21 February 2022
Summary
Recently, Sinatora et al. [1] reported the results of a study aimed at investigating the relationship between inflammatory biomarkers and the metabolic syndrome (MS) in postmenopausal women (n=52, aged 50 to 79 years), in addition to performing cutoff points for IL-10, IL-6, and TNF-α in the diagnosis of MS. This was a cross-sectional observational study based on STROBE in which data were collected from obese (body fat percentage [% BF] ≥ 35%) postmenopausal women (at least 5 years), not on hormone therapy, and taking into consideration different diagnostic criteria for the MS (International Diabetes Federation (IDF); National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP-III), and Harmonized criteria), comorbidities, and values of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF-α), fasting glycemia (FG), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL-C), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C). Other analyzed parameters included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and body composition as determined with bioelectrical impedance analysis. The authors found no significant difference between the methods and no interaction between the method and the presence of MS. However, for the values of WC, BF%, TNF-α, and IL-10/TNF-α ratio, a significant effect of the MS was observed. Those with the MS displayed lower values of BF% and TNF-α and higher values of the IL-10/TNF-α ratio. The higher IL-10/TNF-α ratio in the MS group was related to the greater anti-inflationary action of IL-10 and the IL-10/TNF-α ratio showed significant accuracy to discriminate women with MS according to the NCEP-ATP III criteria. The authors conclude that BF% and the lower TNF-α values in the groups with MS highlight the relationship between these variables. Higher IL-10/TNF-α ratio values in the MS group suggest that higher IL-10 concentrations may be contributing to the reduction of TNF-α in the MS group. Furthermore, the IL-10/TNF-α ratio showed significant accuracy to discriminate patients with MS according to the NCEP criteria.
