Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1458764

The Association between White Blood Cell Counts and Metabolic Health Obesity among US Adults

Provisionally accepted
Zhanbin Li Zhanbin Li 1,2,3Zhenyu Yao Zhenyu Yao 1,2,3*Qiaoran Liu Qiaoran Liu 4*
  • 1 Department of Endocrinology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University; Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, China
  • 2 Shandong Clinical Research Center of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, China
  • 3 Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
  • 4 Department of breast surgery, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The correlation between white cell count and metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) remains elusive among obese American adults. This study endeavors to elucidate this association.This study enrolled 6580 obese patients from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Obesity phenotypes were defined by presence/absence of metabolic syndrome components. Weighted multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between white cell count and MHO occurrence. Restricted cubic spline analysis characterized dose-response relationships, and stratified analyses explored these relationships across sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.Results: In this study, MHO prevalence is 11.9% among obese adults. The risk of MHO was inversely correlated with WBC [OR (95%): 0.81 (0.76,0.86), P <0.001], lymphocytes [OR (95%): 0.56 (0.47,0.68), P <0.001], monocytes [OR (95%): 0.41 (0.22,0.75), P =0.004], and neutrophils count [OR (95%): 0.82 (0.76,0.88), P <0.001]. WBC and neutrophils showed L-shaped associations, while lymphocytes, monocytes, and RBCs had linear patterns. Furthermore, stratified analyses demonstrated blood cell counts consistently predicted MHO risk across subgroups.In this study, we provide novel insights into the association between blood cell count and the presence of MHO among obese individuals. Blood cell count is an accessible biomarker for dynamically tracking the presence of MHO.

    Keywords: Blood cell count1, WBC2, RBC3, MHO4, NHANES5

    Received: 03 Jul 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Li, Yao and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zhenyu Yao, Department of Endocrinology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University; Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, China
    Qiaoran Liu, Department of breast surgery, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.