• Esther M González-Gil, Laia Peruchet-Noray, Anja M Sedlmeier, Sofia Christakoudi, Carine Biessy, Anne-Sophie Navionis, Yahya Mahamat-Saleh, Rola F Jaafar, Hansjörg Baurecht, Marcela Guevara, Pilar Amiano Etxezarreta, VerschurenW M MoniqueWMMCentre forPrevention, Lifestyle and Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, the Netherlands.Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrec, BoerJolanda M AJMACentre forPrevention, Lifestyle and Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, the Netherlands., Anja Olsen, Anne Tjønneland, Vittorio Simeon, Carlota Castro-Espin, Dagfinn Aune, Alicia K Heath, Marc Gunter, Sandra M Colorado-Yohar, Nuno R Zilhão, Christina C Dahm, Erand Llanaj, Matthias B Schulze, Dafina Petrova, Sabina Sieri, Fulvio Ricceri, Giovanna Masala, Tim Key, Vivian Viallon, Sabina Rinaldi, Heinz Freisling, and Laure Dossus.
• Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, International Agency for Research On Cancer, World Health Organization, 69372, Lyon, CEDEX 08, France.
• Bmc Med. 2024 Aug 15; 22 (1): 334334.

BackgroundThe allometric body shape index (ABSI) and hip index (HI), as well as multi-trait body shape phenotypes, have not yet been compared in their associations with inflammatory markers. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between novel and traditional anthropometric indexes with inflammation using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and UK Biobank cohorts.MethodsParticipants from EPIC (n = 17,943, 69.1% women) and UK Biobank (n = 426,223, 53.2% women) with data on anthropometric indexes and C-reactive protein (CRP) were included in this cross-sectional analysis. A subset of women in EPIC also had at least one measurement for interleukins, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interferon gamma, leptin, and adiponectin. Four distinct body shape phenotypes were derived by a principal component (PC) analysis on height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist (WC) and hip circumferences (HC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). PC1 described overall adiposity, PC2 tall with low WHR, PC3 tall and centrally obese, and PC4 high BMI and weight with low WC and HC, suggesting an athletic phenotype. ABSI, HI, waist-to-height ratio and waist-to-hip index (WHI) were also calculated. Linear regression models were carried out separately in EPIC and UK Biobank stratified by sex and adjusted for age, smoking status, education, and physical activity. Results were additionally combined in a random-effects meta-analysis.ResultsTraditional anthropometric indexes, particularly BMI, WC, and weight were positively associated with CRP levels, in men and women. Body shape phenotypes also showed distinct associations with CRP. Specifically, PC2 showed inverse associations with CRP in EPIC and UK Biobank in both sexes, similarly to height. PC3 was inversely associated with CRP among women, whereas positive associations were observed among men.ConclusionsSpecific indexes of body size and body fat distribution showed differential associations with inflammation in adults. Notably, our results suggest that in women, height may mitigate the impact of a higher WC and HC on inflammation. This suggests that subtypes of adiposity exhibit substantial variation in their inflammatory potential, which may have implications for inflammation-related chronic diseases.© 2024. The Author(s).

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