TY - JOUR
T1 - Blood Concentrations of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Unhealthy Metabolic Phenotypes in Normal-Weight, Overweight, and Obese Individuals
AU - Gasull, Magda
AU - Castell, Conxa
AU - Pallarès, Natàlia
AU - Miret, Carme
AU - Pumarega, José
AU - Téllez-Plaza, María
AU - López, Tomàs
AU - Salas-Salvadó, Jordi
AU - Lee, Duk Hee
AU - Goday, Albert
AU - Porta, Miquel
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - © The Author(s) 2017. Factors underlying metabolic phenotypes, such as the metabolically healthy but obese phenotype, remain unclear. Differences in metabolic phenotypes - particularly, among individuals with a similar body mass index - could be related to concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). To our knowledge, no studies have analyzed POPs and metabolic phenotypes in normal-weight persons. We investigated the relationships between serum concentrations of POPs and metabolic phenotypes in 860 normal-weight, overweight, and obese participants in the 2002 Catalan Health Interview Survey (Spain). POP concentrations were significantly higher in metabolically unhealthy than in metabolically healthy individuals. In models adjusting for body mass index and other confounders, hexachlorobenzene, β-hexachlorocyclohexane, and polychlorinated biphenyls were associated with the unhealthy metabolic phenotype and metabolic syndrome. Among normal-weight individuals, the adjusted prevalence ratio of having an unhealthy phenotype for the upper category of the sum of orders of the 6 mentioned POPs (all individually associated with metabolic phenotypes) was 4.1 (95% confidence interval: 1.7, 10.0). Among overweight and obese individuals, the corresponding prevalence ratio for the sum of polychlorinated biphenyls was 1.4 (95% confidence interval: 1.0, 1.8). Our results supported the hypothesis that POP concentrations are associated with unhealthy metabolic phenotypes, not only in obese and overweight individuals but also (and probably more strongly) in normal-weight individuals.
AB - © The Author(s) 2017. Factors underlying metabolic phenotypes, such as the metabolically healthy but obese phenotype, remain unclear. Differences in metabolic phenotypes - particularly, among individuals with a similar body mass index - could be related to concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). To our knowledge, no studies have analyzed POPs and metabolic phenotypes in normal-weight persons. We investigated the relationships between serum concentrations of POPs and metabolic phenotypes in 860 normal-weight, overweight, and obese participants in the 2002 Catalan Health Interview Survey (Spain). POP concentrations were significantly higher in metabolically unhealthy than in metabolically healthy individuals. In models adjusting for body mass index and other confounders, hexachlorobenzene, β-hexachlorocyclohexane, and polychlorinated biphenyls were associated with the unhealthy metabolic phenotype and metabolic syndrome. Among normal-weight individuals, the adjusted prevalence ratio of having an unhealthy phenotype for the upper category of the sum of orders of the 6 mentioned POPs (all individually associated with metabolic phenotypes) was 4.1 (95% confidence interval: 1.7, 10.0). Among overweight and obese individuals, the corresponding prevalence ratio for the sum of polychlorinated biphenyls was 1.4 (95% confidence interval: 1.0, 1.8). Our results supported the hypothesis that POP concentrations are associated with unhealthy metabolic phenotypes, not only in obese and overweight individuals but also (and probably more strongly) in normal-weight individuals.
KW - environmental exposure/adverse effects
KW - environmental pollutants/toxicity
KW - health survey
KW - human biomonitoring
KW - metabolic phenotype
KW - metabolic syndrome
KW - metabolically healthy obese
KW - persistent organic pollutants
U2 - 10.1093/aje/kwx267
DO - 10.1093/aje/kwx267
M3 - Article
SN - 0002-9262
VL - 187
SP - 494
EP - 506
JO - American Journal of Epidemiology
JF - American Journal of Epidemiology
IS - 3
ER -
