Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25365922›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Endocrinology2015

Biology of upper-body and lower-body adipose tissue--link to whole-body phenotypes.

Fredrik Karpe, Katherine E Pinnick

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Endocrinology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 313 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
313citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
8.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

313 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 517 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Precision or Paradox? AI-Driven Adiposity Imaging in Women With Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026
    Pooled it
  2. Lipedema: Progress, Challenges, and the Road Ahead.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025
    Pooled it
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  8. Effect of an office-based intervention on visceral adipose tissue: the WorkACTIVE-P randomized controlled trial.Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme · 2021
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253 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Fredrik Karpe1] Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Churchill Hospital, Headington OX3 7LE, UK. [2] NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, OUH Trust, Churchill Hospital, Headington OX3 7LE, UK.
Katherine E PinnickOxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Churchill Hospital, Headington OX3 7LE, UK.
Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism · GBUniversity of Oxford · GB

Funding

British Heart Foundation PG/12/78/29862Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The distribution of adipose tissue in the body has wide-ranging and reproducible associations with health and disease. Accumulation of adipose tissue in the upper body (abdominal obesity) is associated with the development of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus and even all-cause mortality. Conversely, accumulation of fat in the lower body (gluteofemoral obesity) shows opposite associations with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus when adjusted for overall fat mass. The abdominal depots are characterized by rapid uptake of predominantly diet-derived fat and a high lipid turnover that is easily stimulated by adrenergic receptor activation. The lower-body fat stores have a reduced lipid turnover with a capacity to accommodate fat undergoing redistribution. Lower-body adipose tissue also seems to retain the capacity to recruit additional adipocytes as a result of weight gain and demonstrates fewer signs of inflammatory insult. New data suggest that the profound functional differences between the upper-body and lower-body tissues are controlled by site-specific sets of developmental genes, such as HOXA6, HOXA5, HOXA3, IRX2 and TBX5 in subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue and HOTAIR, SHOX2 and HOXC11 in gluteofemoral adipose tissue, which are under epigenetic control. This Review discusses the developmental and functional differences between upper-body and lower-body fat depots and provides mechanistic insight into the disease-protective effects of lower-body fat.

Indexed as

Adipose TissueCardiovascular DiseasesDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2HumansObesity

Identifiers

PMID25365922
OpenAlexW1980719167

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.