Suchergebnisse

Objective: Little is known about the rela­tionship between adiposity and telomere length in the United States population. The objective of our research was to examine this relationship in a representative, socio­economically and sex-specific, diverse ra­cial/ethnic population in the United States.Design: Cross-sectional.Methods: Body mass index (BMI), % total body fat (TBF) and waist circumference (WC) with leukocyte telomere length (LTL) were examined according to sex-specific race/ethnicity using separate adjusted mul­tivariate linear regressions on a sample of 4,919 respondents aged 20-84 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examina­tion Survey's 1999-2002 data.Results: LTL was shortened .41%, .44%, and .16% in African American (AA) women and was associated with increasing BMI, %TBF, and WC, (β:-.0041, 95%CI: -.0070, -.0012; P=.007; β:-.0044, 95% CI: -.0081, -.0007; P=.02; β:-.0016, 95%CI: -.0031, -.0001; P=.04, respectively). LTL was shortened .29% in White women and was associated with increasing %TBF (β:-.0029, 95%CI: -.0048, -.0009; P=.006). There were no associations among AA men, White men or Mexican American men and women.Conclusions: LTL is associated with an obesity phenotype in AA women. Tailored intervention is needed to ameliorate the burden of excess adiposity and subsequent cellular aging. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(3):441-450; doi:10.18865/ed.30.3.441

Abstract
Purpose
We examined if childhood socioeconomic status (SES) was related to adult leucocyte telomere length (TL) using the data of 361 African American (AA) participants from the GENE-FORECAST Study. We also assessed the mediating role of behavioral and psychosocial factors in the association between childhood SES and adult TL.

Methods
Childhood SES was assessed individually by using participant's mother's education and occupation, father's education and occupation, parental home ownership, and family structure. TL was assessed using the quantitative polymerase chain reaction method. Information on potential confounders and mediators were collected. The associations of childhood SES with TL were assessed using multivariable linear regression models. We used path analysis to quantify and test the share of these associations that was statistically explained by each of the mediators (participant's educational attainment, smoking status, physical activity, dietary habit, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms).

Results
Mother's education was associated with longer average TL (β: 0.021; 95% CI: 0.001, 0.04, p=0.038) in confounder adjusted models. Once mediators were introduced in the model, the estimates were reduced and remained marginally significant (β: 0.017; 95% CI: −0.003, 0.038, p=0.061). According to path model, approximately 19% of the effect of mother's education on TL (β: 0.004; 95% CI: −0.001, 0.01, p < 0.10) was mediated through participant's own education level. No significant mediation effect was observed for any other mediators.

Conclusions
These data provide evidence that participant's mother's education was positively linked to adult TL in AA population. Participant's own educational level partially explained this association.