Insulin Resistance and Biological Aging: The Role of Body Mass, Waist Circumference, and Inflammation

Table 2

Relationship between HOMA-IR and telomere length (base pairs) in U.S. women and men, after adjusting for the covariates.

Exposure variable	Telomere length (base pairs)
	Regression coefficient	SE
HOMA-IR
Model 1	−10.4	4.4	5.7	0.0234
Model 2	−10.7	5.0	4.6	0.0410
Model 3	−6.6	4.6	2.1	0.1573
Model 4	−6.6	5.4	1.5	0.2283
Model 5	−9.3	4.7	4.0	0.0552

SE: standard error of the regression coefficient. For model 1, the covariates were age, sex, and race. For model 2, in addition to age, sex, and race, the model was adjusted for differences in pack-years of smoking, alcohol use, and total physical activity. Model 3 included the same covariates as model 2 but also included BMI. Model 4 included the same covariates as model 2 but also included waist circumference. Model 5 included the same covariates as model 2 but also included CRP. Interpretation of the regression coefficients is as follows for the first row (model 1) regarding HOMA-IR and telomere length with age, sex, and race controlled statistically: for each one-unit increase in HOMA-IR, telomeres were 10.4 base pairs shorter, on average, signifying increased biological aging.