Evaluation of Interleukin-6, Leukotriene B-4, and Nitric Oxide Levels in Exhaled Breath Condensate of Asymptomatic Obese Individuals: Are Obese Patients Under Risk of Developing Asthma?

Objective: If systemic inflammation related with obesity causes asthma, the determination of increased airway inflammation among obese individuals who don’t have any respiratory symptoms yet, can be both beneficial to define the obese patients who are under the risk of developing asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the systemic and airway inflammation of asymptomatic obese and non-obese individuals.

Materials and Methods: Obese and non-obese individuals with no respiratory symptoms were included. Inflammatory biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), exhaled breath condensate (EBC) interleukin-6 (IL-6), EBC leukotriene B-4 (LTB-4), and EBC nitric oxide (NO) levels of obese and non-obese individuals were determined.

Results: 45 obese individuals (BMI ≥ 30) and 31 non-obese individuals (BMI ≤ 25) as control group were included in this study. The mean age of obese group (38.7±11.4 years) was significantly higher than the non-obese group’s age (29.5±8.6 years) (p<0.001). There was no significant relation between gender and BMI (²=1.471, p=0.225). CRP levels were significantly higher in obese group (6.94±8.28) than nonobese group (3.29±0.39) (p<0.001). The levels of EBC IL-6 in obese and non-obese group were found as 22.61±12.53 and 21.08±14.39, respectively (p=0.624). There was no significant difference between EBC NO levels of obese group and non-obese group (24.35±10.9 vs. 21.56±7.83; p=0.226). No significant difference was found between EBC LTB-4 level in obese group and non-obese group (36.39±89.82 vs. 16.64±17.45; p=0.231).

Conclusions: Increased systemic inflammation in obese individuals who had no respiratory symptoms might indicate the tendency of asthma. However airway inflammation was not significantly different between groups. Therefore the relationship between obesity and asthma should be investigated in further large-scale studies determining the direct effects of adipokines on airways. 

Cite this article as: Gegin S, Celikel S, Celik D, Pazarli AC. Evaluation of Interleukin-6, Leukotriene B-4, and Nitric Oxide Levels in Exhaled Breath Condensate of Asymptomatic Obese Individuals: Are Obese Patients Under Risk of Developing Asthma? Eurasian J Med 2020; 52(1): 25-8.