Serum Cholinesterase Is Inversely Associated with Body Weight Change in Men Undergoing Routine Health Screening

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between serum cholinesterase and body weight change, in addition to incident obesity defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m(2) or greater.

A retrospective 5-year follow-up study was conducted. The crude incidence and hazard ratios (HRs) of obesity adjusted for the BMI and other confounders were calculated for cholinesterase quartiles in 1,412 men and 921 women. Partial correlation coefficients (PCCs) were calculated between cholinesterase and changes in the BMI during the 5-year follow-up period adjusted for age and other confounders and the change in the BMI were compared among cholinesterase quartiles in 1,223 men and 681 women.

During the 5-year follow-up period, 149 men (10.6%) and 65 women (7.1%) developed obesity. The adjusted HRs of obesity decreased, although the crude incidence of obesity increased along the quartiles of cholinesterase in men. The adjusted HRs of obesity for the first (lowest), second and third quartiles of cholinesterase were 2.02 (p=0.006), 1.45 (p=0.122), and 1.28 (p=0.265), respectively compared with the highest quartile in men. The PCC between the baseline level of cholinesterase and change in the BMI was -0.16 (p<0.001) in men. The mean changes in BMI for 5 years were 0.31 kg/m(2), 0.17 kg/m(2), 0.01 kg/m(2) and -0.04 kg/m(2), respectively in the first, second, third and fourth quartiles of cholinesterase in men (p=0.005). Neither incident obesity nor weight gain was significantly associated with cholinesterase in women.

The serum cholinesterase level was inversely associated with body weight change, as well as incident obesity, after adjusted for the BMI in men.