Exposing telomere length’s impact on malnutrition risk among older adults residing in the community: Insights from cross-sectional data analysis
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Successful aging is associated with an increase in life expectancy. For a better understanding of the aging process, recognize the relationship between telomere length and nutritional status is a novel approach in geriatric science. Telomers shortening coincides with a decrease in life expectancy, and an increased risk of malnutrition-related diseases. GOALS: The goal of this study was to investigate whether a shorter telomere length is associated with a greater likelihood of malnutrition in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with a probabilistic sample of 448 older people aged 60 years old or over, and living in the urban area of an inland Brazilian municipality was conducted. The information was gathered in two stages: a) a personal interview was conducted to obtain sociodemographic, cognitive, and functional autonomy data. The Mini Nutritional Assessment was used to assess the risk of malnutrition. b) a blood sample was taken to proceed with the relative quantitative study of telomere length using real-time qPCR method. The differences between the groups were estimated using Pearson's v2 and Fisher's exact tests. In the data analysis, descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression were applied. RESULTS: In 34.15% of the total sample, malnutrition was recognized as a risk factor. Older people with the shortest telomere length had more chances of getting malnutrition (OR = 1.63; IC:95% = 1.04-2.55) compared to those with longer telomeres, independent of age groups, family income, multimorbidity, cognitive decline, and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: The creation of clinical trials and the implementation of therapies to reduce the risk of malnutrition will be aided using the telomere length as an aging innovative biomarker, connected with nutritional status.
Source: PLoS ONE
Authors: Priscila Rodrigues, Guilherme Furtado, Margarida Martins, Ricardo Vieira, Ariene Orlandi, Sónia Brito-Costa, Ana Moisão, Ligiana Corona, Daniela Lima, Tábatta Brito
Institutions: Universidade Federal de Alfenas, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Research Center for Natural Resources, Environment and Society, Centro de Investigação e de Tecnologias Agro-Ambientais e Biologicas, Centro de Investigação em Produção Agroalimentar Sustentável, University of Coimbra, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Universidade Técnica do Porto, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,290
OpenAlex ID: W4404057622