg)	–0.072 –0.077	0.020 0.012	–0.082 –0.074	0.077 0.112	–0.026 –0.036	0.527 0.376
Waist (cm)	–0.069 –0.067	0.025 0.029	–0.103 –0.083	0.027 0.076	–0.014 –0.016	0.735 0.697
Systolic BP	–0.042 –0.034 –0.023	0.172 0.266 0.459	0.007 0.038 0.044	0.885 0.416 0.348	–0.068 –0.081 –0.066	0.095 0.049 0.109
Diastolic BP	–0.036 –0.043 –0.034	0.244 0.164 0.270	0.050 0.050 0.056	0.288 0.287 0.233	–0.079 –0.098 –0.088	0.054 0.017 0.032
Lean body mass (kg)	–0.083 –0.082	0.008 0.009	–0.061 –0.045	0.202 0.345	–0.040 –0.053	0.336 0.207
Fat percentage (%)	0.019 0.022	0.54 0.487	–0.085 –0.067	0.076 0.157	–0.007 –0.003	0.860 0.951
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	0.038 0.048 0.051	0.213 0.119 0.095	0.023 0.016 0.016	0.627 0.729 0.740	0.041 0.056 0.063	0.318 0.172 0.125
HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)	0.009 0.016 0.017	0.758 0.599 0.591	–0.030 –0.018 –0.018	0.521 0.706 0.701	–0.022 0.001 0.002	0.598 0.993 0.962
LDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)	0.037 0.036 0.039	0.230 0.244 0.207	0.010 0.001 –0.001	0.838 0.976 0.989	0.060 0.058 0.065	0.143 0.160 0.113
Triglycerides (mmol/L)	0.017 0.033 0.033	0.592 0.285 0.286	0.071 0.061 0.061	0.129 0.193 0.193	–0.015 0.019 0.018	0.713 0.636 0.669

Table III. Correlations between leucocyte telomere length (LTL) and clinical characteristics in 2011–2013, unadjusted, adjusted for age, and adjusted for age and use of medication affecting blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and lipids (lipid parameters).

	All subjects		Males		Females
	r	P value	r	P value	r	P value
Weight (kg)	–0.100 –0.102	< 0.001 0.001	0.007 0.022	0.881 0.638	–0.077 –0.098	0.057 0.017
Waist (cm)	–0.080 –0.087	0.009 0.005	0.010 0.024	0.825 0.614	–0.068 –0.088	0.093 0.032
Systolic BP	0.016 0.023 0.036	0.591 0.457 0.239	0.031 0.002 0.011	0.497 0.958 0.811	0.005 0.034 0.054	0.893 0.414 0.182
Diastolic BP	0.035 0.044 0.051	0.245 0.156 0.093	0.085 0.059 0.063	0.066 0.208 0.176	0.023 0.054 0.062	0.577 0.192 0.128
Lean body mass (kg)	–0.128 –0.136	< 0.001 < 0.001	0.020 0.013	0.675 0.778	–0.074 –0.095	0.070 0.021
Fat percentage (%)	0.066 0.070	0.032 0.024	–0.014 0.023	0.771 0.619	–0.054 –0.053	0.189 0.196
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	0.072 0.062 0.063	0.018 0.047 0.038	0.068 0.036 0.009	0.143 0.440 0.848	0.023 0.021 0.012	0.579 0.605 0.769
HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)	0.074 0.054 0.064	0.016 0.081 0.035	0.044 0.024 0.022	0.343 0.616 0.635	0.005 –0.006 –0.009	0.901 0.884 0.824
LDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)	0.054 0.047 0.029	0.076 0.127 0.336	0.059 0.035 0.007	0.200 0.453 0.886	0.018 0.024 0.013	0.659 0.569 0.759
Triglycerides (mmol/L)	0.006 0.001 0.001	0.850 0.995 0.987	0.003 –0.009 –0.016	0.956 0.850 0.736	0.011 0.012 0.015	0.788 0.766 0.711

Table IV. Correlations between leucocyte telomere length (LTL) relative change (%) and relative change (%) in cardiometabolic risk factors, unadjusted, adjusted for age, and adjusted for age and use of medication affecting blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and lipids (lipid parameters).

	All subjects		Males		Females
	r	P value	r	P value	r	P value
Δ Weight (kg)	0.038 0.001	0.215 0.997	0.116 0.098	0.013 0.036	–0.040 –0.073	0.327 0.077
Δ Waist (cm)	0.058 0.032	0.060 0.299	0.116 0.096	0.013 0.040	–0.020 –0.031	0.628 0.458
Δ BMI (kg/m^2)	0.044 0.008	0.157 0.788	0.127 0.120	0.007 0.011	–0.043 –0.076	0.298 0.068
Δ Systolic BP (mmHg)	0.014 0.007 –0.001	0.661 0.831 0.978	0.038 0.029 0.019	0.411 0.542 0.678	–0.017 –0.013 –0.019	0.686 0.745 0.652
Δ Diastolic BP (mmHg)	0.041 0.039 0.031	0.180 0.202 0.315	0.100 0.078 0.063	0.032 0.097 0.180	–0.008 0.010 0.006	0.841 0.814 0.884
Δ Lean body mass (kg)	–0.013 –0.038	0.692 0.236	0.078 0.071	0.107 0.139	–0.076 –0.105	0.072 0.012
Δ Fat percentage (%)	0.060 0.061	0.059 0.053	0.113 0.110	0.019 0.022	–0.008 0.017	0.846 0.682
Δ Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	0.059 0.048 0.036	0.056 0.117 0.241	0.043 0.045 0.035	0.364 0.340 0.461	0.052 0.034 0.021	0.206 0.411 0.618
Δ HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)	–0.014 0.011 0.012	0.643 0.734 0.708	–0.051 –0.006 –0.005	0.276 0.902 0.914	0.013 0.016 0.017	0.745 0.704 0.684
Δ LDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)	0.056 0.022 0.012	0.070 0.484 0.700	0.017 –0.001 –0.008	0.710 0.979 0.861	0.064 0.046 0.034	0.118 0.263 0.403
Δ Triglycerides (mmol/L)	0.046 0.017 0.013	0.133 0.588 0.675	0.119 0.068 0.066	0.011 0.146 0.162	–0.034 –0.034 –0.038	0.414 0.414 0.356