Inflammation in metabolically healthy and metabolically abnormal adolescents: The HELENA study

Abstract Background and aims Inflammation may influence the cardio- metabolicprofile which relates with the risk of chronic diseases. This study aimed to assess the inflammatory status by metabolichealth (MH)/body mass index (BMI) category and to assess how inflammatory markers can predict the cardio- metabolicprofile in European adolescents, considering BMI. Methods and results A total of 659 adolescents (295 boys) from a cross-sectional European studywere included. Adolescents were classified by metabolichealth based on age- and sex-specific cut-off points for glucose, blood pressure, triglycerides, high density cholesterol and BMI. C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL-6), complement factors (C3, C4) and cell adhesion moleculeswere assessed. Results Metabolicallyabnormal (MA) adolescents had higher values of C3 (p Conclusions Metabolic/BMI status and inflammatory biomarkers are associated, being the CRP, C3 and C4 the most related inflammatory markers with this condition. C3 and C4 were associated with the cardio- metabolichealth consistently.