Hematologic and biochemical inflammatory markers increase with body mass and positively correlate in adolescents

BackgroundAtherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that has its origins in childhood. The goal of this study was to explore the relationships of hematologic inflammatory markers to body mass, biochemical inflammatory markers and cardiometabolic risk factors.MethodsHealthy, white, non-Hispanic identifying adolescents (n = 75, age 12 to 18 years) were enrolled. Measures studied included body mass index percentile (BMI%), neutrophil and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (NLR, PLR), pan immune inflammation value (PIV), lipids, augmentation index, reactive hyperemia, inflammatory markers (interleukin 6: IL6, c-reactive protein: CRP), complement (C3, C3a, C4, C4a, C5a) insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity (oral glucose tolerance test: Matusda index, and disposition index (DI)).ResultsNLR (r(S) = 0.31, p < 0.01), PLR (r(S) = 0.32, p < 0.01), PIV (r(S) = 0.32, p < 0.01) and CRP (r(S) = 0.51, p < 0.001) all positively correlated with BMI% but IL-6 did not. NLR, PLR and PIV all positively correlated with each other. NLR correlated with the reactive hyperemia response (r(S) = 0.29, p < 0.02) but this relationship was lost when BMI% was included. NLR positively correlated with C3a, C4, CRP and IL6 even when BMI% was included.ConclusionIn healthy adolescents hematologic markers of inflammation increase with increasing body mass and neutrocyte to lymphocyte ratio is associated with increased complement and inflammatory markers independent of obesity.Impact statementHematologic and biochemical markers of inflammation increase with increased body mass in healthy adolescents.Hematologic and biochemical markers of inflammation are positively related independent of body mass in healthy adolescents.Hematologic inflammatory markers are not related to markers of cardiometabolic risk in healthy adolescents.

Automated summary

This study aimed to explore the relationships between hematologic inflammatory markers and body weight, biochemical inflammatory markers, and cardiometabolic risk factors. The results showed that inflammatory markers were positively correlated with body weight, but not with cardiometabolic risk factors.