Chronic inflammation is associated with overweight in Colombian school children

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To examine the cross-sectional associations of inflammatory markers in plasma including C-reactive protein (CRP) and ferritin, and white blood cell (WBC) count, with overweight, skinfold sum (subscapular + triceps), and skinfold ratio (subscapular/triceps) among children from Bogotá, Colombia. METHODS AND RESULTS: The sample (n = 2614) represented low- and middle-income children, aged 5–12 years, from Bogotá. We assessed their anthropometry, sociodemographic characteristics, and circulating inflammatory markers. We defined overweight, including obesity, according to the International Obesity Task Force BMI criteria. After adjustment for potential confounders, children in the fourth quartile of the CRP distribution had a 37% higher prevalence of overweight compared to those in the first quartile (P for trend = 0.03); and children in the fourth quartile of ferritin had a 67% greater prevalence of overweight compared to children in the first quartile (P for trend <0.001). Children in the highest 3 quartiles of the WBC distribution had a 35% higher prevalence of overweight than those in the first quartile (P = 0.03). Ferritin was significantly and positively associated with skinfold sum (P for trend < 0.001), while WBC was significantly and positively associated with skinfold ratio (P for trend < 0.001). There was a significant interaction between CRP and ferritin; children in the highest quartiles of CRP and ferritin had twice the prevalence of overweight compared to those below the highest quartiles (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Biomarkers of chronic inflammation are positively associated with child overweight. WBC is positively related to skinfold ratio, a proxy for truncal adiposity.