The relationship between anthropometric factors and hyperuricemia in adolescent athletes.

PURPOSE: Hyperuricemia has been increasingly prevalent and linked to future cardio-metabolic risks in adolescent population. The study aims to explore the relationship between anthropometric indices and hyperuricemia among adolescent athletes. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 387 student athletes (218 males and 169 females; mean age, 17.4 ± 1.3 years) in Northern Taiwan in 2013-2015. We exhibited the prevalence of hyperuricemia among this population, and tested the association of serum uric acid levels with different anthropometric parameters in males and females respectively. RESULTS: A total of 59 (27.1%) male and 37 (21.8%) female adolescent athletes had hyperuricemia. Both in male and female adolescents, several obesity-related anthropometric parameters were significantly higher in hyperuricemia groups than in non-hyperuricemia groups. The odds of having hyperuricemia significantly increased with increasing BMI, BMI z-score, waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio in logistic regression analysis. There was a U-shaped association between uric acid level and body fat percentage (BF%) in both genders. Subjects whose BF% in lowest-body-fat-percentage quintile (quintile 1) and highest-body-fat-percentage quintile (quintile 5) had higher mean serum uric acid level than subjects whose BF% in the middle three quintiles. In both genders, the odds ratio (OR) of having hyperuricemia in subjects whose BF% in quintile 1 remained significantly higher than the OR in the middle three quintiles (the reference) after adjusting for age and BMI z-score. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the positive association between obesity and hyperuricemia, there is a U shape association between BF% and prevalence of hyperuricemia among adolescent athletes of both genders.

Olfactory disorder in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Three (60%) of five patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had olfactory disorder. Two exhibited anosmia at the onset of COVID-19, while one had hyposmia 4 days after the onset of COVID-19. All patients with olfactory disorder were completely recovered with a mean recovery length of 11.3 days.

Association of weight change patterns in late adolescence with young adult wage differentials: A multilevel longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have demonstrated that different weight change patterns from adolescence to adulthood may exert different effects on opportunities from which individuals subsequently benefit. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the association of weight change patterns from late adolescence to young adulthood with monthly wage in young adulthood for both genders in Taiwan. METHODS: A nationally representative retrospective panel of 3730 young people (1707 men and 2023 women) from the Taiwan Educational Panel Survey (2001-2014) was included. Individuals were divided into four weight-change-pattern categories based on changes in their body mass index at two time points that were 7 years apart, between late adolescence (aged 18-19 years) and young adulthood (aged 25-26 years). These categories were (1) no obesity, (2) obesity reversal, (3) developing obesity, and (4) persistent obesity. Cross-classified, hierarchical linear regression modeling analysis was performed to explore the association of weight change patterns with monthly wage in young adulthood, after adjustment for both individual- and contextual-level variables. RESULTS: Of the weight-change-pattern categories for both genders, individuals with persistent obesity had the lowest monthly wage. For women, the mean monthly wage decreased progressively for the categories of no obesity, obesity reversal, developing obesity, and persistent obesity (test for difference, P = 0.016; test for trend, P = 0.026). Women with persistent obesity earned 20% less per month than did those who were never obese (P = 0.024), after controlling for individual and contextual factors. For men, no association was found between weight change patterns and monthly wage. CONCLUSION: Persistent obesity from late adolescence to young adulthood is associated with low monthly wage in young adulthood in women but not in men. These findings highlight the urgency of addressing persistent obesity early in life, especially for women.

Relationship between chronic hepatitis B and metabolic syndrome: A structural equation modeling approach.

