Pulmonary & Respiratory Medicine

Adipose-Lung Cell Crosstalk in the Obesity-ARDS Paradox

Abstract

Ana Fernandez-Bustamante and John E Repine

Obesity is an increasingly frequent condition associated with increased adipose, systemic and pulmonary inflammation. There is an emerging and unexpected finding that obese individuals may not be at a greater risk for ARDS and, indeed, may even be partially protected against ARDS. This finding is known as the Obesity-ARDS Paradox. In this review we discuss the observations regarding this intriguing phenomenon and begin to elaborate on the theoretical rationale that obesity-triggered low-grade inflammatory processes may constitute pre-conditioning insults or trigger anti-inflammatory adaptive mechanisms that confer protection against ARDS.