Natural Course of Initially Metabolic Healthy Obese Individuals (Healthy Obesity)?

May 26, 2025 updated by: ETH Zurich

The main goal of this study is to gain a thorough understanding, which specific factors drive the unhealthy sequelae of obesity. Therefore, the investigators want to understand:

  1. What distinguishes obese persons without metabolic diseases from those with medical diseases in a cross-sectional comparison?
  2. Which factors drive the conversions from metabolically healthy obesity into a metabolically unhealthy obesity in a longitudinal approach?

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Detailed Description

The hypothesis is, that changes in the molecular regulation of adipose tissue as well as in adipose tissue cellular composition are responsible for the development of a rather metabolic healthy or unhealthy phenotype. Knowledge of these factors will be used to generate new diagnostic concepts for personalized risk prediction and will furthermore serve as the basis to develop novel strategies to target adipose tissue to improve metabolic health.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
300

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

obese participants

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Signed Informed Consent Form
  • Age between 18 and 60 years
  • BMI 30-50 kg/m2
  • Knowledge of German, which requires sufficient written and allow oral patient education

Inclusion criteria for initially healthy group

  • Blood pressure < 140/90 mmHg

  • Normal glucose metabolism

    • HbA1c < 6.5 %
    • Fasting Glucose < 7.0 mmol/l

  • Normal lipid metabolism

    o LDL-cholesterol < 5.0 mmol/l

  • ≤ 2 of the following metabolic syndrome criteria combined (excluding waist circumference)
  • TG > 1.7 mmol/l
  • HDL-cholesterol > 1.0 mmol/l (male) / > 1.3 mmol/l (female)
  • Fasting glucose ≥ 5.6 mmol/l
  • BP ≥ 130/85 mmHg

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnancy
  • Medication and / or pathologies that prevent a safe execution of the fat tissue biopsies
  • History of or planned bariatric operation
  • Medical conditions that prevent examinations and testing (e.g. symptomatic cardiovascular diseases)
  • Active Malignant tumor (<2a remission)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of conversion
Time Frame: Conversion will be driven by the occurrence of pathological findings caused by obesity (metabolic or cardiovascular pathologies). Through study completion, an average of 1 year.
The primary endpoint is the conversion (through study completions, 10 years) from obese but metabolically healthy subjects into obese patients in a pathological metabolic state, through study completion an average of 1 year.
Conversion will be driven by the occurrence of pathological findings caused by obesity (metabolic or cardiovascular pathologies). Through study completion, an average of 1 year.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of identification of factors
Time Frame: Conversion will be driven by the occurrence of pathological findings caused by obesity (metabolic or cardiovascular pathologies), through study completion, an average of 1 year.
The secondary endpoint is the identification of factors alone or in combination (through study completions, 10 years), that related to this conversion from healthy into pathological obesity. This includes factors like: DEXA scans, White Adipose Tissue, lipid and glucose metabolism, vital signs, physical activity, general health and quality of life status...
Conversion will be driven by the occurrence of pathological findings caused by obesity (metabolic or cardiovascular pathologies), through study completion, an average of 1 year.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
ETH Zurich

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Study Chair: Jörg Goldhahn, Prof., dTIP / ETH Zürich

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 18, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
January 18, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
January 18, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 18, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 28, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 29, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 30, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 26, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2020-03031

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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