Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2013 | Research
Chronic inflammation role in the obesity-diabetes association: a case-cohort study
Authors:
Vivian C Luft, Maria I Schmidt, James S Pankow, David Couper, Christie M Ballantyne, J Hunter Young, Bruce B Duncan
Published in:
Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome
|
Issue 1/2013
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Abstract
Background
Chronic inflammation is related to both obesity and diabetes. Our aim was to investigate to what extent this inflammation contributes to the association between obesity and diabetes.
Methods
Using a case-cohort design, we followed 567 middle-aged individuals who developed diabetes and 554 who did not over 9 years within the ARIC Study. Weighted Cox proportional hazards analyses permitted statistical inference to the entire cohort.
Results
Obese individuals (BMI≥30 kg/m2), compared to those with BMI<25 kg/m2, presented a large increased risk of developing diabetes (HR[obesity]=6.4, 95%CI 4.5–9.2), as did those in the highest (compared to the lowest) quartile of waist circumference (HR[waist]=8.3, 95%CI 5.6–12.3), in analyses adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, study center, and parental history of diabetes. Notably, further adjustment for adiponectin and inflammation markers halved the magnitude of these associations (HR[obesity]=3.2, 95%CI 2.1–4.7; and HR[waist]=4.2, 95%CI 2.8–6.5). In similar modeling, attenuation obtained by adding fasting insulin, instead of these markers, was only slightly more pronounced HR[obesity]=2.7, 95%CI 1.7–4.1; and HR[waist]=3.6, 95%CI 2.3–5.8).
Conclusions
The marked decrease in the obesity-diabetes association after taking into account inflammation markers and adipokines indicates their major role in the pathways leading to adult onset of diabetes in obese individuals.