Background: As a key enzyme of natriuretic peptides system playing an integral role in energy homeostasis, furin may be a potential contributor to obesity. However, the association between furin and obesity has been scarcely studied. This study aims to examine the prospective association between serum furin and abdominal obesity.
Methods: Waist circumference (WC) was measured twice 4 years apart for a total of 892 Chinese adults free of abdominal obesity at baseline. Abdominal obesity was defined as WC over 85 cm for men and as WC over 80 cm for women. A Cox proportional hazard model was constructed to examine the association of baseline serum furin with incident abdominal obesity.
Results: After an average 4 years of follow-up, 184 participants developed new abdominal obesity. Baseline serum furin was significantly associated with dynamic body weight during follow-up (β=-0.593, p=0.003). Participants with a higher level of serum furin at baseline were less likely to develop new abdominal obesity compared with those with a lower level of serum furin (HR=0.81, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.97).
Conclusions: A lower level of serum furin predicts a higher risk of developing future abdominal obesity in Chinese adults. Furin deficiency may be a contributor to abdominal obesity but still needs further investigations.
Keywords: epidemiology; general medicine (see internal medicine).
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