Artikel
Serum Bilirubin is Inversely Correlated with Body Mass Index
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Veröffentlicht: | 20. Mai 2011 |
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Gliederung
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Introduction: Bilirubin, end-product of heme-catabolism, is an antioxidant of physiological importance that experimentally has anti-atherogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. We hypothesized that obesity is associated with low serum bilirubin and that healthy hyperbilirubinemic individuals are slender.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively analyzed total fasting serum bilirubin and LFP values of obese patients (BMI>35) admitted for bariatric surgery between January 2000 and April 2009. Living kidney donors served as healthy BMI and bilirubin controls. Individuals admitted to our hospital because of hyperbilirubinemia (after exclusion of liver disease) were included as healthy hyperbilirubinemic controls.
Results: All patients with available total serum bilirubin and BMI were included intothe analysis (group A: 347 of 1004, group B: 139 of 195, group C: 118 of 219). MeanBMI's were 43,0 (SD±5,1) in group A, 24,8 (SD±3,3) in group B (p<0,0001 vs. groupA) and 22,9 (SD±3,8) in group C (p<0,0001 vs. group A, p=0,0002 vs. group B),respectively. Mean serum bilirubin was 0.49mg/dl (SD±0,24mg/dl) in group A,0.60mg/dl (SD±0,29mg/dl) in group B (p<0.0001 vs. group A) and 2,47mg/dl(SD±1,06mg/dl) in group C (p<0,0001 vs. group A and B), respectively. Within groupB, individuals with supranormal serum bilirubin (>1,2mg/dl, n=7) had a tendentiouslower BMI 22,8 (SD±2,7) when compared to the normobilirubinemic kidney donors(24,9±3,4, p=0,12). Within group C individuals with a serum bilirubin below thegroup's median level of 2,16mg/dl displayed a significantly higher BMI (23,8, SD±4,3)when compared to the individuals with a serum bilirubin above the median (22,3,SD±3,4, p=0,049).
Conclusion: This is the first study to show that serum bilirubin is inversely correlated with BMI and obesity. As this is an association study only, certainly data is needed, to understand yet unknown metabolic pathways that explains the inverse correlation of bilirubin and obesity.