Departments of Epidemiology and Population Health, Medicine, Pediatrics and Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Pediatr Obes. 2023 Dec;18(12):e13082. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.13082. Epub 2023 Oct 24.
To examine changes in leukocyte telomere length (LTL) during and after a behavioural weight control program for children with obesity.
We measured LTL among a cohort of 158 children 8-12 years of age with a body mass index greater than or equal to the 95th percentile for age and sex. Children were 55% female, 29% white, 52% Latinx, 8% Asian and 11% Pacific Islander, other or multiethnic. All children participated in a 6-month, family-based, group behavioural weight control program and were assessed before treatment, after treatment and 1 year after the end of treatment. To test the sample population slope of LTL over the intervention and maintenance time periods, we fit spline mixed-effect regression models.
LTL increased an average of 0.09 T/S units per year (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.04 to 0.13; p = 0.0001) during the weight control program intervention period, followed by an average decline of -0.05 T/S units per year (95% CI -0.08 to -0.03; p < 0.0001) during the 1 year of follow-up after the completion of the intervention. Among 26 social, psychological, behavioural and physiological factors we examined, we did not find any predictors of these changes.
LTL increased in response to a behavioural weight control program among children with obesity, suggesting an impact on biological health and cellular aging from participation in a behavioural weight control intervention. LTL may be a useful biomarker for assessing changes in response to behavioural interventions.
研究肥胖儿童行为体重控制项目期间和之后白细胞端粒长度（LTL）的变化。
我们对 158 名年龄在 8-12 岁、体重指数（BMI）大于或等于年龄和性别第 95 百分位的肥胖儿童进行了 LTL 测量。儿童中 55%为女性，29%为白人，52%为拉丁裔，8%为亚裔，11%为太平洋岛民，其余为其他或多种族裔。所有儿童均参加了为期 6 个月的、以家庭为基础的、小组行为体重控制项目，并在治疗前、治疗后和治疗结束后 1 年进行评估。为了检验样本人群 LTL 在干预和维持期间的斜率，我们拟合了样条混合效应回归模型。
在体重控制项目干预期间，LTL 平均每年增加 0.09 T/S 单位（95%置信区间 0.04 至 0.13；p<0.0001），随后在干预结束后 1 年的随访期间，LTL 平均每年下降 0.05 T/S 单位（95%置信区间 -0.08 至 -0.03；p<0.0001）。在我们研究的 26 个社会、心理、行为和生理因素中，我们没有发现任何这些变化的预测因素。
肥胖儿童的行为体重控制项目会导致 LTL 增加，这表明参与行为体重控制干预对生物健康和细胞衰老有影响。LTL 可能是评估对行为干预反应变化的有用生物标志物。
