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

Delicia Shu Qin Ooi; Rajkumar Dorajoo; Resham L Gurung; Roghayeh Dehghan; Yvonne Yijuan Lim; Cindy Wei Li Ho; Veronica Tay; Vijaya Karuppiah; Kah Yin Loke; Su Chi Lim; Jian-Jun Liu; Andrew Anjian Sng; Yung Seng Lee

doi:10.1111/ijpo.12771

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

Pediatr Obes. 2021 Aug;16(8):e12771. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12771. Epub 2021 Jan 26.

Authors

Delicia Shu Qin Ooi^{1

2}, Rajkumar Dorajoo³, Resham L Gurung⁴, Roghayeh Dehghan^{3

5}, Yvonne Yijuan Lim^{1

2}, Cindy Wei Li Ho^{1

2}, Veronica Tay⁶, Vijaya Karuppiah⁶, Kah Yin Loke^{1

2}, Su Chi Lim^{4

7

8}, Jian-Jun Liu^{3

9}, Andrew Anjian Sng^{1

2}, Yung Seng Lee^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
² Division of Paediatric Endocrinology, Khoo Teck Puat-National University Children's Medical Institute, National University Hospital, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore.
³ Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore.
⁴ Clinical Research Unit, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
⁵ Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Science, Isfahan, Iran.
⁶ Youth Preventive Services Division, Health Promotion Board, Singapore, Singapore.
⁷ Diabetes Centre, Admiralty Medical Centre, Singapore, Singapore.
⁸ Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.

PMID: 33501739
DOI: 10.1111/ijpo.12771

Abstract

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, P_Adj = 1.24 × 10^-3 ) as compared to children who were lean. LTL was found to be associated with waist circumference (coefficient = -0.326, P_Adj = 0.044) and skin-fold measures (coefficient between 0.267 and 0.301, P_Adj 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.

Keywords: BMI; leukocyte telomere length; obesity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Age of Onset
Asia / epidemiology
Child
Humans
Leukocytes*
Pediatric Obesity* / epidemiology
Pediatric Obesity* / genetics
Telomere*