Central obesity and fat-free mass are associated with a larger spleen volume in the general population
Keywords:
Body characteristics, central obesity, Fat-free mass, MRI, spleen volume
Abstract
Background and aim: As the spleen plays a significant role in immunity, the aim was to investigate the associations of different body composition markers derived from various sources with spleen volume in a general population sample.
Materials and methods: Cross-sectional data of 1095 individuals (570 women; 52%) aged between 30 and 90 years were collected in the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP-START-2). We measured spleen volume by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Body composition markers were derived from classic anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance analysis, including absolute fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM), as well as from MRI, including visceral adipose tissue (VAT), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), and liver fat content. Sex-stratified-adjusted linear regression models were used to analyze the associations of body composition markers with spleen volumes.
Results: We observed positive associations of body mass index, body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-to-height ratio, absolute FM, absolute FFM, and VAT and SAT with spleen volume in men and women. An 8.12 kg higher absolute FFM was associated with a 38.4 mL (95% confidence interval [CI]: 26.7–50.1) higher spleen volume in men and a 5.21 kg higher absolute FFM with a 42.6 mL (95% CI: 26.2–59.0) higher spleen volume in women.
Conclusion: Our findings indicate that obesity-related body composition markers and FFM are associated with a higher spleen volume. Particularly, higher absolute FFM showed a strong association with a larger spleen volume in both men and women. Further studies are warranted to understand the clinical significance of body composition markers on large spleen volume.
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References
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31. Sawka MN, Young AJ, Pandolf KB, Dennis RC, Valeri CR. Erythrocyte, plasma, and blood volume of healthy young men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1992;24(4):447–53. doi: 10.1249/00005768-199204000-00009
32. Kawai T, Autieri MV, Scalia R. Adipose tissue inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in obesity. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2021;320(3):C375–91. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00379.2020
33. Li Y, Wu J, Xu L, Wu Q, Wan Z, Li L, et al. Regulation of leukocyte recruitment to the spleen and peritoneal cavity during pristane-induced inflammation. J Immunol Res. 2017;2017:9891348. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00379.2020
34. Achamrah N, Colange G, Delay J, Rimbert A, Folope V, Petit A, et al. Comparison of body composition assessment by DXA and BIA according to the body mass index: a retrospective study on 3655 measures. PLoS One. 2018;13(7):e0200465. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200465
35. Fang H, Berg E, Cheng X, Shen W. How to best assess abdominal obesity. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2018;21(5):360–5. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0000000000000485
2. Lemos T, Gallagher D. Current body composition measurement techniques. Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 2017;24(5):310–14. doi: 10.1097/MED.0000000000000360
3. Dinparastisaleh R, Khan SA, Santhanam P. Body composition assessment. In: Ahima RS, ed. Metabolic syndrome: a comprehensive textbook. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2023, pp. 491–505.
4. Arnold M, Leitzmann M, Freisling H, Bray F, Romieu I, Renehan A, et al. Obesity and cancer: an update of the global impact. Cancer Epidemiol. 2016;41:8–15. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2016.01.003
5. Pischon N, Heng N, Bernimoulin J-P, Kleber B-M, Willich SN, Pischon T. Obesity, inflammation, and periodontal disease. J Dent Res. 2007;86(5):400–9. doi: 10.1177/154405910708600503
6. Festa A, Agostino RD, Williams K, Karter AJ, Mayer-Davis EJ, Tracy RP, et al. The relation of body fat mass and distribution to markers of chronic inflammation. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001;25(10):1407–15. doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0801792
7. Khanna D, Khanna S, Khanna P, Kahar PP, Patel BM. Obesity: a chronic low-grade inflammation and its markers. Cureus. 2022;14(2):e22711. doi: 10.7759/cureus.22711
8. Engin A. The definition and prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2017;960:1–17. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-48382-5_1
9. Lewis SM, Williams A, Eisenbarth SC. Structure and function of the immune system in the spleen. Sci Immunol. 2019;4(33):aau6085. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aau6085
10. Tarantino G, Scalera A, Finelli C. Liver-spleen axis: intersection between immunity, infections and metabolism. World J Gastroenterol. 2013;19(23):3534–42. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i23.3534
11. Abd El-Aziz R, Naguib M, Rashed LA. Spleen size in patients with metabolic syndrome and its relation to metabolic and inflammatory parameters. Egypt J Intern Med. 2018;30(2):78–82. doi: 10.4103/ejim.ejim_86_17
12. Altunkaynak BZ, Ozbek E, Altunkaynak ME. A stereological and histological analysis of spleen on obese female rats, fed with high fat diet. Saudi Med J. 2007;28(3):353–7.
