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In endemic areas,<jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic>and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections can trigger pro-inflammatory cytokine responses. However, the impact of these infections on cytokine response profiles in individuals engaged in chronic sedentary activities is unknown. This study was aimed at addressing these concerns using a predominantly sedentary population of traders in the Tamale metropolis of Ghana.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method<\/jats:title><jats:p>Four hundred respondents were categorized, based on their number of working years (&lt; or\u2009\u2265\u20095\u2009years) and number of working hours per day (&lt; or\u2009\u2265\u200910\u2009h), into sedentary (<jats:italic>\u22655\u2009years\u2009+\u2009\u2265 10\u2009h)<\/jats:italic>and non-sedentary (<jats:italic>\u2265 5\u2009years\u2009+\u2009&lt;\u200910\u2009h, &lt;\u20095\u2009years\u2009+\u2009\u2265 10\u2009h and\u2009&lt;\u2009\u00a05\u2009years\u2009+\u2009&lt;\u200910\u2009h)<\/jats:italic>groups. The participants were tested for<jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>and HBV infections using polymerase chain reaction. Blood pressure and cytokines responses were measured. Associations and comparison analysis between variables were determined, and test statistics with<jats:italic>p\u2009&lt;\u20090.05<\/jats:italic>were considered statistically significant.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Infection status included: un-infected (93.5%),<jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>mono-infected (1.0%), HBV mono-infected (3.0%) or<jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>\/HBV co-infected (2.5%). Majority of the participants, 57.0% (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009228) were involved in chronic sedentary life style. That notwithstanding, sedentary lifestyle was independent of the infection groups<jats:italic>(\u03c7<\/jats:italic><jats:sup><jats:italic>2<\/jats:italic><\/jats:sup>\u00a0<jats:italic>=\u20097.08, p\u2009=\u20090.629).<\/jats:italic>Hypertension was diagnosed in 53.8% of respondents and was independent of infection status<jats:italic>(X<\/jats:italic><jats:sup><jats:italic>2<\/jats:italic><\/jats:sup>\u00a0<jats:italic>=\u20096.33, p\u2009=\u20090.097).<\/jats:italic>Pro-inflammatory<jats:italic>(TNF-\u03b1, IL-1\u03b2, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-12)<\/jats:italic>and anti-inflammatory<jats:italic>(IL-10, IL-7 and IL-13)<\/jats:italic>cytokine responses were similar among individuals with different sedentary working time and between hypertensive and non-hypertensive individuals<jats:italic>(p\u2009&gt;\u20090.05 for all comparisons).<\/jats:italic>Among individuals with different infection status, pro-inflammatory (TNF<jats:italic>-\u03b1; p\u2009=\u20090.290, IL-1\u03b2; p\u2009=\u20090.442, IL-6; p\u2009=\u20090.686, IFN-\u03b3; p\u2009=\u20090.801, IL-8; p\u2009=\u20090.546, IL-12; p\u2009=\u20090.154)<\/jats:italic>and anti-inflammatory (<jats:italic>IL-10; p\u2009=\u20090.201, IL-7; p\u2009=\u20090.190, IL-13; p\u2009=\u20090.763)<\/jats:italic>cytokine responses were similar.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our data suggest that asymptomatic infections of<jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>and HBV together with a high prevalence of hypertension did not have any significant impact on cytokine response profiles among predominantly sedentary traders in the Tamale metropolis of Ghana.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-020-05692-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,14]],"date-time":"2020-12-14T13:04:06Z","timestamp":1607951046000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Asymptomatic malaria and hepatitis B do not influence cytokine responses of persons involved in chronic sedentary activities"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Nsoh Godwin","family":"Anabire","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Paul Armah","family":"Aryee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zulka","family":"Ziblim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jonathan","family":"Suurbaar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Felix","family":"Ansah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1468-301X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gideon Kofi","family":"Helegbe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,14]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"5692_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"145","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jshs.2016.03.004","volume":"5","author":"J Tarp","year":"2016","unstructured":"Tarp J, Br\u00f8nd JC, Andersen LB, M\u00f8ller NC, Froberg K, Gr\u00f8ntved A. 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Permission was given by the leadership of the traders\u2019 union, Tamale-Ghana, before the data were collected. Written informed consent was obtained from the study subjects prior to data collection. Prior to obtaining consent, the participants were provided with information about the purpose, benefits and associated risk of the study. The participants were also informed that their participation was voluntary and that they could withdraw from the study at any time without consequences. In addition, they were assured that all responses received would be kept confidential. They were then asked to sign or thumbprint a written consent form before participating in the study.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"957"}}