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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1455198
This article is part of the Research Topic Toxicity Mechanisms of Environmental Pollutants and Health Risk Assessment View all 19 articles

Inflammatory Factors Promoting Serum-heavy-metalinduced Hyperlipidemia: a Cross-sectional Study

Provisionally accepted
Xiaoyi Zhu Xiaoyi Zhu 1Yu-zhe Kong Yu-zhe Kong 1*Wenqi Yang Wenqi Yang 1Haitao Xu Haitao Xu 1Yu Zuo Yu Zuo 2*
  • 1 Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China
  • 2 Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China

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

    Background: Hyperlipidemia significantly contributes to cardiovascular disease risk, and recent studies indicate that serum heavy metals like copper could affect lipid concentrations by activating inflammatory processes.Methods: Data from 2,241 individuals in the NHANES 2011-2016 were analyzed using weighted multivariate logistic regression to study the link between serum copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) levels and hyperlipidemia. We also utilized restricted cubic spline (RCS) models to investigate their nonlinear associations. To examine the influence of additional variables, subgroup analyses were performed. The combined effects of Cu and Zn exposure on hyperlipidemia were assessed using Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). Furthermore, the role of inflammatory factors in the development of hyperlipidemia was explored through mediation analysis, multiple linear regression analysis (MLRA), and weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression.Results: Higher levels of serum copper were linked to a greater risk of hyperlipidemia. This connection was significantly mediated by inflammation markers, with biomarkers like white blood cell count playing a substantial mediating role. The findings emphasize copper's impact on lipid metabolism via inflammatory pathways.Our results indicate that serum copper could play a role in the onset of hyperlipidemia through inflammatory mechanisms.Exploring how trace metals affect lipid metabolism may improve approaches to control and prevent hyperlipidemia.

    Keywords: Hyperlipidemia, heavy metal, NHANES, Inflammation, Mediation analysis

    Received: 26 Jun 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Kong, Yang, Xu and Zuo. 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:
    Yu-zhe Kong, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China
    Yu Zuo, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410013, Hunan Province, China

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