Association of leukocyte telomere length with cardiac conduction disease and sick sinus syndrome

Abstract

Abstract Background Cardiac conduction disease (CCD) and sick sinus syndrome (SSS) may be related to a degenerative process. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with the aging process and age-related degenerative diseases. We aimed to investigate the association between LTL and the risks of CCD/SS, and to explore whether LTL is related with cardiovascular imaging and electrocardiographic (ECG) changes. Methods This is a population-based cross-sectional study of UK Biobank participants without history of CCD/SSS recruited from 2006 to 2010. LTL was measured using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction method. Cardiovascular measurements were derived from cardiovascular magnetic resonance using machine learning. The median (IQR) duration of follow-up was 12.0 (11.3-12.7) years. The associations of LTL with imaging and ECG measurements and incident CCD/SSS were evaluated by multivariable regression models. Results Among the 412,452 white participants, 188,891 (45.8%) were male, with a mean age of 57.3 years. Longer LTL was independently associated with positive cardiac remodeling, including higher left ventricular mass, larger atrial volume, and increased atrial stroke volumes. However, no significant associations were observed with ECG findings including PR interval and P-wave duration. 11991 (2.6%) participants developed CCD and 984 (0.2%) developed SSS. Longer LTL was not associated with younger age. However, longer LTL was not associated with a lower risk of incident CCD (LTL fourth quartile vs. first quartile: hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97-1.0; P = 0.057) or SSS (LTL fourth quartile vs. first quartile: hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.92-1.05; P = 0.554). Conclusions In this cross-sectional study, longer LTL was associated with a larger atrial size with better atrial function in middle age, but not with ECG changes. However, longer LTL was not associated with a lower risk of incident CCD and SSS.