Obesity/overweight reduces the risk of active tuberculosis: a nationwide population-based cohort study in Taiwan

Obesity affects immune function by increasing the number of T helper lymphocytes, which may reduce the risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection. However, the effect of obesity on TB development has not been extensively studied. This nationwide population-based cohort study investigated the effect of obes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Obesity 2017-06, Vol.41 (6), p.971-975
Main Authors: Yen, Y-F, Hu, H-Y, Lee, Y-L, Ku, P-W, Lin, I-F, Chu, D, Lai, Y-J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Body mass
Body Mass Index
Body size
Body weight
CD4-CD8 Ratio
Cohort analysis
Comorbidity
Complications and side effects
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dosage
Epidemiology
Female
Health risks
Health Surveys
Humans
Immune response
Infectious diseases
Leptin - metabolism
Lymphocyte Activation
Lymphocytes
Male
Medical research
Middle Aged
Mycobacterium
Obesity
Overweight
Overweight - epidemiology
Overweight - immunology
Overweight - physiopathology
Physiological aspects
Population studies
Population-based studies
Prevention
Risk
Risk Factors
Risk reduction
Socioeconomics
T-Lymphocytes - immunology
Taiwan - epidemiology
Thinness - epidemiology
Thinness - immunology
Thinness - physiopathology
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis - epidemiology
Tuberculosis - immunology
Tuberculosis - physiopathology
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Summary:Obesity affects immune function by increasing the number of T helper lymphocytes, which may reduce the risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection. However, the effect of obesity on TB development has not been extensively studied. This nationwide population-based cohort study investigated the effect of obesity on TB development in Taiwanese adults. We included 46 028 adult participants (age ⩾18 years) from three rounds (2001, 2005 and 2009) of the Taiwan National Health Interview Survey. Obesity and overweight were defined as a body mass index (BMI) ⩾27 and 24-26.9 (kg/m ), respectively. Data on BMI and other covariates at baseline were collected by in-person interviews. Incident cases of active TB were identified from the National Health Insurance database. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the associations of obesity and overweight with active TB, with adjustment for age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status and other covariates. In total, 241 new cases of active TB occurred during the study period. Obesity (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.43; 95% confident interval [CI], 0.28-0.67) and overweight (AOR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.49-0.91) were associated with lower risk of incident TB, after adjusting for demographic characteristics and comorbidities. There was a linear dose-response relation of BMI with active TB incidence (AOR per unit change in BMI, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.88-0.95; P
ISSN:0307-0565
1476-5497
DOI:10.1038/ijo.2017.64