Persistent dyslipidemia increases the longitudinal changes in telomere length

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) as a ‘biological clock’ of aging is closely related to human health, its association with an aging-related disease, dyslipidemia, has been less studied and mainly focused on cross-sectional investigations. METHODS: Two rounds of information and blood collections were conducted on a cohort of 1624 individuals residing in rural Ningxia, located in northwest China, with an average time gap of 9.8 years. The relative telomere length (RTL) of peripheral blood leukocytes was assessed using real-time quantitative PCR. To investigate the association between dyslipidemia, blood lipid levels, and alterations in RTL, multiple linear regression and generalized linear models were employed. RESULTS: After conducting the follow-up analysis, it was observed that 83.3% of the participants in the study exhibited a reduction in telomere length, while 16.7% experienced an increase in telomere length. The results suggested that dyslipidemia at baseline or follow-up may increase longitudinal changes in telomere length, but it was more significant in the healthy group, especially in those aged ≥ 60 years. Furthermore, HDL-C levels in baseline and follow-up were found to be associated with longitudinal changes in telomere length, and lower HDL-C levels may be associated with increased longitudinal changes in telomere length. CONCLUSIONS: The change in telomere length is correlated with dyslipidemia and its lipid indicators especially HDL-C. Persistent dyslipidemia and a reduction in HDL-C levels may be associated with elevated longitudinal fluctuations in telomere length. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12944-023-01938-5.