High plasma adiponectin levels consistently correlate with lower risk for type 2 diabetes across many different populations, according to a literature review.
This finding places adiponectin “among the strongest and most consistent biochemical predictors of type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Shanshan Li of Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and associates.
The researchers performed a literature review and meta-analysis of 13 prospective studies that recorded adiponectin levels from blood samples collected before the onset of diabetes and followed study subjects for at least 1 year to track the development of the disease. There were 14,598 subjects all together, of whom 2,623 developed type 2 diabetes.
The pooled analysis showed that the relative risk of type 2 diabetes was 0.72 per 1-log mcg/mL increment in adiponectin levels, a highly significant result. “We observed a substantial inverse association between plasma adiponectin level and incidence of type 2 diabetes. Risk of type 2 diabetes appeared to decrease monotonically with increasing adiponectin levels.
“The association was consistent for whites, East Asians, Asian Indians, African Americans, and Native Americans,” Dr. Li and colleagues reported (JAMA 2009;302:179-88).
The correlation also was consistent despite substantial differences in study populations and methods, remaining strong despite the use of different adiponectin assays, methods of ascertaining diabetes, durations of follow-up, mean body mass index of subjects, and proportions of male and female subjects.
Although this meta-analysis could not determine whether low adiponectin levels exert a causal effect on diabetes or are simply a marker of risk, “the consistency of the association across diverse populations, the dose-response relationship, and the supportive findings in mechanistic studies indicate that adiponectin is a promising target for the reduction of risk of type 2 diabetes,” the investigators noted.
“Recent studies have shown that adiponectin levels can be increased through pharmaceutical and lifestyle interventions,” they added.
The investigators did not disclose any potential financial conflicts of interest.