News Summary

• Adipose tissue has a central role in systemic energy balance and the pathogenesis of obesity and its sequelae.
• Detectable BAT in humans is associated with decreased prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases.
• High-throughput methods to quantify BAT activity in humans are lacking.
• In this study we leveraged big data and artificial intelligence to systematically define the clinical impact of BAT in a cohort of 101,243 patients from a large cancer centre.
• People with BAT exhibited more favourable glycaemic parameters, lipid profiles, inflammatory markers and echocardiographic indices.
• Analysis of medication usage demonstrated that angiotensin receptor blocker use was positively associated with BAT presence.
• Altogether, our studies identify new clinical phenotypes linked to BAT and serve as a platform for drug repurposing to activate this tissue in humans.