ArticleThe British journal of radiology2018
Computed tomographic evaluation of the thymus-does obesity affect thymic fatty involution in a healthy young adult population?
Article in The British journal of radiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Thymic hyperplasia in patients with acromegaly: imaging-based assessment and clinical implications.Archives of endocrinology and metabolism · 2026Article
- Automated Quantitative Evaluation of Age-Related Thymic Involution on Plain Chest CT.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2025Article
- Western diet-induced obesity interferes with the HPA axis-blunting effects of palatable food in male rats.Physiology & behavior · 2023Article
- Complete fatty degeneration of thymus associates with male sex, obesity and loss of circulating naïve CD8Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2023Article
- Computed Tomographic Features of Thymus in Dogs: Correlation with Age, Gender, Breed and Body Fat Content.Veterinary sciences · 2023Article
- CT Characteristics of the Thymus in Adult Dogs with Non-Thymic Neoplasia Compared to Young Dogs.Veterinary sciences · 2023Article
- Influence of bariatric surgery on the peripheral blood immune system of female patients with morbid obesity revealed by high-dimensional mass cytometry.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Article
- Thymus, undernutrition, and infection: Approaching cellular and molecular interactions.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Review
- The contribution of thymic tolerance to central nervous system autoimmunity.Seminars in immunopathology · 2021Review
- The role of imaging in obesity special feature.The British journal of radiology · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine a relationship between increased body mass index (BMI) and fatty involution of the thymus in subjects aged between 20 and 30 years.
methodsCT images of 94 patients aged between 20 and 30 years were reviewed. Quantitative thymic mean attenuation was recorded and qualitative thymic attenuation was assigned to 1 of 4 possible grades. BMI and subcutaneous fat thickness were documented. Correlations between thymic attenuation, and BMI and subcutaneous fat thickness were assessed using linear regression models. Differences in thymic attenuation in overweight vs normal weight patients were assessed using t-test and Pearson Χ
resultsLow mean thymic attenuation values were associated with higher patient BMI (p = 0.024). Normal weight patients had a mean quantitative thymic attenuation of 15.5 Hounsfield unit and overweight patients had a mean quantitative thymic attenuation of -16.4 Hounsfield unit (p = 0.0218). There was a significant association between increasing subcutaneous fat thickness and reduced mean quantitative thymic attenuation (p < 0.0001). There was also a significant difference in subcutaneous fat thickness when comparing qualitatively assessed thymic Grade 0 with grades 2 and 3 (p = 0.027 and 0.001 respectively); and Grade 1 with Grade 3 (p = 0.001).
conclusionIn patients between 20 and 30 years old, the degree of thymic fatty infiltration is related to BMI. Advances in knowledge: Multidetector CT can assess fatty involution of the thymus gland. This retrospective study demonstrates a relationship between BMI and thymus gland fatty involution. Subjects with increased subcutaneous fat have decreased mean thymus gland attenuation.
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