TY - JOUR
T1 - Obesity and risk of infection
T2 - results from the Danish Blood Donor Study
AU - Kaspersen, Kathrine Agergård
AU - Pedersen, Ole Birger Vesterager
AU - Petersen, Mikkel Steen
AU - Hjalgrim, Henrik
AU - Rostgaard, Klaus
AU - Møller, Bjarne Kuno
AU - Juul-Sørensen, Cecilie
AU - Kotzé, Sebastian
AU - Dinh, Khoa Manh
AU - Erikstrup, Lise Tornvig
AU - Sørensen, Erik
AU - Thørner, Lise Wegner
AU - Burgdorf, Kristoffer Sølvsten
AU - Ullum, Henrik
AU - Erikstrup, Christian
PY - 2015/7/4
Y1 - 2015/7/4
N2 - BACKGROUND: It is well known that obesity complicates the course of several diseases. However, it is unknown whether obesity affects the risk of infection among healthy individuals.METHODS: We included 37,808 healthy participants from the Danish Blood Donor Study, who completed a questionnaire on health-related items. Obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m(2). Infections among participants were identified by relevant ICD-10 codes in the Danish National Patient Register and Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) codes in the Danish Prescription Register. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis with age as the underlying timescale was used as the statistical model.RESULTS: During 113,717 person-years of observation, 1,233 participants were treated for infection at a hospital. Similarly, during 58,411 person-years of observation, 15,856 participants filled at least one prescription of antimicrobials. Obesity was associated with risk of hospital-based treatment for infection (women: hazard ratio [HR] = 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1, 1.9; men: HR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.2, 1.9). For specific infections, obesity was associated with increased risk of abscesses (both sexes), infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (men), and respiratory tract infections and cystitis (women). Similarly, obesity was associated with filled prescriptions of antimicrobials overall (women: HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.14, 1.30; men: HR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.33) and particularly with phenoxymethylpenicillin, macrolides, dicloxacillin and flucloxacillin, and broad-spectrum penicillins.CONCLUSIONS: In a large cohort of healthy individuals, obesity was associated with risk of infection. This result warrants further studies of metabolism and the immune response.
AB - BACKGROUND: It is well known that obesity complicates the course of several diseases. However, it is unknown whether obesity affects the risk of infection among healthy individuals.METHODS: We included 37,808 healthy participants from the Danish Blood Donor Study, who completed a questionnaire on health-related items. Obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m(2). Infections among participants were identified by relevant ICD-10 codes in the Danish National Patient Register and Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) codes in the Danish Prescription Register. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis with age as the underlying timescale was used as the statistical model.RESULTS: During 113,717 person-years of observation, 1,233 participants were treated for infection at a hospital. Similarly, during 58,411 person-years of observation, 15,856 participants filled at least one prescription of antimicrobials. Obesity was associated with risk of hospital-based treatment for infection (women: hazard ratio [HR] = 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1, 1.9; men: HR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.2, 1.9). For specific infections, obesity was associated with increased risk of abscesses (both sexes), infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (men), and respiratory tract infections and cystitis (women). Similarly, obesity was associated with filled prescriptions of antimicrobials overall (women: HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.14, 1.30; men: HR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.33) and particularly with phenoxymethylpenicillin, macrolides, dicloxacillin and flucloxacillin, and broad-spectrum penicillins.CONCLUSIONS: In a large cohort of healthy individuals, obesity was associated with risk of infection. This result warrants further studies of metabolism and the immune response.
KW - Abscess
KW - Adolescent
KW - Adult
KW - Aged
KW - Anti-Bacterial Agents
KW - Anti-Infective Agents
KW - Blood Donors
KW - Body Mass Index
KW - Cohort Studies
KW - Cystitis
KW - Denmark
KW - Dicloxacillin
KW - Female
KW - Floxacillin
KW - Humans
KW - Incidence
KW - Infection
KW - Macrolides
KW - Male
KW - Middle Aged
KW - Multivariate Analysis
KW - Obesity
KW - Penicillin V
KW - Penicillins
KW - Proportional Hazards Models
KW - Respiratory Tract Infections
KW - Risk Factors
KW - Sex Factors
KW - Soft Tissue Infections
KW - Surveys and Questionnaires
KW - Young Adult
KW - Journal Article
KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
U2 - 10.1097/EDE.0000000000000301
DO - 10.1097/EDE.0000000000000301
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 25978794
SN - 1044-3983
VL - 26
SP - 580
EP - 589
JO - Epidemiology
JF - Epidemiology
IS - 4
ER -