Wang Liqun, Pan Ruiping, Yan Ning, Luo Yiling, Wang Yali
Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, School of Public Health at Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, China.
Department of Chinese Medicine, The second people's hospital of Shizuishan, Shizuishan, China.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2025 May 22;16:1549175. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1549175. eCollection 2025.
Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a biomarker of aging, and sleep duration is associated with LTL. However, research exploring the relationship between sleep duration and LTL has yielded inconsistent results. This study aimed to investigate the association between sleep duration and LTL in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
A cross-sectional study involving 1,027 T2DM patients was conducted in Ningxia Province, China. Sleep duration was assessed through self-reported measures, while leukocyte telomere length (LTL) was determined using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) method. Restricted cubic splines (RCS) analysis was initially performed to evaluate the potential nonlinear relationship between sleep duration and LTL. Subsequently, a multiple mixed-effect linear regression model was utilized to examine this association.
Binary analysis revealed an inverse association between sleep duration and LTL (β=-0.170, 95%: (-0.271, -0.068), =0.001), indicating that for every 1-hour increase in sleep duration, LTL decreased by 0.17 kb. RCS analysis showed no evidence of a nonlinear relationship between sleep duration and LTL. After controlling for potential covariates, sleep duration remained negatively associated with LTL (β=-0.123, 95% : (-0.229, -0.017), =0.022). When stratified by sleep quality (moderate or good vs. poor) and age (< 60 vs.≥60 years old), a negative association between sleep duration and LTL was particularly observed among individuals with moderate or good sleep quality and who were under 60 years old.
This study adds to the growing literature relating sleep duration with biomarkers of aging and suggests that the shortening of LTL may reflect potential mechanisms through which longer sleep duration contributes to pathological conditions in T2DM patients. It is recommended that healthcare providers, health promoters, and patients pay greater attention to sleep habits, avoiding excessively long sleep durations, to potentially slow cellular aging.
白细胞端粒长度（LTL）是衰老的生物标志物，睡眠时间与LTL相关。然而，探索睡眠时间与LTL之间关系的研究结果并不一致。本研究旨在调查中国2型糖尿病（T2DM）患者的睡眠时间与LTL之间的关联。
在中国宁夏进行了一项涉及1027例T2DM患者的横断面研究。通过自我报告的方式评估睡眠时间，同时使用定量聚合酶链反应（q-PCR）方法测定白细胞端粒长度（LTL）。最初进行受限立方样条（RCS）分析以评估睡眠时间与LTL之间潜在的非线性关系。随后，使用多重混合效应线性回归模型来检验这种关联。
二元分析显示睡眠时间与LTL呈负相关（β=-0.170，95%：（-0.271，-0.068），P=0.001），表明睡眠时间每增加1小时，LTL下降0.17 kb。RCS分析显示没有证据表明睡眠时间与LTL之间存在非线性关系。在控制潜在协变量后，睡眠时间仍与LTL呈负相关（β=-0.123，95%：（-0.229，-0.017），P=0.022）。当按睡眠质量（中等或良好与差）和年龄（<60岁与≥60岁）分层时，在睡眠质量中等或良好且年龄<60岁的个体中，尤其观察到睡眠时间与LTL之间存在负相关。
本研究增加了关于睡眠时间与衰老生物标志物之间关系的文献，并表明LTL的缩短可能反映了较长睡眠时间导致T2DM患者病理状况的潜在机制。建议医疗保健提供者、健康促进者和患者更加关注睡眠习惯，避免睡眠时间过长，以潜在地减缓细胞衰老。
