Phase angle and metabolic parameters in severely obese patients

INTRODUCTION obese patients present an inflammatory and metabolic profile that leads to oxidative stress and cellular damage. Phase angle is an indicator of cellular integrity and has been proposed as a prognostic parameter for changes in the metabolic profile. OBJECTIVE to investigate the possible association between phase angle and metabolic parameters in obese patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD this was a cross-sectional study of adult obese patients who attended a specialized clinic between 2014 and 2016. All patients were ≥ 18 years of age, with a body mass index ≥ 35 kg/m2. All data were obtained from medical records and made part of the clinical protocol. Patients were divided into two groups using a cutoff point for phase angle, and the groups were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis or Chi-squared test for quantitative and categorical variables, respectively. Correlations were identified by Spearman's and Pearson's correlation analyses. All between-group differences were considered statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS a low phase angle was present in 30.5 % of the 141 patients enrolled in the study. We found an association between low phase angle and presence of hyperuricemia (p = 0.018) when adjusted for waist circumference, dysglycemia, arterial hypertension, and hyperuricemia. There was no correlation between phase angle and the components of body composition. CONCLUSIONS there is an association of phase angle with uric acid, but not with other metabolic parameters.