Telomere attrition, kidney function, and prevalent chronic kidney disease in the United States

Telomere length is an emerging novel biomarker of biologic age, cardiovascular risk and chronic medical conditions. Few studies have focused on the association between telomere length (TL) and kidney function.

We investigated the association between TL and kidney function/prevalent chronic kidney disease (CKD) in US adults.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) participants with measured data on kidney function and TL from 1999 to 2002 were included. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was based on CKD Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation. Urinary albumin excretion was assessed using urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR). We used multivariable adjusted linear and logistic regression models, accounting for the survey design and sample weights.

Of the 10568 eligible participants, 48.0% (n=5020) were men. Their mean age was 44.1 years. eGFR significantly decreased and ACR significantly increased across increasing quarters of TL (all p<0.001). The association between TL and kidney function remained robust even after adjusting for potential confounding factors, but the association between TL and ACR was only borderline significant (β-coefficient= -0.012, p=0.056).

The association of kidney function with a marker of cellular senescence suggests an underlying mechanism influencing the progression of nephropathy.