Central Obesity Accelerates Leukocyte Telomere Length (Ltl) Shortening in Apparently Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Publisher Pubmed



Zadeh FA¹ ; Bokov DO^{2, 3} ; Yasin G⁴ ; Vahdat S⁵ ; Abbasalizadfarhangi M⁶ Show Affiliations
Source: Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition Published:2023

Abstract

Shorter telomere length is associated with numerous comorbidities; central obesity might trigger leukocyte telomere shortening; in the current meta-analysis we evaluated the association of central obesity with leukocyte telomere length among adults. A systematic search from Scopus, PubMed, Embase and Proquest electronic databases up to May 2021 was done. The final screening, provided five articles to be included in final meta-analysis. Those in the highest category of telomere length had 3.72 cm lower waist circumference (WC) compared with those in the lowest category (WMD=-3.718; CI=-7.180, −0.257 P = 0.035; I2 = 95.4%). Also, those in the highest LTL category had 0.02 lower waist to hip ratio (WHR) compared with those in the lowest category, although this association was not significant (WMD: −0.02; CI=-0.04, 0.01; P = 0.19; I2= 90.7%). In quality assessment of included studies, all of the studies had moderate or high quality score and there was no study with poor quality. Higher leukocyte telomere length was accompanied with lower WC among adults. This association was not significant for difference in WHR. Because of the high heterogeneity values and also because of the observational design of included studies, the inference of causality of these associations needs further investigations. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2021.1971155. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.