A recent study titled “Inflammation and Obesity Correlate in Pulmonary Hypertension but Associate with Diverging Outcomes” analysed two common health factors in people with pulmonary hypertension: inflammation and body weight. Inflammation is associated with all types of pulmonary hypertension. In the study inflammation was measured by a blood test called C-reactive protein (CRP), and body weight by body mass index (BMI). Researchers followed over 10,000 pulmonary hypertension patients and found two main groups:
- Low inflammation (lower CRP levels)
- High inflammation (higher CRP levels)
People with higher inflammation often had a higher body mass index, more health problems, worse lung blood pressure, and lower walking distance in the 6-minute walk test. High inflammation was also linked to worse survival.
However, the link between weight and health outcomes was different. Although higher Body Mass Index was connected to more inflammation, it was surprisingly linked to better survival and better treatment responses in some measures.
What this means for patients:
Inflammation and weight can both affect pulmonary hypertension, but in different ways. Reducing harmful inflammation might be important for improving outcomes. At the same time, being slightly overweight in pulmonary hypertension does not always mean worse results – in fact, it may sometimes be linked to better survival. Doctors may need to consider both factors separately when planning care and treatments.
Summary by Louise Bouman, AfPH volunteer
Citation
De Bie E, Correa-Jaque P, Jones R, Bogaard HJ, Chan J, Church C, Coghlan JG, Gaur A, Ghio S, Ghofrani HA, Goh ZM, Howard LS, Humbert M, Kovacs G, Lawrie A, Lordan J, Lin WY, Neelam-Naganathan D, Newman J, Rhodes CJ, Sheares K, Sitbon O, Willis TW, Wort SJ, Gräf S, Kiely DG, Benza RL, Rothman A, Wallace C, Toshner M. Inflammation and Obesity Correlate in Pulmonary Hypertension but Associate with Diverging Outcomes. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2025 Aug 11. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202412-2393OC. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40788756.
Read more at this link on the National Library of Medicine
