Associations of leukocyte telomere length with body anthropometric indices and weight change in chinese women

Objective: This study evaluated associations of telomere length with various anthropometric indices of general and abdominal obesity, as well as weight change. Design and Methods: The study included 2,912 Chinese women aged 40‐70 years. Monochrome multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction was applied to measure relative telomere length. Results: Telomere length was inversely associated with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist‐to‐height ratio, weight, and hip circumference ( P trend = 0.005, 0.004, 0.004, 0.010, and 0.026, respectively), but not waist‐to‐hip ratio ( P trend = 0.116) or height ( P trend = 0.675). Weight change since age 50 was further evaluated among women over age 55. Women who maintained their weight within ±5% since age 50, particularly within a normal range (BMI = 18.5‐24.9 kg/m 2 ), or reduced their weight from overweight (BMI = 25‐29.9 kg/m 2 ) or obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 ) to normal range, had a longer mean of current telomere length than women who gained weight since age 50 ( P trend = 0.025), particularly those who stayed in obesity or gained weight from normal range or overweight to obesity ( P = 0.023). Conclusion: Our findings show that telomere shortening is associated with obesity and that maintaining body weight within a normal range helps maintain telomere length.