Leukocyte Telomere Length as an Aging Marker and Risk Factor for Human Age-Related Diseases

Abstract—Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) associations with age, sex, and risk factors for age-related diseases have been studied in Russian people of preretirement and retirement age. This parameter has been determined by quantitative real-time PCR in 398 men (56.3 ± 7.2 years) and 365 women (56.6 ± 7.1 years) selected from a population sample of 45 to 69-year-old residents of the Oktyabrskii and Kirovskii raions of Novosibirsk (9400 people). The sample was formed in the course of the international project HAPIEE. Telomere length has been found to correlate with age (r = –0.159, р < 0.001) and the waist : hip ratio (WHR) (r = –0.107, p = 0.003). The average LTL in women is significantly greater than in men, p = 0.031. In men, LTL correlates with body mass (r = 0.140, p = 0.005) and waist size (r = 0.111, p = 0.027). In women, there are inverse correlations of LTL with waist size (r = –0.127, p = 0.015) and WHR (r = –0.141, p = 0.007). Leukocyte telomere length inversely correlates with the amount smoked (r = –0.121, р = 0.024). It directly correlates with age, smoking, and a variety of phenotypical traits. In men with family histories of malignancies, LTL is greater than in men without such histories.