Adenovirus 36 as a Risk Factor for Clinical Overweight/Obesity

Abstract

We evaluated Adenovirus 36 (Ad36) serostatus and follow‐up body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and clinical records among Air Force (AF) recruits.Male enlistees (n=500) were followed from time of entry into AF beginning in 1995 to 2012 or separation, for 2915 person‐years. Numerically randomized selection occurred within four BMI quartiles (ranging from 20–30 kg/m2), stratified by year of entry. The exposure, Ad36 antibody, was assessed by ELISA from banked serum.The primary outcome, follow‐up BMI, was similar by serostatus. This contrasted with secondary outcomes. The hazard of clinical overweight/obesity showed interaction (p=0.007) between baseline BMI and serostatus. At a baseline BMI of 22.5, survey weighted cox proportional hazards showed the seropositive had a 4.0 fold increased hazard of diagnosis of clinical overweight/obesity (p=0.003) as compared with seronegative, controlling for baseline BMI. The maximum WC was higher among seropositive.Ad36 serostatus is associated with increased hazard of overweight/obesity diagnosis among lean, male, AF recruits.The opinions are those of authors, not the DoD or USUHS. IDCRP funded the study and Obetech, LLC provided lab testing.