Elevated 1-hour Post Load Glucose as a Predictor for Telomere Attrition: A Study Based on a Chinese Community Population.

Context: One-hour post-load glucose (1h-PG) detects dysglycemia-related disorders more effectively than traditional glycemic parameters. Hyperglycemia accelerates aging, but whether 1h-PG outperforms in predicting aging remains unclear.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of 1h-PG with other glycemic parameters in identifying and predicting telomere attrition.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional and longitudinal study based on a Chinese community cohort. Multivariate linear regression and logistic regression were used to analyze the associations between glycemic parameters and telomere length. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve were used to compare the differentiating and predictive ability. Populations were regrouped by glucose tolerance status and 1h-PG to compare telomere length. Analyses were separately conducted in nondiabetic and diabetic populations.

Results: The cross-sectional study included 715 participants. Only 1h-PG was significantly negatively associated with relative telomere length in both nondiabetic [β = -.106, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.068 to -0.007, P = .017] [odds ratio (OR) = 1.151, 95% CI 1.069 to 1.239, P = .005] and diabetic (β = -.222, 95% CI -0.032 to -0.007, P = .002) (OR = 1.144, 95% CI 1.041 to 1.258, P = .035) populations. The longitudinal study recruited 437 populations and 112 remained in 7-years follow-up. 1h-PG was associated with telomere shortening in the nondiabetic group (β = -.314, 95% CI -0.276 to -0.032, P = .016) (OR = 2.659, 95% CI 1.158 to 6.274, P = .021). AUROC analysis showed that 1h-PG outperformed other glycemic parameters in identifying and predicting telomere attrition. Reclassification revealed that normal glucose tolerance and prediabetic individuals with elevated 1h-PG had telomere lengths comparable to prediabetic and diabetic populations, respectively.

Conclusion: 1h-PG outperforms other glycemic parameters in predicting telomere attrition and can be a valuable marker for early aging detection.