Abstract:Objective To observe the telomere relative length changes of peripheral blood leukocytes in patients with hypertension and pre-diabetes and explore the correlation of telomere length with blood pressure control level and blood glucose control level. Methods Ninety hypertension patients with pre-diabetes (case group) and 86 healthy subjects (control group) were selected. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the telomere relative length of peripheral blood leukocytes. The body mass index, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin and high sensitivity c-reactive protein were measured, and the insulin resistance index was calculate. Results The telomere relative length [ratio of the telomere repeat sequence copy number to single copy gene copy number (T/S)] of peripheral blood leukocytes in case group was significantly shorter than that in control group (0.93±0.43 vs 1.30±0.35, P<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that age, pulse pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin, insulin resistance index and high sensitivity c-reactive protein were all negatively correlated with telomere length in case group. Conclusion The telomere relative length of peripheral blood leukocytes in patients with hypertension and pre-diabetes is significantly shorter than that in healthy people. The telomere length shortening is related to the pulse pressure, blood glucose control situation, degree of insulin resistance and degree of chronic inflammation.