Decreased Serum Levels of Adiponectin Are a Risk Factor for the Progression to Type 2 Diabetes in the Japanese Population

The Funagata study

  1. Makoto Daimon, MD1,
  2. Toshihide Oizumi, MD1,
  3. Tamotsu Saitoh, MD1,
  4. Wataru Kameda, MD1,
  5. Akihiko Hirata, MD2,
  6. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, MD1,
  7. Hiroshi Ohnuma, MD1,
  8. Masahiko Igarashi, MD2,
  9. Makoto Tominaga, MD2 and
  10. Takeo Kato, MD1
  1. 1Third Department of Internal Medicine, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan
  2. 2Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Makoto Daimon, MD, Third Department of Internal Medicine, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata 990-9585, Japan. E-mail: mdaimon{at}med.id.yamagata-u.ac.jp.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—To examine whether decreased serum levels of adiponectin are an independent risk factor for the progression to type 2 diabetes in a Japanese population.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—The serum levels of adiponectin and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) at baseline (from 1995 to 1997) were evaluated in 1,792 individuals (1,023 women and 769 men, aged 58.5 ± 12.5 years) from a cohort population (n = 3,706) of the Funagata study. Glucose tolerance was evaluated at baseline and also at 5-year follow-up examinations (n = 978, follow-up rate, 54.6%) according to the 1985 World Health Organization criteria. The correlation of clinical traits with serum levels of adiponectin was examined. The association of the traits with the progression to type 2 diabetes at the 5-year follow-up was also examined.

RESULTS—Among the traits examined, the correlation with aging was highest (r = 0.312, P < 0.001). Eighteen subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) developed diabetes, and 709 remained NGT at the 5-year follow-up examinations. The subjects who became diabetic had decreased serum levels of adiponectin (7.29 ± 2.35 vs. 9.13 ± 2.35 10 × log μg/ml, P = 0.009). Multiple logistic regression analysis with age, sex, waist-to-hip ratio, and 2-h plasma glucose as the variables revealed that serum adiponectin level (odds ratio [per 0.1 log μg/ml] 0.766, P = 0.029) was an independent risk factor for the progression to type 2 diabetes. The subjects whose serum levels of adiponectin were in the lowest tertile were 9.320 times (95% CI 1.046–83.1) more likely to develop diabetes than those in the highest tertile (P = 0.046).

CONCLUSIONS—Decreased serum adiponectin level is an independent risk factor for progression to type 2 diabetes.

Footnotes

  • A table elsewhere in this issue shows conventional and Système International (SI) units and conversion factors for many substances.

    • Accepted April 15, 2003.
    • Received December 21, 2002.
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