PLOS ONE Medicine&Health

Association of inflammatory cytokines with obesity and pulmonary function testing

by Noor Al Khathlan

Background

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the prevalence of obesity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is 33.7% (women 39.5% and men 29.5%), respectively. The effects of obesity on airway inflammation and respiratory mechanics as well as the function of adipose tissue has a key role in the development of various lung diseases. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the level of cytokines between obese (BMI ≥ 30) and non-obese participants and to assess their association with BMI, airways inflammation and pulmonary function.

Method

One-hundred and seven non-smoking students (18–25 years of age) were recruited using convenience sampling technique for comparative cross-sectional study. Of them, 80 students were eligible and included in the analysis; 54 were non-obese (BMI Results

The prevalence of obesity was 32.5% in the study population. Levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 levels was significantly higher in obese than non-obese participants (p = 0.044). The level of FeNO log was significantly higher in obese participants than non-obese (p = 0.002). The pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 showed positive correlation with BMI while GMCSF showed negative correlation with FVC (p Conclusion

The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 was found to be significantly higher in obese participants than non-obese participants. Furthermore, it showed positive correlation with BMI whereas pro-inflammatory cytokine GMCSF showed negative correlation with FVC.