Aim: This study looked at the association of adipokines, inflammatory and oxidative stress markers in subjects with the following phenotypes: metabolically healthy, nonobese (MHNO), metabolically healthy, obese (MHO), metabolically obese, nonobese (MONO), and metabolically obese, obese (MOO).
Materials and methods: Subjects with MHNO (n=462), MHO (n=192), MONO (n=315), and MOO (n=335) were randomly selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study. Adiponectin, visfatin, resistin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: Levels of adiponectin were lowest in the MOO group, followed by the MONO, MHO, and the MHNO groups (P=0.042), whereas the levels of visfatin (P=0.042) and resistin (P=0.043) were highest in the MOO group, followed by the MONO, MHO, and the MHNO groups. Levels of hs-CRP (P=0.029), TNF-α (P=0.036), IL-6 (P=0.042), oxidized LDL (P=0.036), and MCP-1 (P=0.039) increased from the MHNO to MHO to MONO to MOO phenotypes. Linear regression analysis of the parameters with body mass index (BMI) and metabolic syndrome components showed that adiponectin is negatively associated with abdominal obesity (β=-0.060; P=0.039) and BMI (β=-0.076; P=0.009) and that TNF-α is negatively associated with high-density lipoprotein levels (β=0.114, P=0.049) even after adjusting for age and gender. hs-CRP (β=0.112, P=0.020) and oxidized LDL (β=0.114, P=0.050) showed a positive association with systolic blood pressure even after adjusting for age and gender.
Conclusions: The metabolically obese phenotype is characterized by altered adipokine and inflammatory profiles, which could make this phenotype at high risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases.