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The value of neck adipose tissue as a predictor for metabolic risk in health and type 2 diabetes

Cresswell, Emily ; Basty, Nicolas ; Atabaki Pasdar, Naeimeh LU orcid ; Karpe, Fredrik and Pinnick, Katherine E. (2024) In Biochemical Pharmacology 223.
Abstract

Upper-body adiposity is adversely associated with metabolic health whereas the opposite is observed for the lower-body. The neck is a unique upper-body fat depot in adult humans, housing thermogenic brown adipose tissue (BAT), which is increasingly recognised to influence whole-body metabolic health. Loss of BAT, concurrent with replacement by white adipose tissue (WAT), may contribute to metabolic disease, and specific accumulation of neck fat is seen in certain conditions accompanied by adverse metabolic consequences. Yet, few studies have investigated the relationships between neck fat mass (NFM) and cardiometabolic risk, and the influence of sex and metabolic status. Typically, neck circumference (NC) is used as a proxy for neck... (More)

Upper-body adiposity is adversely associated with metabolic health whereas the opposite is observed for the lower-body. The neck is a unique upper-body fat depot in adult humans, housing thermogenic brown adipose tissue (BAT), which is increasingly recognised to influence whole-body metabolic health. Loss of BAT, concurrent with replacement by white adipose tissue (WAT), may contribute to metabolic disease, and specific accumulation of neck fat is seen in certain conditions accompanied by adverse metabolic consequences. Yet, few studies have investigated the relationships between neck fat mass (NFM) and cardiometabolic risk, and the influence of sex and metabolic status. Typically, neck circumference (NC) is used as a proxy for neck fat, without considering other determinants of NC, including variability in neck lean mass. In this study we develop and validate novel methods to quantify NFM using dual x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) imaging, and subsequently investigate the associations of NFM with metabolic biomarkers across approximately 7000 subjects from the Oxford BioBank. NFM correlated with systemic insulin resistance (Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance; HOMA-IR), low-grade inflammation (plasma high-sensitivity C-Reactive Protein; hsCRP), and metabolic markers of adipose tissue function (plasma triglycerides and non-esterified fatty acids; NEFA). NFM was higher in men than women, higher in type 2 diabetes mellitus compared with non-diabetes, after adjustment for total body fat, and also associated with overall cardiovascular disease risk (calculated QRISK3 score). This study describes the development of methods for accurate determination of NFM at scale and suggests a specific relationship between NFM and adverse metabolic health.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Adipose tissue, Cardiometabolic health, Fat distribution, Imaging, Neck, Type 2 diabetes mellitus
in
Biochemical Pharmacology
volume
223
article number
116171
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85189654318
  • pmid:38552854
ISSN
0006-2952
DOI
10.1016/j.bcp.2024.116171
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a65570b0-b506-4484-a10c-5ea70b56a2b7
date added to LUP
2024-04-23 10:15:03
date last changed
2024-06-18 15:11:06
@article{a65570b0-b506-4484-a10c-5ea70b56a2b7,
  abstract     = {{<p>Upper-body adiposity is adversely associated with metabolic health whereas the opposite is observed for the lower-body. The neck is a unique upper-body fat depot in adult humans, housing thermogenic brown adipose tissue (BAT), which is increasingly recognised to influence whole-body metabolic health. Loss of BAT, concurrent with replacement by white adipose tissue (WAT), may contribute to metabolic disease, and specific accumulation of neck fat is seen in certain conditions accompanied by adverse metabolic consequences. Yet, few studies have investigated the relationships between neck fat mass (NFM) and cardiometabolic risk, and the influence of sex and metabolic status. Typically, neck circumference (NC) is used as a proxy for neck fat, without considering other determinants of NC, including variability in neck lean mass. In this study we develop and validate novel methods to quantify NFM using dual x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) imaging, and subsequently investigate the associations of NFM with metabolic biomarkers across approximately 7000 subjects from the Oxford BioBank. NFM correlated with systemic insulin resistance (Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance; HOMA-IR), low-grade inflammation (plasma high-sensitivity C-Reactive Protein; hsCRP), and metabolic markers of adipose tissue function (plasma triglycerides and non-esterified fatty acids; NEFA). NFM was higher in men than women, higher in type 2 diabetes mellitus compared with non-diabetes, after adjustment for total body fat, and also associated with overall cardiovascular disease risk (calculated QRISK3 score). This study describes the development of methods for accurate determination of NFM at scale and suggests a specific relationship between NFM and adverse metabolic health.</p>}},
  author       = {{Cresswell, Emily and Basty, Nicolas and Atabaki Pasdar, Naeimeh and Karpe, Fredrik and Pinnick, Katherine E.}},
  issn         = {{0006-2952}},
  keywords     = {{Adipose tissue; Cardiometabolic health; Fat distribution; Imaging; Neck; Type 2 diabetes mellitus}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Biochemical Pharmacology}},
  title        = {{The value of neck adipose tissue as a predictor for metabolic risk in health and type 2 diabetes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2024.116171}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.bcp.2024.116171}},
  volume       = {{223}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}