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Does Physical Activity Moderate The Association Between Shorter Leukocyte Telomere Length and Incident Coronary Heart Disease? Data From 54,180 UK Biobank Participants
GeroScience
  • Meiruo Xiang, University of Connecticut
  • Luke C. Pilling, University of Exeter
  • David Melzer, University of Exeter
  • Ben Kirk, University of Melbourne Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science
  • Gustavo Duque, University of Melbourne Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science
  • Rui Liu, Sacred Heart University
  • George A. Kuchel, University of Connecticut Health
  • Andrew R. Wood, University of Exeter
  • Brad Metcalf, University of Exeter
  • Breno S. Diniz, University of Connecticut Health
  • Melvyn Hillsdon, University of Exeter
  • Chia-Ling Kuo, University of Connecticut Health, Farmington CT
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
1-1-2023
Abstract

Telomere shortening is a biological aging hallmark. The effect of short telomere length may be targeted by increased physical activity to reduce the risk of multiple aging-related diseases, including coronary heart disease (CHD). The objective was to assess the moderation effect of accelerometer-based physical activity (aPA) on the association between shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) relatively in the population sample and incident CHD. Data were from the UK Biobank participants with well-calibrated accelerometer data for at least 6.5 days (n = 54,180). Relative mean LTL at baseline (5–6 years prior to aPA assessment) was measured in T/S ratio, using a multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) technology, by comparing the amount of the telomere amplification product (T) to that of a single-copy gene (S). aPA measures included total number of events (at least 10-s continued physical activity > 32 milligravities [mg]), total volume, mean duration, mean intensity, and peak intensity of all events. LTL, aPA measures, and their interactions were associated with incident CHD (mean follow-up 6.8 years) using Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for covariates. Longer LTL (relative to the sample distribution) was associated with reduced incidence of CHD (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 0.94 per standard deviation [SD] increase in LTL, [95% CI, 0.90 to 0.99], P = .010). Incidence of CHD was reduced by higher total volume of aPA (aHR = 0.82 per SD increase in LTL, [95% CI, 0.71 to 0.95], P = .010) but increased by higher total number of events (aHR = 1.11 per SD increase in LTL, [95% CI, 1.02 to 1.21], P = .020) after controlling for other aPA measures and covariates. However, none of the interactions between LTL and aPA measures was statistically significant (P = .171).

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This article is open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

DOI
10.1007/s11357-023-00890-7
PMID
37544968
Publisher
Springer Nature
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Citation Information

Lee, Y., Park, K., Melzer, D., Kirk, B., Duque, G., Liu, R., Kuchel, G. A., Wood, A.R., Diniz, B.S., Hillsdon, M., & Kuo, C.L. (2008). Does physical activity moderate the association between depressive symptoms and disability in older adults? GeroScience. Doi: 10.1007/s11357-023-00890-7