ESPE Abstracts

Aim: to assess telomere length (TL) changes and sleep quality in patients with abdominal obesity after a lifestyle intervention.

Patients, Material and Methods: 122 patients with abdominal obesity, aged 7-16 years, were included in a control randomized intervention study (NCT031472). Abdominal obesity was diagnosed using the waist circumference. The intervention included a 2-month intensive phase and follow-up at 12 and 24 months. Participants were divided in two groups: intervention (IG) and usual care (UCG). IG was treated with hypocaloric Mediterranean diet and the UCG with the standard recommendations (Community Nutrition Spanish Society, 2007). Both groups were advised to increase in 200 minutes per week their moderate-vigorous physical activity. Anthropometric parameters measured were: weight, height, body mass index (BMI), neck, waist, and hip circumferences, and body composition. A metabolic syndrome score was calculated. Sleep was assessed by accelerometry. TL was measured by real time multiplex monochrome quantitative PCR, (Cawthon method).

Results: at onset, anthropometric and biochemical parameters were similar in both groups, except for glucose and leptin. UCG (n = 30) had higher both glucose and leptin levels, than IG (n = 84). BMI-SDS, waist/hip ratio, fat mass and neck circumference decreased significantly (P <0.001) in both groups. The metabolic score improved significantly in both groups, and was associated with neck, waist and hip circumferences (P <0.001). TL and sleep parameters in the whole sample at the same moment were not associated. In the IG at the study onset, there was a significant correlation between sleep efficiency and TL (r = 0.25; P = 0.02). We studied the association in the whole sample, between sleep parameters changes between 2 months-basal values, and TL changes between 12-2 months; and observed a negative correlation between the change in awakenings number and the change in TL (r = -0.25, P = 0.02).

Conclusion: BMI-SDS, body composition and metabolic score improved significantly in both groups. In the IG at the study onset, a decrease in sleep efficiency was associated with a shorter TL at the same moment. In the whole sample, the association between sleep parameters changes between 2 months-basal values, and TL changes between 12-2 months, showed that an increase in awakenings number was associated with a shorter TL.