Aim: to elucidate prevalence of phenotypes of metabolically heathy obesity (MHO) among inhabitants of Saint-Petersburg using various criteria and assess dependence levels of adipokines on obesity phenotype.
Material and methods: Within a framework of epidemiologic study ESSE-RF we formed a random sample of 1600 Saint-Petersburg inhabitants stratified according to gender and age. Examination of participants included anthropometry with measurement of waist circumference CRP and estimation of body mass index (BMI), measurement of arterial pressure, determination of fasting blood glucose, insulin (with calculation of index of insulin resistance -IIR), lipid spectrum, C-reactive protein (CRP), adiponectin, leptin. In subjects with obesity (BMI more or equal 30 kg/m) we used Meigs and Wildman MHO criteria. To Wildman criteria we applied 3 variants of definition of elevated CRP and IIR: 90th percentile among subjects with BMI <25 kg/m (variant 1) or among all participants (variant 2), and (variant 3) definition from publication by E.Oliveros et al. (2014).
Results: Obesity (BMI more or equal 30 kg/m) was found in 430 participants. Numbers/rates of MHO according to the Wildman criteria were the following: variant 1 - 49/12% (among them 13/10% men and 36/14% women, =0.15); variant 2 - 85/22% (24/18% men, 61/23% women, =0.13); variant 3 - 59/15% (13/10% men, 46/18% women, =0.02). Portion of MHO according to Meigs criteria was 138/35% (among them 48/36% men, 90/35% women, =0.4). Significant differences in adipokines levels between subjects with MHO and metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUHO) were revealed only among women. There was no difference in leptin level between subjects with MHO and MUHO irrespective of gender.
Conclusion: Rate of MHO phenotype in a sample of inhabitants of Saint-Petersburg varied from 12 to 35% depending on criteria used. Gender differences in MHO rates were minimal and depended on selected criteria. Elevated adiponectin level among obese women could be presumably related to more favorable metabolic profile.
Keywords: adiponectin; leptin; metabolically healthy obesity; obesity phenotypes.