Lymphocyte subsets, anthropometric measurements and body composition in European adolescents. The HELENA Study

There is a close relationship between obesity and the immune system. Obese individuals have been shown to present higher immune cell counts, mainly of total leukocytes, but also of neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes (1) . The association between leukocyte count and obesity has been observed in children and adolescents as well (2,3) , and it could also occur with other cell types, e.g., T lymphocytes (4) . We have recently found a significant relation between total leukocytes and body mass index (BMI) in a cohort of European adolescents participating in the HELENA-CSS (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence-Cross-Sectional Study) (unpublished data). For the present work we studied further the relationships between lymphocyte subset counts and body composition and anthropometric measurements in this adolescent cohort. Blood samples were collected after an overnight fast from 1,089 boys and girls (12.5‐17.5 years). After applying exclusion criteria to rule out possible infections, data were analysed from 751 adolescents (47.5% males). The sample was divided into three categories according to tertiles of standardized BMI values. Absolute and relative numbers of total T lymphocytes