OBJECTIVE: Investigate the nature of the relationship between chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and metabolic syndrome among nondiabetic adults. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional analysis of 17,030 nondiabetic adults (7437 males and 9593 females; mean age, 36.0 ± 3.9 years) in northern Taiwan from 2008 to 2009. The associations of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity with metabolic syndrome and cardio-metabolic parameters were assessed. A structural equation model was constructed to elucidate the pathways between chronic HBV infection and individual cardiometabolic risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 2982 (17.5%) participants were HBsAg-seropositive. Of the seropositive and seronegative subjects, 15.5 and 16.9% had metabolic syndrome, respectively. The HBsAg-seropositive subjects had a lower odds of having metabolic syndrome compared with the seronegative subjects irrespective of gender and age (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.68-0.85). The inverse associations remained significant after adjusting for body mass index and serum alanine aminotransferase levels. HBsAg seropositivity was inversely associated with hypertriglyceridemia (OR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.52-0.66), and low serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.79-0.93) after adjustments. The structural equation model revealed chronic HBV infection had a significant negative effect on dyslipidemia both in males (B = -0.054) and females (B = -0.064). CONCLUSIONS: The inverse relationship between chronic HBV infection and metabolic syndrome may be attributable to the net beneficial effects on lipid profiles.

Serum Triglyceride Levels Independently Contribute to the Estimation of Visceral Fat Amount Among Nondiabetic Obese Adults.

Determining the visceral fat amount is important in the risk stratification for the prevention of type 2 diabetes and obesity-related disorders. The area-based measurement of visceral fat area (VFA) via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an accurate but expensive and time-consuming method for estimating visceral fat amount. The aim of our study was to identify a practical predictive parameter for visceral obesity in clinical settings. In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 51 nondiabetic obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 27 kg/m²) adults in Taiwan (21 men and 30 women, mean age 35.6 ±â€Š9.2 years, mean BMI 33.3 ±â€Š3.9 kg/m²). VFA was quantified by a single-slice MRI image. Anthropometric indices and biochemical parameters including fasting plasma glucose, serum level of alanine aminotransferase, and lipid profiles were measured. The associations between different variables and VFA were analyzed by linear regression analysis. Increases in BMI, waist circumference, serum levels of alanine aminotransferase and triglycerides (TGs), and decreased serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were correlated with larger VFA. After adjustment for age, sex, and anthropometric indices, only serum TG level remained as an independent correlate of VFA. Besides demographic and anthropometric indices, adding TG level may explain a greater variance of VFA. In stepwise multivariate regression analysis, male sex, age, waist circumference, and serum TG level remained significant predictors of VFA. In a subgroup analysis among subjects with BMI ≥30 kg/m², similar results were demonstrated and serum TG level remained as significant independent correlates of VFA in all of the predictive models. Among nondiabetic obese adults, serum TG level was positively associated with VFA. The combination of sex, age, anthropometric indices, and serum TG level may be used to estimate VFA in clinical settings.

Vitamin D status and risk of metabolic syndrome among non-diabetic young adults.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Low vitamin D status has been linked to obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. In the present study, we aimed to explore the nature and strength of the relationship between vitamin D and metabolic syndrome among non-diabetic young adults. METHODS: This was a campus-based cross-sectional study of 355 non-diabetic young adult graduate students (233 males and 132 females; mean age, 23.5 ± 2.4 years) in Northern Taiwan. We measured and tested the association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels with metabolic syndrome and cardio-metabolic parameters. RESULTS: A total of 24 (6.8%) recruited young adults had metabolic syndrome. There were decreasing trends of body mass index (BMI), Homeostasis Model of Assessment-Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) and prevalence of metabolic syndrome across increasing tertiles of vitamin D levels irrespective of age and sex (P for trend <0.05). Without adjusting for BMI or HOMA-IR, the odds of having metabolic syndrome decreased across increasing tertiles of vitamin D levels (P for trend 0.021). The odds ratio of having metabolic syndrome was 0.26 (95% confidence interval: 0.08-0.85, P = 0.025) for the highest vs. the lowest tertile of vitamin D levels. However, further adjustments for BMI and HOMA-IR largely removed the inverse association of vitamin D status with metabolic syndrome and its individual components. CONCLUSION: Among non-diabetic young adults, the potential inverse relationship between vitamin D status and metabolic syndrome may be attributable to the conjunctive effects of individual obesity and insulin resistance.