Obesity

Obesity is a chronic, complex metabolic disorder characterized by excessive accumulation of body fat that impacts health and increases the risk of numerous comorbidities (Panuganti KK et al. (2024)). Some of these comorbidities include type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, osteoarthritis, and metabolic associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, previously known as NAFLD) (Blüher M. (2019)). Risk factors for obesity include sedentary lifestyle, high-calorie diet, genetic predisposition, and socioeconomic factors. It primarily affects adipose tissue, leading to adipocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Obesity can also impact other organ systems, including the endocrine, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and digestive systems (Lim Y et al. (2024)). Common signs and symptoms include increased body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m², excessive body fat (especially visceral fat), shortness of breath, joint pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbances (Brod M et al. (2017)). Thus, clinical markers used to assess obesity include BMI, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and body fat percentage (Ghesmaty Sangachin M et al. (2018)). BMI is also used to classify patients with this disorder into Class I (BMI 30-34.9), Class II (BMI 35-39.9), and Class III (BMI ≥40, severe obesity). Globally, obesity has reached epidemic proportions, affecting approximately 1 in 8 people worldwide in 2022. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of obesity has more than tripled in adults and quadrupled in adolescents since 1990 (WHO - obesity and overweight).

Differential Abundance Analysis Results

This section presents the results of the differential protein abundance analysis, visualized through a volcano plot and summarized in the accompanying table for all three comparisons: 1) disease vs. healthy samples, 2) disease vs. diseases from the same class, and 3) disease vs. all other diseases.