Abstract
BackgroundTelomere length is an emerging novel biomarker of biologic age, cardiovascular risk and chronic medical conditions. Few studies have focused on the association between telomere length (TL) and kidney function.ObjectiveWe investigated the association between TL and kidney function/prevalent chronic kidney disease (CKD) in US adults.MethodsThe National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) participants with measured data on kidney function and TL from 1999 to 2002 were included. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was based on CKD Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation. Urinary albumin excretion was assessed using urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR). We used multivariable adjusted linear and logistic regression models, accounting for the survey design and sample weights.ResultsOf the 10568 eligible participants, 48.0% (n=5020) were men. Their mean age was 44.1 years. eGFR significantly decreased and ACR significantly increased across increasing quarters of TL (all p<0.001). The association between TL and kidney function remained robust even after adjusting for potential confounding factors, but the association between TL and ACR was only borderline significant (β-coefficient= -0.012, p=0.056).ConclusionThe association of kidney function with a marker of cellular senescence suggests an underlying mechanism influencing the progression of nephropathy.
Highlights
Telomere is a repeat of specific short sequences of nucleotides found at the end of chromosomes
The association of kidney function with a marker of cellular senescence suggests an underlying mechanism influencing the progression of nephropathy
In this study we investigated the association of telomere length (TL), a marker for biological age, with kidney function and prevalent chronic kidney disease (CKD) using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
Summary
Telomere is a repeat of specific short sequences of nucleotides found at the end of chromosomes. The length of telomere is so considerable, telomere shortening has been correlated with various pathological www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget disorders and processes such as biological aging, oxidative stress and inflammation [1,2,3,4,5,6]. The limited existing evidence suggest that patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) may have shorter telomere and accelerated telomere shortening compared with the general population [14, 15]. Data for subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD), derived mainly from two studies of severe heart failure patients, suggest a strong correlation between reduced kidney function and shorter telomere length (TL), even after adjustment for age [16, 17]. Telomere length is an emerging novel biomarker of biologic age, cardiovascular risk and chronic medical conditions. Few studies have focused on the association between telomere length (TL) and kidney function
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