Aims: Obesity is associated with inflammation. Anti-inflammatory interventions such as aspirin and statins (anti-IFRx) might be a novel approach to the treatment of obesity and Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The present study was designed to determine whether exposure to anti-IFRx is associated with weight loss in T2DM patients.
Methods: Exposure to anti-IFRx was compared between T2DM patients with a history of weight loss (n = 100) and those with no weight loss or with weight gain (n = 102) during a 1-year follow-up period. Logistic regression was used to develop odds ratios for weight loss status.
Results: Subjects who lost weight were more frequently exposed to anti-IFRx (85.0 vs. 71.5%, P = 0.018) than subjects who maintained or gained weight during follow-up. The 158 subjects exposed to anti-IFRx were older (64.2 +/- 9.4 vs. 60.6 +/- 11.2 years, P = 0.04), had longer duration T2DM (14.5 +/- 9.5 vs. 9.0 +/- 9.4 years, P = 0.001), had greater prevalence of dyslipidaemia (72 vs. 19%, P < 0.0001) hypertension (57.3 vs. 38.1%, P = 0.03) and cardiovascular disease (37.7 vs. 9.5%, P < 0.0001) than subjects not exposed to anti-IFRx. In a logistic regression model for weight change status, anti-IFRx exposure was significantly associated with weight status (odds ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval 1.1-4.8, P = 0.02, an association that persisted), even after controlling for age, sex, baseline body mass index, years since diagnosis, OHA therapy and co-morbidities.
Conclusions: Exposure to anti-IFRx more than doubled the odds of weight loss in T2DM patients. Results of this study justify a randomized clinical trial to determine definitively the role of anti-IFRx in weight loss in subjects with T2DM.