Accelerated ageing has been proposed as a pathological mechanism of various chronic diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This concept has almost exclusively been approached by analyses of individual markers. We investigated if COPD is associated with accelerated ageing comparing telomere length and skin auto fluorescence as markers of the ageing process. Lung function, leukocyte telomere length, skin auto fluorescence, and markers of systemic inflammation were determined in the ICE-Age study which includes 160 COPD patients, 82 smoking and 38 never smoking controls. Skin auto fluorescence was higher and telomere length was shorter in the COPD patients compared to both control groups. Significant associations with age, pack years smoked and inflammatory parameters were found for both skin auto fluorescence and telomere length. However, no significant relation between both ageing markers was observed. Furthermore, only telomere length and not skin auto fluorescence was found to be independently associated with lung function. The present study supports the hypothesis that COPD is a syndrome of accelerated biological ageing. Lung function deterioration in COPD is more closely related to telomere attrition compared to increased skin auto fluorescence.