Relationship between body mass index and a novel oxidative stress marker thiol/disulfide homeostasis

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and thiol/disulfide homeostasis, which is used as a novel marker of oxidative stress.
A total of 328 patients admitted to the Family Medicine Polyclinic of Karabük University were included in the study. The demographic characteristics, additional diseases, smoking history, and BMI measurements of the patients were evaluated. Patients with chronic diseases and active malignancy were excluded from the study. The native thiol (sh), total thiol (tt), disulfide (ss), disulfide/native thiol (ss/sh), disulfide/total thiol (ss/tt), and native/total thiol (sh/tt) values of patient’s blood samples were analyzed using thiol/disulfide homeostasis kit at the biochemistry laboratory of Yıldırım Beyazıt University. The patients were divided into four groups according to BMI measurements as follows: BMI <18.5, BMI 18.5–24.9, BMI 25–29.9, and BMI ≥30. The relationship of patient’s thiol values with the BMI and smoking status was statistically analyzed.
A negative correlation was found between BMI and both sh and tt values. However, a positive correlation was observed between ss, ss/sh, ss/tt, and sh/tt values and the increase in the BMI. Further, the BMI was found to be an independent variable and statistically significant in all thiol levels except disulfide in the analysis using the general linear model.
It is predicted that thiol/disulfide homeostasis measurements can be widely used in diagnosis because they are cheap and easily applicable and accessible.