Abstract
Atopic diseases can impose a significant burden on children and adolescents. Telomere length is a cellular marker of aging reflecting the impact of cumulative stress exposure on individual health. Since elevated oxidative stress and inflammation burden induced by chronic atopy and snoring may impact telomere length, this study aimed to investigate whether snoring would moderate the relationship between atopic diseases and telomere length in early adolescence. We surveyed 354 adolescents and their parents. Parents reported the adolescents’ history of atopic diseases, recent snoring history as well as other family sociodemographic characteristics. Buccal swab samples were also collected from the adolescents for telomere length determination. Independent and combined effects of atopic diseases and snoring on telomere length were examined. Among the surveyed adolescents, 174 were reported by parents to have atopic diseases (20 had asthma, 145 had allergic rhinitis, 53 had eczema, and 25 had food allergy). Shorter TL was found in participants with a history of snoring and atopic diseases (β = −0.34, p = 0.002) particularly for asthma (β = −0.21, p = 0.007) and allergic rhinitis (β = −0.22, p = 0.023). Our findings suggest that snoring in atopic patients has important implications for accelerated telomere shortening. Proper management of atopic symptoms at an early age is important for the alleviation of long-term health consequences at the cellular level.
Highlights
Atopic diseases are one of the most common diseases in children and adolescents [1]
We found that the presence of either atopic disease or snoring alone had no association with adolescent Telomere length (TL)
The co-occurrence of atopic disease and snoring was significantly associated with shorter TL in early adolescence
Summary
Atopic diseases are one of the most common diseases in children and adolescents [1]. A previous study estimated that the prevalence of atopic diseases in Hong Kong could be as high as 41.2% [2], which is higher than that reported in other countries [3,4,5]. This indicates a need to estimate their burden and consequences at the population and individual levels and justify why Hong Kong provides a good context for conducting research on allergies. Telomere length (TL) tends to be shorter in adult patients with atopic diseases [11]
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