Association of plasma and urine viscosity with cardiometabolic risk factors and oxidative status. A pilot study in subjects with abdominal obesity

There is increasing interest in the search for accurate, repeatable and widely applicable clinical biomarkers for the early detection of cardiometabolic alterations and oxidative status. Viscosity is a promising tool in that sense, although most studies have used simple viscosimeters, providing limited information, and have not considered oxidative status. The aim of this study was to assess whether viscosity determinations were associated with cardiometabolic and oxidative status in subjects at a primary stage of cardiometabolic risk. A pilot study (n = 20) was conducted in subjects with abdominal obesity, determining urine and plasma viscosity with a rotational rheometer at different shear rates (10000–1000 s(–1) in plasma and 1000–50 s(–1) in urine). Simple regression showed that urine viscosity was significantly (p< 0.05) associated with markers of oxidative status, and plasma viscosity with blood glucose. Categorical Principal Component Analysis plots showed that urine viscosity measurements at different shear rates clustered in three groups (low, intermediate and high shear rates) were selectively associated with uric acid, polyphenols and antioxidant capacity respectively. Plasma viscosity did not seem to be a relevant clinical marker in subjects with abdominal obesity. Therefore, urine viscosity could potentially serve as a complimentary marker in the evaluation of oxidative status.