13. Cruz-Romero C, Agarwal S, Abujudeh HH, Thrall J, Hahn PF. Spleen volume on CT and the effect of abdominal trauma. Emerg Radiol. 2016;23(4):315–23. doi: 10.1007/s10140-016-1402-5
14. Gotoh K, Fujiwara K, Anai M, Okamoto M, Masaki T, Kakuma T, et al. Role of spleen-derived IL-10 in prevention of systemic low-grade inflammation by obesity [Review]. Endocr J. 2017;64(4):375–8. doi: 10.1507/endocrj.EJ17-0060
15. Gotoh K, Inoue M, Masaki T, Chiba S, Shimasaki T, Ando H, et al. A novel anti-inflammatory role for spleen-derived interleukin-10 in obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation. J Neurochem. 2012;120(5):752–64. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2011.07617.x
16. Gotoh K, Inoue M, Shiraishi K, Masaki T, Chiba S, Mitsutomi K, et al. Spleen-derived interleukin-10 downregulates the severity of high-fat diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty pancreas disease. PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e53154. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053154
17. Chow KU, Luxembourg B, Seifried E, Bonig H. Spleen size is significantly influenced by body height and sex: establishment of normal values for spleen size at US with a cohort of 1200 healthy Individuals. Radiology. 2016;279(1):306–13. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2015150887
18. Huang Y, Zheng Y, Zhang C, Zhong S. Ultrasound assessment of the relevance of liver, spleen, and kidney dimensions with body parameters in adolescents. Comput Math Methods Med. 2022;2022:9150803. doi: 10.1155/2022/9150803
19. Fateh SM, Mohammed NA, Mahmood KA, Hasan AH, Tahir SH, Kakamad FH, et al. Sonographic measurement of splenic size and its correlation with body parameters. Med Int (Lond). 2023;3(1):7. doi: 10.3892/mi.2023.67
20. Völzke H, Schössow J, Schmidt CO, Jürgens C, Richter A, Werner A. et al, Cohort profile update: the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Int J Epidemiol. 2022;51(6):e372–83. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyac034
21. Britton KA, Massaro JM, Murabito JM, Kreger BE, Hoffman U, Fox CS. Body fat distribution, incident cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2013;62(10):921–5. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2013.06.027
22. Völzke H, Alte D, Schmidt CO, Radke D, Lorbeer R, Friedrich N, et al. Cohort profile: the study of health in Pomerania. Int J Epidemiol. 2011;40(2):294–307. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyp394
23. Miangul S, Oluwaremi T, Haddad JE, Adra M, Pinnawala N, Nakanishi H, et al. Update on the efficacy and safety of intravenous tranexamic acid in hip fracture surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol. 2023;33(5):2179–90. doi: 10.1007/s00590-022-03387-9
24. Bibi S, Naeem M, Bahls M, Dörr M, Friedrich N, Nauck M, et al. Body composition markers from classic anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and magnetic resonance imaging are associated with inflammatory markers in the general population. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2023;33(10):1899–906. doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2023.05.026
25. Bulow R, Ittermann T, Dörr M, Poesch A, Langer S, Völzke H, et al. Reference ranges of left ventricular structure and function assessed by contrast-enhanced cardiac MR and changes related to ageing and hypertension in a population-based study. Eur Radiol. 2018;28(9):3996–4005. doi: 10.1007/s00330-018-5345-y
26. Naeem M, Ittermann T, Markus MRP, Mousa MFM, Heder LV, Bülow R, et al. Associations of spleen volume with markers of blood count and lipid profile in a large population-based study. Ups J Med Sci. 2023;128(1):128–133. doi: 10.48101/ujms.v128.9785
27. Arora N, Sharma PK, Sahai A, Singh R. Sonographic measurement of the spleen: splenic length in adults and its correlation with different parameters. J Anat Soc India. 2013;62(1):57–61. doi: 10.1016/S0003-2778(13)80014-7
28. Johnson KO, Holliday A, Mistry N, Cunniffe A, Howard K, Stanger N, et al. An increase in fat-free mass is associated with higher appetite and energy intake in older adults: a randomised control trial. Nutrients. 2021;13(1):141. doi: 10.3390/nu13010141
29. Wang Z, Deurenberg P, Wang W, Pietrobelli A, Baumgartner RN, Heymsfield SB. Hydration of fat-free body mass: review and critique of a classic body-composition constant. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69(5):833–41. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/69.5.833
30. Bella JN, Devereux RB, Roman MJ, O’Grady MJ, Welty TK, Lee ET, et al. Relations of left ventricular mass to fat-free and adipose body mass: the strong heart study. The Strong Heart Study Investigators. Circulation. 1998;98(23):2538–44. doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.98.23.2538
31. Sawka MN, Young AJ, Pandolf KB, Dennis RC, Valeri CR. Erythrocyte, plasma, and blood volume of healthy young men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1992;24(4):447–53. doi: 10.1249/00005768-199204000-00009
32. Kawai T, Autieri MV, Scalia R. Adipose tissue inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in obesity. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2021;320(3):C375–91. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00379.2020
33. Li Y, Wu J, Xu L, Wu Q, Wan Z, Li L, et al. Regulation of leukocyte recruitment to the spleen and peritoneal cavity during pristane-induced inflammation. J Immunol Res. 2017;2017:9891348. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00379.2020
34. Achamrah N, Colange G, Delay J, Rimbert A, Folope V, Petit A, et al. Comparison of body composition assessment by DXA and BIA according to the body mass index: a retrospective study on 3655 measures. PLoS One. 2018;13(7):e0200465. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200465
35. Fang H, Berg E, Cheng X, Shen W. How to best assess abdominal obesity. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2018;21(5):360–5. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0000000000000485
Published
2024-05-30
How to Cite
Mousa M. F. M., Muhammad N., Bibi S., Bülow R., Bahls M., Siewert-Markus U., Töpfer P., Aghdassi A., Khan Khattak M. N., Völzke H., Markus M. R., & Ittermann T. (2024). Central obesity and fat-free mass are associated with a larger spleen volume in the general population. Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences, 129, e10465. https://doi.org/10.48101/ujms.v129.10465
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