Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Aug 26;33(36):4422-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.06.101. Epub 2015 Jul 8.

The weight of obesity on the human immune response to vaccination

Scott D Painter  1 , Inna G Ovsyannikova  1 , Gregory A Poland  2
Affiliations
Review

The weight of obesity on the human immune response to vaccination

Scott D Painter et al. Vaccine. .

Abstract

Despite the high success of protection against several infectious diseases through effective vaccines, some sub-populations have been observed to respond poorly to vaccines, putting them at increased risk for vaccine-preventable diseases. In particular, the limited data concerning the effect of obesity on vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy suggests that obesity is a factor that increases the likelihood of a poor vaccine-induced immune response. Obesity occurs through the deposition of excess lipids into adipose tissue through the production of adipocytes, and is defined as a body-mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m(2). The immune system is adversely affected by obesity, and these "immune consequences" raise concern for the lack of vaccine-induced immunity in the obese patient requiring discussion of how this sub-population might be better protected.

Keywords: Communicable diseases; Immunity; Immunization; Obesity; Vaccination.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests

Dr. Poland is the chair of a Safety Evaluation Committee for novel investigational vaccine trials being conducted by Merck Research Laboratories. Dr. Poland offers consultative advice on vaccine development to Merck & Co. Inc., CSL Biotherapies, Avianax, Sanofi Pasteur, Dynavax, Novartis Vaccines and Therapeutics, PAXVAX Inc., Emergent Biosolutions, Vaxess, and Adjuvance. These activities have been reviewed by the Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest Review Board and are conducted in compliance with Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest policies. This research has been reviewed by the Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest Review Board and was conducted in compliance with Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest policies.

References

    1. Andre FE, Booy R, Bock HL, Clemens J, Datta SK, John TJ, et al. Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2008 Feb;86(2):140–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Janssen I, Katzmarzyk PT, Ross R. Body mass index, waist circumference, and health risk: evidence in support of current National Institutes of Health guidelines. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2002 Oct 14;162(18):2074–9. - PubMed
    1. Ovsyannikova IG, White SJ, Larrabee BR, Grill DE, Jacobson RM, Poland GA. Leptin and leptin-related gene polymorphisms, obesity, and influenza A/H1N1 vaccine-induced immune responses in older individuals. Vaccine. 2014 Feb 7;32(7):881–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. White SJ, Taylor MJ, Hurt RT, Jensen MD, Poland GA. Leptin-based adjuvants: an innovative approach to improve vaccine response. Vaccine. 2013 Mar 25;31(13):1666–72. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bailey KV, Ferro-Luzzi A. Use of body mass index of adults in assessing individual and community nutritional status. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 1995;73(5):673–80. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types