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Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase, a marker of alcohol intake, is associated with telomere length and cardiometabolic risk in young adulthood.

ABSTRACT: Studies based on self-reported alcohol consumption and telomere length show inconsistent results. Therefore, we studied the association between gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), a widely used biomarker of alcohol intake, and telomere length. The possible health relevance in young adulthood was explored by investigating cardiometabolic risk factors. Mixed modelling was performed to examine GGT and alcohol consumption in association with telomere length in buccal cells of 211 adults between 18 and 30 years old of the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey. In addition, we investigated the association between GGT and cardiometabolic risk factors; waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. Although we did not observe an association between self-reported alcohol consumption and telomere length, our results show that a doubling in serum GGT is associated with 7.80% (95% CI - 13.9 to - 1.2%; p = 0.02) shorter buccal telomeres, independently from sex, chronological age, educational level, zygosity and chorionicity, waist-to-hip ratio and smoking. The association between GGT was significant for all five cardiometabolic risk factors, while adjusting for age. We show that GGT, a widely used biomarker of alcohol consumption, is associated with telomere length and with risk factors of cardiometabolic syndrome, despite the young age of this study population.

SUBMITTER: Bijnens EM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8196210 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) is a biomarker of inflammation, and is known to be associated with stroke and atrial fibrillation. Venous thromboembolism (VT), a not uncommon thrombotic disorder, shares similar mechanisms with other thrombotic disorders including these stroke and atrial fibrillation. Given these associations, we intended to investigate the potential association between variability in GGT and VT. The study included data from the National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort, comprising 1,085,105 participants with health examinations 3 or more times from 2003 to 2008. Variability indexes were the coefficient of variation, standard deviation, and variability independent of the mean. The occurrence of venous thromboembolism (VT) was defined with more than one claim of the following ICD-10 codes: deep VT (I80.2-80.3), pulmonary thromboembolism (I26), intraabdominal venous thrombosis (I81, I82.2, I82.3), or other VT (I82.8, I82.9). To determine the relationship of quartiles of GGT with incident VT risk, Kaplan-Meier survival curve and logrank test were used. Cox's proportional hazard regression was used to investigate the risk of VT occurrence by GGT quartile (Q1-Q4). A total of 1,085,105 subjects were incorporated in the analysis, and the average follow-up was 12.4 years (interquartile range 12.2-12.6). VT occurred in 11,769 (1.08%) patients. The GGT level was measured 5,707,768 times in this stud. Multivariable analysis showed that GGT variability were positively associated with the occurrence of VT. Compared to the Q1, the Q4 showed an adjusted HR of 1.15 (95% CI 1.09-1.21, p < 0.001) when using coefficient of variation, 1.24 (95% CI 1.17-1.31, p < 0.001) when using standard deviation, and 1.10 (95% CI 1.05-1.16, p < 0.001) when using variability independent of the mean. Increased variability of GGT may be related to an increased risk of VT. Maintaining a stable GGT level would be beneficial in reducing the risk of VT.

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Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase, a marker of alcohol intake, is associated with telomere length and cardiometabolic risk in young adulthood.

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