Review Analysis of the Association between the Prevalence of Activated Brown Adipose Tissue and Outdoor Temperature

• Published in: TheScientificWorld 2012-01, Vol.2012 (2012), p.1-6
• Main Authors: Huang, Yung-Cheng, Hsu, Chien-Chin, Wang, Pei-Wen, Chang, Yen-Hsiang, Chen, Tai-Been, Lee, Bi-Fang, Chiu, Nan-Tsing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipocytes; Adipose tissue; Adipose tissue (brown); Adipose Tissue, Brown - diagnostic imaging; Adipose Tissue, Brown - metabolism; Ambient temperature; Atmospheric temperature; Body fat; Body temperature; Body weight; Brown adipose tissue; Cold; Computed tomography; Diabetes; Environmental aspects; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Glucose; Health aspects; Humans; Linear Models; Medical imaging; Metabolism; Multimodal Imaging - methods; Nuclear medicine; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - metabolism; Patients; Pediatrics; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Prevalence; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Regression analysis; Review Literature as Topic; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Studies; Taiwan - epidemiology; Temperature; Temperature effects; Tomography; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Tropical environments
• ISSN: 2356-6140; 1537-744X; 1537-744X
• DOI: 10.1100/2012/793039

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is important for regulating body weight. Environmental temperature influences BAT activation. Activated BAT is identifiable using F18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F18-FDG PET/CT). F18-FDG PET/CT scans done between June 2005 and May 2009 in our institution in tropical southern Taiwan and BAT studies from PubMed (2002–2011) were reviewed, and the average outdoor temperatures during the study periods were obtained. A simple linear regression was used to analyze the association between the prevalence of activated BAT (P) and the average outdoor temperature (T). The review analysis for 9 BAT studies (n=16,765) showed a significant negative correlation (r=-0.741, P=0.022) between the prevalence of activated BAT and the average outdoor temperature. The equation of the regression line is P(%)=6.99−0.20×T  (C∘). The prevalence of activated BAT decreased by 1% for each 5C∘ increase in average outdoor temperature. In a neutral ambient temperature, the prevalence of activated BAT is low and especially rare in the tropics. There is a significant linear negative correlation between the prevalence of activated BAT and the average outdoor temperature.