Hair cortisol levels are associated with overweight and obesity in the ELSA-Brasil cohort.

Introduction: Hair cortisol level has recently been identified as a promising marker for detecting long-term cortisol levels and a marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortex (HPA) axis activity. However, research on the association between obesity and an altered cortisol metabolism remains controversial. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between hair cortisol levels and overweight and obesity in participants from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 2,499 participants from the second follow-up (visit 3, 2017-2019) attending research centers in Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul states. Hair samples were collected, and cortisol levels were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Cortisol levels were classified as low (< 40 pg/mg), medium (40-128 pg/mg), or high (> 128 pg/mg). The participants were classified as eutrophic, overweight, or obese according to their weight (kg) and height (m2). Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were estimated. Results: Of the 2499 individuals, 30% had eutrophic weight, 40% were overweight, and 30% were obese. Notably, cortisol levels gradually increased with increasing body weight. Among participants with high hair cortisol levels, 41.2% were classified as overweight and 34.2% as obese. Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that participants with high cortisol levels were 43% (OR =1.43; 95%CI: 1.02-2.03) more likely to be overweight and 72% (OR =1.72; 95%CI:1.20-2.47) more likely to be obese than participants with low hair cortisol levels. After adjustment for all covariates, high cortisol levels remained associated with obesity (OR = 1.54; 95%CI:1.02-2.31) and overweight (OR =1.33; 95%CI:0.91-1.94). Conclusion: In the ELSA-Brazil cohort, hair stress were positively associated with overweight and obesity. These results underscore the importance of considering stress and cortisol as potential factors in obesity prevention and intervention efforts, and highlight a novel aspect of the complex relationship between stress and obesity in the Brazilian population.

Advanced glycation end product: A potential biomarker for risk stratification of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in ELSA-Brasil study.

BACKGROUND: Liver diseases are associated with the excess formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which induce tissue inflammation and oxidative damage. However, the trend of oxidative marker levels according to the steatosis grade in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is unclear. AIM: To compare serum AGE levels between participants with NAFLD accordingly to steatosis severity in the baseline ELSA-Brasil population. METHODS: In 305 individuals at baseline ELSA-Brasil, NAFLD-associated steatosis was classified by ultrasound hepatic attenuation. The participants were grouped according to the severity of steatosis: mild and moderate/severe pooled. The measurement of serum fluorescent AGE concentrations was based on spectrofluorimetric detection. Serum AGE content and clinical and laboratory characteristics of the participants were compared between groups. The correlation between serum AGE levels and the grade of steatosis was analyzed. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between serum AGE levels and steatosis severity. A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: According to the steatosis severity spectrum in NAFLD, from mild to moderate/severe, individuals with the most severe steatosis grade had a higher incidence of metabolic syndrome (63% vs 34%, P ≤ 0.001), diabetes mellitus (37% vs 14%, P ≤ 0.001), and high cholesterol levels (51% vs 33%, P < 0.001). Moreover, individuals with increasing severity of steatosis presented increasing waist circumference, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, insulin, triglycerides, alanine aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, C-reactive protein, and uric acid levels and lower high-density lipoprotein. Higher serum AGE content was present in the moderate/severe group of individuals than in the mild group (P = 0.008). In addition, the serum AGE levels were correlated with the steatosis grade in the overall sample (rho = 0.146, P = 0.010). Logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for confounding variables, showed that subjects with higher serum AGE content had a 4.6-fold increased chance of having moderate or severe steatosis when compared to low levels of serum AGEs. According to the results of the receiver operator characteristic curves analyses (areas under the curve, AUC = 0.83), AGEs could be a good marker of steatosis severity in patients with NAFLD and might be a potential biomarker in predicting NAFLD progression, strengthening the involvement of AGE in NAFLD pathogenesis. CONCLUSION: NAFLD-associated steatosis was associated with serum AGE levels; therefore, plasmatic fluorescent AGE quantification by spectroscopy could be a promising alternative method to monitor progression from mild to severe NAFLD accordingly to steatosis grade.