Unidad de Investigación Epidemiológica y en Servicios de Salud, Área Envejecimiento, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico City, Mexico; Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
Unidad de Investigación Epidemiológica y en Servicios de Salud, Área Envejecimiento, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico City, Mexico.
Arch Med Res. 2024 Sep;55(6):103046. doi: 10.1016/j.arcmed.2024.103046. Epub 2024 Jul 15.
The aging population prompts studying risk factors and markers to predict healthy aging. Telomere length is a promising candidate for assessing various age-related traits.
To investigate the association between physical performance and telomere length.
We enrolled 323 older Mexican adults from the "Cohort of Obesity, Sarcopenia, and Frailty of Older Mexican Adults" affiliated with the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social and assessed their physical performance using the Short Physical Performance Battery, dividing participants into low (≤7) and high (>7) groups. Absolute telomere length was determined by qPCR, and individuals were classified into short (≤4.22 kb) and long (>4.22 kb) groups. We calculated the mean and adjusted mean, considering sex and age, among others, with 95% CI. We estimated the effect size between physical performance and telomere length using Cohen's d for unequal group sizes and calculated the odds ratio for physical performance based on telomere length.
Participants with low physical performance had significantly shorter telomeres (mean 4.4 kb, adjusted mean 4.0 kb, p <0.001), while those with high physical performance exhibited longer telomeres (mean 5.7 kb, adjusted mean 5.3 kb, p <0.001), with a medium-to-high telomere length effect size (d = 0.762). The odds of low physical activity increased 3.6-fold per kb of telomere attrition (adjOR 3.3, p <0.001).
Decreased physical function is associated with shorter telomere length. Absolute telomere length presents a promising biomarker for distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy aging, warranting further investigation.
人口老龄化促使人们研究风险因素和标志物，以预测健康老龄化。端粒长度是评估各种与年龄相关特征的有前途的候选者。
研究身体机能与端粒长度之间的关系。
我们招募了来自隶属于墨西哥社会保障研究所的“肥胖、肌肉减少症和老年墨西哥成年人衰弱队列”的 323 名老年墨西哥成年人，并使用简短身体表现电池评估他们的身体机能，将参与者分为低（≤7）和高（>7）组。通过 qPCR 确定绝对端粒长度，并根据端粒长度将个体分为短（≤4.22 kb）和长（>4.22 kb）组。我们计算了考虑性别和年龄等因素的平均值和调整平均值，置信区间为 95%。我们使用科恩的 d 来估计身体机能和端粒长度之间的效应大小，对于不等大小的组，并根据端粒长度计算身体机能的优势比。
身体机能低的参与者的端粒明显较短（平均 4.4 kb，调整平均 4.0 kb，p <0.001），而身体机能高的参与者的端粒较长（平均 5.7 kb，调整平均 5.3 kb，p <0.001），具有中到高度的端粒长度效应大小（d = 0.762）。端粒损耗每增加 1 kb，身体活动减少的几率增加 3.6 倍（调整优势比 3.3，p <0.001）。
身体机能下降与端粒长度缩短有关。绝对端粒长度是区分健康和不健康衰老的有前途的生物标志物，值得进一步研究。
